Death knell for landlines - RANT

[wcampbell47]

EX-computer techie.... 28 years in I.T. made me realize I no longer enjoy computers because there are no longer moving, repairable, parts. Heck, there's not too many machines considering the proliferation of VMs. I am now a maintenance technician on moving machinery and get my hands filthy dirty every day. Ahhhh.... that feels good. :thumbsup:

I was just telling my dentist about getting out from behind a desk and computer screen and how much I enjoy playing in the dirt.

 

[JBourquin]

Many of you live in an area where you get some cell phone signal. If you can get at least 1 bar then look into a cell phone signal booster. I sold and installed boosters in my area until Verizon brought 4G LTE into range. https://www.weboost.com/us/ These boosters do work. They can be self installed. Just read the directions, then re-read to pickup tips you missed the first time around.The Pro is that these boosters work with all major carriers. The weak signal outside the home can be picked up with the external antennae and carried by cable to the powered booster inside the house. The booster amplifies and sends the signal to an internal antennae which is then picked up by your phone. You can get 3 to 4 bars on your phone if properly installed and the external antennae is positioned correctly. The signal back to the tower is boosted as well. The Con is they are not cheap - but it is a one time purchase with 2 year warranty. https://www.weboost.com/us/

Picked up a Wilson DB Pro a few years back. Wish I hadn't waited so long now. Think I paid somewhere around $150-$175 on eBay.

 

[ultrarunner]

That absolutely makes no sense. I know my company, one of the top 3 in the country, isn't giving up any copper cable. The only thing getting fiber is some of the newer subdivisions. Also keep in mind if there is no Carrier of last resort in your state you are screwed. No one has to give you service. In my state we get additional funding to be the COLR in this state. A lot of Telco's are trying to get out of this commitment because the cost to maintain aging cable or install new is cost prohibitive. Yes, we are in the business to make money.

Telephone service has a tradition of excellence over the decades...

Seven miles from highway 1, high up in the Santa Cruz mountains in the middle of nowhere is a collection of off-grid homes... totally rural back country with no cell, power water etc... yet they have telephone and internet furnished through underground cable.

I was amazed the first time I heard a telephone ring... learned the phone company was required to provide service...

 

[dfkrug]

Emails are not secure, and attachments are more prone to hacking.
PDFs are the latest trend. Many companies who deal with secure documents have moved back to
faxes since they are secure.

Emailed PDFs or JPGs are what has replaced FAXes. Reasonably secure. Stamped and mailed bills and letters, maybe less secure. Nothing is totally secure from miscreants.

Probably the most advanced data miner of emails (coming and going) is Google (Alphabet). Not a fan.

 

[Ford850]

Emailed PDFs or JPGs are what has replaced FAXes. Reasonably secure. Stamped and mailed bills and letters, maybe less secure. Nothing is totally secure from miscreants.

Probably the most advanced data miner of emails (coming and going) is Google (Alphabet). Not a fan.

Emailed PDfs are not secure though, and that's the reason many are using Fax. Emailed PDFs are easily hacked now, like the rest of email unfortunately. Like you said, and someone earlier, nothing is totally secure and it's all relative. I don't make the rules, I just have to follow them.

 

[MossRoad]

I was just telling my dentist about getting out from behind a desk and computer screen and how much I enjoy playing in the dirt.

When I started, I had education in electronics, motors, motor controllers, power supplies, etc... The company got in some new computers with massive hard disks, motors, power supplies, etc... and needed me to maintain them. That got sucked up into I.T. eventually, so I got sucked along with it, and the operating systems, software, training, management, etc.... all came along as technology progressed. I used to troubleshoot on a component level. Now we just throw it out. Then with virtualization, our I.T. went from 10 people to 4 in three years. I recognized my skills would soon not be needed, a job opened up in maintenance, and since that's kinda where I started, I jumped ship right before my job would have been eliminated. Trying to make it last until retirement. Gonna be close. I got 10-12 years to go.

 

[dmccarty]

Many of you live in an area where you get some cell phone signal. If you can get at least 1 bar then look into a cell phone signal booster. I sold and installed boosters in my area until Verizon brought 4G LTE into range.
...

These boosters do work. They can be self installed. ...

Well, the boosters CAN work. :laughing::laughing::laughing: Ours did not help. We just went through three cell phone companies at the end of the year. We went with a new provider because they had a cheaper plan with more data. Their map said we had good cell coverage at our house, along the roads we drive, and places we visit. The maps lied. :shocked: The company sent us a booster to try. Said booster was useless. Actually, they gave us two boosters. One was going to use our DSL connection for phone service. Ah, no. We have very slow DSL that is barely adequate now and we can't add a phone call over DSL to the data traffic.

In any case, neither booster worked so we had to go to a third company.

People should try a booster but the boosters did not help us at all.

Later,
Dan

 

[newbury]

Well, the boosters CAN work. :laughing::laughing::laughing: Ours did not help. We just went through three cell phone companies at the end of the year. We went with a new provider because they had a cheaper plan with more data. Their map said we had good cell coverage at our house, along the roads we drive, and places we visit. The maps lied. :shocked: The company sent us a booster to try. Said booster was useless. Actually, they gave us two boosters. One was going to use our DSL connection for phone service. Ah, no. We have very slow DSL that is barely adequate now and we can't add a phone call over DSL to the data traffic.

In any case, neither booster worked so we had to go to a third company.

People should try a booster but the boosters did not help us at all.

Later,
Dan

It also can depend a lot on your cell hook up.

I switched from Verizon to Consumer Cellular and the phone I bought had a T-mobile/Consumer Cellular SIM. Reception was the pits. I switched to an At&T/Consumer Cellular SIM and it's been rock solid and good.

 

[ultrarunner]

Well, the boosters CAN work. :laughing::laughing::laughing: Ours did not help. We just went through three cell phone companies at the end of the year. We went with a new provider because they had a cheaper plan with more data. Their map said we had good cell coverage at our house, along the roads we drive, and places we visit. The maps lied. :shocked: The company sent us a booster to try. Said booster was useless. Actually, they gave us two boosters. One was going to use our DSL connection for phone service. Ah, no. We have very slow DSL that is barely adequate now and we can't add a phone call over DSL to the data traffic.

In any case, neither booster worked so we had to go to a third company.

People should try a booster but the boosters did not help us at all.

Later,
Dan

The maps can be very optimistic...

The public map shows excellent coverage for my home.

When I went into the cell provider store they pulled up a map the basically shows my street as being excluded...

I imagine it will always be this way... even though I can see the freeway and cell towers from the yard... most of the homes are in the shadow of a hill...

 

[k0ua]

When we first moved here in 2002, we had really lousy cell service. you had to go outside to even get a bar. Then one day I guess the tower fairy arrived, and we get full strength signals through the house, even good signal down in the basement. We did our happy dance.

:cool2: