Reviews
Why Is Broadband Internet Becoming More Expensive To Consumers?
Sep 26th
If you’re a tech-savvy consumer, you’ve probably noticed a trend lately.
Why are so many data providers switching to a tiered pricing strategy?
I first took notice a few months back when AT&T announced that they would be eliminating their unlimited data packages for their cell phones (namely the iPhone) and for the iPad 3G. They were at least decent enough to “grandfather in” those who already had unlimited plans, but new customers were left in the cold.
This actually directly impacted my decision to purchase an iPad, and ultimately likely hurt Apple sales all around, because there was no way I was going to buy a 3G iPad that cost me an extra $30 per month, and be limited to only 2GB of data for that price, especially when other wireless providers offered unlimited 3G data for the same price or less. So, ultimately, I still purchased an iPad, but I decided to go with the cheaper, WiFi model instead. That’s $130 less of my money going to Apple. But it would have been nice to have that data anywhere without needing WiFi or wireless tethering to my cell phone.
But this is just the tip of the iceberg.
Just 2 days ago, Verizon Wireless announced that it too would be switching to a tiered pricing plan for its data, and would no longer be offering unlimited data for smart phones. Even the CEO of Sprint announced that if data usage goes up too much, they may switch too.
Even residential ISP’s are beginning to switch to tiered pricing more and more.
What is the cause of this? Why the new trend?
Let’s look at the facts as to why this should not be happening now, and should NEVER happen.
First off, just here in America, the percentage of Americans with broadband internet in their homes has skyrocketed since it first became available. Simple rules of supply and demand state that because sales figures have improved so much, prices should drop.
They haven’t.
Point number 2: As technology becomes more widely available, and is no longer “new” technology, prices go down. We see it with cell phones and computers all the time. How many of you have had your broadband bills go down because your provider came out with a better technology or higher speed than before? Most just say “pay us $10 MORE than you’re already paying, and you can have 5mbps more speed.”
As the newer, faster connections come out, shouldn’t the older, obsolete ones be cheaper?
They aren’t.
Point 3: Americans are getting shafted when it comes to the quality of our connections, yet we pay MORE for our connections.
And don’t let the graph fool you. This is just the averages of what people actually have in their homes, not what’s available or what they pay. In the UK, you can get a 100mbps connection for the price of my 30mbps connection.
The real kicker? Advertised speeds are seldom ever reached, depending on provider. I pay for a 30mbps connection that is supposed to be a guaranteed minimum of 15mbps during the day, with speeds peaking at night. My speed drops as low as 2mbps during the day and 5mbps at night.
That’s not exactly what we agreed upon, is it, Road Runner?
The even MORE real kicker?
More ISP’s are beginning to throttle bandwidth based on what you’re using your connection for. So just because you shell out extra for that 50mbps connection, they can throttle your torrent speed down to just 10kbps. That’s just a little more than dialup speed. Many ISP’s also throttle YouTube, NetFlix, VoIP services, and many music and file sharing and streaming services.
So they want to charge us exorbitant prices, then not give us what we pay for, then tell us what we can and can’t use it for whenever they feel like it?
Something needs to change, and soon, because the USA is going to be left behind on the tech revolution because these companies want to make extra money for free.
And don’t cry to me about a recession. We’re on the way back up, and have been. ISP profits are still ridiculously high. Believe me, you guys can afford to lower the costs a bit.
Do you have any idea how many iPhones would be sold if they had a $50 unlimited talk/text/data plan like MetroPCS has?
I don’t even think they could keep enough in stock. I’d buy one for sure.
An open notice to cell phone companies: Lower the cost of your service and more people will buy your phones and switch, hence making you even more profits. It’s 2010, why are cell phone bills higher than they were in 2000?
Greed.
Seriously guys, knock it off.
HTC EVO 4G vs. Samsung Epic (Galaxy S) – Review
Aug 31st
Recently, I’ve hit a state of extreme wanting of new technology, particularly in the cellular phone market. I had been using MetroPCS for several years, and despite the fact the service has always been good to me, and I strongly recommend it for anyone who wants to save money, I decided to stray so that I can acquire a level of technology more suiting to my level of geek.
So yesterday, I went out and bought an HTC EVO 4G from Sprint after getting a call from a sales rep that they finally got some in stock. Of course, I had a change of heart today when Sprint released the Samsung Epic 4G, and managed to arrive at the store at the exact minute of it’s release… so I feel obliged to write a comparative review of these phones, and help out with others making their choice between the two. So here I go.
HTC EVO 4G
My Rating:
Overview:
Truthfully, from the moment I first tried it, my instinct was “This phone is great!” And that still stands true, don’t be fooled from the fact I exchanged mine. This is a solid device, but as with any other, has it’s own caveats.
Specs:
I’m not going to cover too much here, because the specs on both phones are in fact VERY close, however, there are some key differences.
The EVO supports up to 8 devices with Sprints own mobile hotspot feature, where as the Epic only supports 5. This isn’t a big deal really though, because who wants that many people using the internet on their PHONE?
The EVO also features an 8MP camera on the rear of the device, while the Epic provides a 5MP camera. That being said, somehow, the Epic seems to take better pictures. The EVO camera can capture 720p video at 24 frames per second, but the Epic does it at 30fps. This is a minor difference, but might matter to some.
Processor-wise, these phones are basically the same. The only other thing the EVO has that the Epic does not, is HDMI output.
The Good:
The phone feels pretty solid, despite rumors I’ve heard around the web. The interface is pretty responsive, and the phone came with Froyo (Android 2.2) pre-installed. The 4G internet was blazing fast, and aside from a few twitches, the phone was fast.
Also impressive, was that after first getting the phone, and playing with it all day trying out all the features, I had a damn hard time killing the battery. I guess some people either got unlucky, or just ran too many apps at once and let it go. It wasn’t until I was streaming Sprint TV over 4G while signed on to AIM, Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace that I was able to finally kill the battery, after 6.5 hours of continuous usage from a half dead battery on a phone I just bought and hadn’t charged yet. NICE!
The Bad:
BLOATWARE! Sprint, get it through your head: not everyone wants a Nascar app. We certainly don’t want the Amazon MP3 store running on our phones constantly, checking in with home servers and killing our battery. Despite my best efforts with task killers, this one particularly was hard to kill. Please also give us the option to disable Qik, your video chat app. We don’t need it on 24/7.
Also, the phone is quite cumbersome to use for me, and I have very large hands. Be warned. It definitely does not feel like it would survive a drop on a hard floor either.
Summary:
If you want an iPhone killer, this phone will do the trick. I don’t have a lot of bad to say about it, overall it is a good device for the power user.
SAMSUNG EPIC 4G (Galaxy S)
My Rating:
Overview:
The Epic might be slightly thicker, but it’s worth it for the extras in my opinion!
Specs:
Again, both phones are very similar. However, the EPIC features a Super AMOLED screen instead of a traditional LCD, with over 16 million colors available. The screen on this phone is absolutely gorgeous!
The Good:
The EPIC for right now comes with Android 2.1 instead of Froyo, but with the Samsung Touchwiz interface, you won’t miss 2.2 at all. This phone genuinely feels like working an iPhone on steroids. You have a dock at the bottom for basic tasks such as the phone, contacts, text, and access to your apps menu.
What I like best about this is that the apps menu is arranged horizontally, and swiped through a panel at a time like on the iPhone. I find this a much easier way to find the app I need.
Overall, camera quality is much better on the EPIC, and feels worth the price increase alone. Additionally, the super AMOLED screen should provide better battery life in theory. I cannot attest to that yet because I have not had the phone long enough to tell you.
Samsung improved where HTC failed with the task management, making the majority of apps automatically close when you back out of them, and providing a built in widget for managing running apps. The pull down menu on the top is also more useful, providing shortcuts to enable or disable WiFi,, GPS, etc.
The Bad:
Not much bad to say here, at least not yet. The phone does feel as big as the EVO, but easier to hold. It is certainly lighter, yet it feels more delicate. Having the small power button located on the side is awkward. Lacks a kickstand like the EVO, which would have been VERY useful given the quality of this phone.
Summary:
I’m playing favorites. I love this phone, and if you don’t absolutely insist on working strictly with a touch screen, or don’t hate slider phones, get this, it won’t disappoint.
Boost Mobile Blackberry Curve 8330 Review
Jun 20th
Recently I have decided that I wanted to get a better phone and service than what I’ve been using for a long time, and after doing some research and trying to avoid high rates and expensive phones with contracts, I decided to take a stab at the new offering from Boost Mobile, the Blackberry Curve 8330. I was quite excited to get this phone, as I was a fan of my old CrackBerry, and wanted to have a legit BlackBerry on the service, particularly since Boost offers unlimited 3G data with a $60 per month plan. This is my review of the Blackberry Curve 8330 for Boost Mobile after trying the phone out.
The Good
The phone is stylish, and smaller than my old smart phone, the Samsung Code. I chose the BlackBerry for the plethora of apps available, at least for the things I needed. Purchasing the phone is painless, save for the price, you just pay for it and take it home, where you activate it yourself. After the phone was activated, several apps I thought I would have to hunt down on my own started getting pushed to my phone, or rather direct links to them. All the basics were there, such as AIM, Google Talk, Windows Live Messenger, Facebook, MySpace, Flickr, etc. This made it pretty simple getting setup.
I liked that messages from all my apps and services were pushed into a consolidated inbox, which did simplify things. Unfortunately, this is where the good stopped.
The Bad
After activating my phone, and paying my first month of service, the phone was still not working. No calls, no text, no internet. I had to call Boost Mobile customer support and wait for about 20 minutes, just for a rep to walk me through a process on the phone that was simple enough that it should have been included in the directions, but it wasn’t. The apps being pushed to the device was a handy feature, but it lagged the phone badly, and made it impossible to do anything else.
Reception Quality
I’ve owned a Boost Mobile phone before, and was extremely impressed at the signal quality, and the voice quality. This was not the case with the BlackBerry, as it runs on the old Sprint CDMA network. I was barely able to get a signal in my house at all, most often having 1 bar or less of reception. The ironic thing of this is that I live within a mile of the Daytona International Speedway, which is Sprint sponsored, and has Sprint towers at that location. I didn’t drop a call, but it was just a matter of time.
Internet Connection
I am probably the most irate about this feature. A main feature advertised on this phone is the ability to use Sprints 3G network for internet. Not once did this feature work. Even in major metropolitan areas, with full signal, it took several minutes to download a file that was less than half a megabyte in size. The kicker? Sprint has total 3G coverage of the entire area I live, so there is no excuse for this not working for me.
Battery Performance
The battery on this device performs extremely poorly, not even able to make it through a single day of idle use with email and AIM only running in the background. This is piss poor given that this is advertised as having over a week of stand by time. My Metro PCS Samsung Code has a constant email connection, AIM, and Facebook constantly running at all times, and after a full day of heavy use, it is rare to even see one bar drop off my battery. Impressive for a phone that costs the same and runs on a smaller network. Sadly my “3G” connection was no faster than the edge connection on my Metro PCS phone.
The Ugly
Thankfully, Best Buy lived up to their word, and they accepted a return of the phone with no restocking fee, as promised, so I can not fault them here for anything. The worst part though, is when I call Boost Mobile to cancel my account and demand a refund because I did not receive the service as I was promised, and they refused. No way, no how, even though the phone was activated less than 48 hours previous to the cancellation, would they give even a partial refund.
Bottom line? If you want to pay premium prices for a shitty phone with even shittier service, and the worst customer service experience on the planet, get this phone.
No, really, it’s horrible. Worst phone and service ever, with the exception of Sprint about 10 years ago, which is still technically the same thing, when text messages take up to a day to arrive. I can’t recommend this phone or Boost Mobile to anyone now, because I feel burned.
I’m hoping the new Sprint network is better. I have decided to wait another 10 days until Best Buy can get some more stock, and I am going to buy an HTC EVO 4G. I’ll have a contract, but it will be a working 4G phone that acts as a WiFi hotspot and runs Android.
Been burned by Boost Mobile? Want to know more? Leave a comment below.
Gateway LT2104u Netbook and Windows 7 Starter Edition – A Review by Apoc
Feb 17th
It’s not often I find myself writing reviews for products, but every now and then, something comes along that just screams for my attention.
This Valentines day, I was fortunate enough to have a loving gift of a netbook bestowed upon me by my beloved fiancee. In fact, I was even able to pick out my own, along with a RAM upgrade. Sweet deal!
My first impressions over the first couple of days were mixed. I never had to deal with it being really bad on speed because when we picked out our netbooks from Best Buy, we were smart enough to pick up 2GB of ram each, which was installed the second I opened this thing.
I picked this one out of the bunch at the store, because after spending an hour tinkering around with all the netbooks on display, this one was determined to have the best Windows Experience Index, which strangely enough, did not improve after doubling the ram. Oh well, yet I digress.
The speed is acceptable for a netbook, and works just fine most of the time. It tends to run cool most of the time, and the battery life is more than acceptable. It comes with 802.11n wifi, which makes surfing the net quite a pleasant experience, as should be expected from a NETbook. I only had one real gripe from the beginning… the complete lack of Windows XP.
Instead, all the new netbooks at Best Buy now come with Windows 7 Starter preinstalled. This is why I am writing this review. I must warn the general public, and speak my outrage. Listen carefully now.
Windows 7 starter SUCKS.
It is horrible. I can’t even call it an operating system. Seriously, Microsoft, fuck you.
Why on Gods green earth would you make it a limitation on Windows 7 starter that you CAN NOT change the wallpaper of all things? What the FUCK? Seriously? If I could give a grade lower than F for an operating system, this one would win it. I’m serious. It is that bad.
Unfortunately, things get worse from there. After spending roughly 14 hours trying to figure out how to get a Windows XP install onto a usb thumb drive and making it boot, I finally got Windows XP pro on this thing. Only problem was, it was missing the drivers for video and sound. That kind of tends to be a big deal, so I logged into the support site for Gateway computers to download new drivers, and what do you think I found? They only provided drivers for Windows 7. For a laptop that I knew for a fact ran XP up until about a month or so ago.
I contacted Gateway customer support via email, and 6 hours later, the only response I had was a support representative asking me where I acquired my windows xp disk from.
I was pretty upset at this point (no, fuck upset, I was raging) and responded to the rep that my source of windows xp was completely irrelevant to them sending me a link to download some drivers for the laptop I JUST bought from them. A couple hours later I heard back and they basically refused to provide me with drivers, even after I told them if I didn’t get them I was going to return the netbook for a refund.
I will not be buying from Gateway again. The worst part of the experience? The preinstalled recovery partition is corrupt and doesn’t work, so I’m pretty much on my own there.
I don’t recommend purchasing this netbook for anyone who isn’t very tech savvy, and very patient. It will drive them nuts. But I suppose if someone is willing to just accept the limitations of windows 7 starter, and just use it as-is, it’s a fine product.
Read between the lines: The hardware is good, but the operating system and the customer support are horrible.
So this one gets a big middle finger to both Microsoft (especially them) and Gateway. Learn the lesson. Don’t put such hefty restrictions on an already expensive product, and if somebody asks you for help with the $300+ product you just bought 2 days ago, GIVE IT TO THEM.
Fortunately for me, I am tech savvy, and I did have the patience, and I finally did manage to track down windows xp drivers from, of all places, the hardware manufacturer’s web sites, Gateway, how hard would it have been to just send me there?
Note: I will be posting another article later explaining just HOW to get Windows XP on a thumb drive, get it installed on your netbook, and will provide the drivers needed for this one on my web site, just so all of you don’t have to spend hours hunting it all down too. Unfortunately, tools like PeToUSB did not work for me, and I expect many others to encounter the same problems.
UPDATE! Tutorial for installing Windows XP on this laptop
Ok, so this turned out to be a rather popular article, if the page hits and comments are any indication! Now for me to make good on my word and provide a step-by-step for everyone else to follow.
Step 1
You need a copy of Windows XP, and I recommend searching torrent sites for a Windows XP Black Edition release, since they are well put together and clean, and is what I used for this netbook. They are basically an n-Lite version prepackaged with some good freeware utilities.
Step 2
There is no need to mount the .iso using Daemon Tools or any other program. Simply use WinRar or any other compatible archiving program to extract the contents of the disc on to your drive.
Step 3
Download WinSetupFromUSB and install it.
Step 4
Run WinSetupFromUSB, and it should look like this:
Step 5
Under Windows 2000/XP/2003 Source, select the folder that your windows install cd (i386, etc) is located in. (The folder you extracted the .iso to)
Step 6
Select the target USB thumb drive. I picked up a PNY 4GB thumb drive from Wal-Mart for about $12, but anything with 2GB or better will work fine. Note: It may or may not be necessary to format the thumb drive as FAT using Windows prior to this. Usually, the RMPrepUSB button will format the thumb drive just fine.
Step 7
Click GO! This process can take a while, depending on your hardware. Do not interrupt it or remove the drive at any time during this process.
Step 8
Enter the BIOS of the netbook, and be sure it is set to boot from USB. Mine was already automatically set to this, so odds are good yours will be too.
Step 9
Insert the thumb drive into your netbook with it powered off, and turned it on. You should see a “press any key to boot from CD” option or something similar.
Step 10
Proceed as normal with XP installation. In some cases, you may not be able to install to the C:\ drive. This is OK and will not impact anything. Sometimes the default restore partition will insist on being the C:\ drive, just create a new partition, and format as NTFS, then install to the new partition.
Step 11
The first part of the XP install will finish, and the computer will reboot. There is no need to press any key on boot this time, but DO NOT REMOVE the thumb drive yet. If you do, you can cause serious problems. Instead you will be presented with a special menu provided by WinSetupFromUSB, providing about 5 or 6 options to pick from. Start at the top option, and press enter. These options are presented because of the variable “accidents” that can happen from this sort of hack. If the first one does not work, reboot again, and select the second, and so forth. The 3rd option worked great for me.
Step 12
Let XP finish it’s install, and then you just need to track down the drivers. Gateway, unfortunately, is no help at all in this department. Simply open device manager, and go to the vendor web sites for the hardware, and download the updates yourself. Windows update might be able to grab some for you too. I recommend grabbing the Intel On-board Video drivers first, since it will make things easier.
DON’T PANIC
Assuming you use this method on the Gateway LT2104u, using the Windows XP Black install, you will have wireless and LAN drivers, and pretty much all the stuff you will need to be able to get the other drivers off the internet. If I can track down where I backed mine up, I will zip them up and post them here for download later.
Step 13
Enjoy Windows XP on your new netbook! It runs much better than Windows 7 Starter does, and can probably run more apps.
Notes: This tutorial is not entirely specific to the Gateway LT2104u, and should work on most computers, as well as desktops. If this is too much for you, your other option is to buy a usb cd drive (I got a cd-r/w drive on ebay for $20 with shipping) and proceed to install Windows as normal.
I hope this helps!
Blu Cigs
Dec 16th
It seems like I’m always leaning more toward writing product and service reviews these days, aren’t I? Well I have a lot to say, so expect everything from food and movie reviews, and even my letter to president Obama. You heard me. LETTER. OBAMA. TO.
So today I will discuss Blu Cigs. It’s not a topic I’ve discussed before, because it was a product I was very cautious about. I was cautious mostly about the long waiting periods for shipping, mostly, and most importantly – do they work?
Most people don’t know about these. Let me explain. They’re cigarettes… KIND of. But not really. There’s no smoke, no ash, no tar, hell, no flame at all for that matter.
They work as such. The longer part of the device is basically just a battery. That battery connects to an atomizer, which is in turn connected to a flavor cartridge at the end, which if the business end you puff on.
Sounds silly I know. This little guy even has a blue led on the tip that lights up when you take a hit. Cool!
I wanted to try it, but I wanted someone else to try it first. In came one of my oldest and bestest friends, Stevo, to give it a crack, since he’s always looking for some “must stop smoking SOMEHOW scheme” himself, and we usually follow the same path. Well, after showing him, he ordered the starter kit off their web site. I just happened to stop by his house the other day to discover he had them. He was kind enough to let me try one.
I. was. amazed.
I’ve tried the patch, nicotine gum, nicotrol inhaler, special prescription pills, even the old practice of “you only smoke what you roll yourself” (that last one is actually pretty effective if you don’t buy a 20lb bag of tobacco)
They all had flaws. The patch gives you nightmares and itches and never sticks on properly. Nicotine gum is disgusting and overpriced. The nicotrol inhaler WORKS, but it takes 20 minutes from a hit until any nicotine is in your system. Those pills? Forget it, waste of money. They did NOTHING for me. I did quit once using the “only smoke what you roll” method, successfully, but I was an idiot and started 3 months later due to a death in the family that stressed me out.
Why is this any different? Because it’s still smoking. Kind of. Only very different at the same time. It’s the eCigarette. I’ve always wanted to be able to call something that.
It has all the best stuff of smoking with none of the bad. It comes in delicious flavors including coffee, vanilla, and cherry. Of course you can have regular tobacco flavor or menthol if you want. The starter kit comes with a carton (a CARTON!) of each.
But here’s where it changes. First, it’s electronic, you charge it by a wall outlet or (and this satisfies the geek in me) usb adaptor on your pc or laptop.
It does not produce smoke. It does not heat up. It takes a small dose of nicotine (and only nicotine, plus whatever flavor you choose), and makes it into a water vapor. Steam, if you would, but without all that heat.
Folks, it is truly: the safe cigarette. There are no negative side effects, no additives or other addictive or dangerous substances. Nicotine itself is safe in controlled doses, just addictive. And these are certainly better than the Camel Snus I switched to.
The Snus is good, it tastes good, and provides a constant, high level of nicotine.
The downsides: It’s now costing just as much as smoking, it causes sores on my inner lip and gums, irritates my throat, and now has cause horribly bad heartburn.
Bye bye Snus, it’s been un a fun ride, but once the Blu arrives, I’m kicking it all else to the curb.
The best thing that will help me with the Blu? The cartridges come in varying nicotine strengths, from full (16mg) to (GASP!) 0mg nicotine free. It will let me step down the easy way. Hell I may keep doing the stuff even without the nicotine in it if it tastes that damn good. And it does taste good!
I had concerns over my order status today and contacted customer support for a half-heartedly humorous discussion. Apparently right before Christmas is a bad time to order stuff in the mail!
But it seems confirmed after discussion with support, they DO ship out within 72 hours (business days, of course) of the order being placed. I hope to get mine by the end of the week, but I doubt it.
I will post more once I get my kit and get to fully experience it all!
