The Geeky Brit

Words for the wise

Stuart — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 16:43:45 +0000

“Whatever you give a woman, she will make greater. If you give her sperm, she’ll give you a baby. If you give her a house, she’ll give you a home. If you give her groceries, she’ll give you a meal. If you give her a smile, she’ll give you her heart. She multiplies and enlarges what is given to her. So, if you give her any crap, be ready to receive a ton of shit ”

Not sure this will please my feminist readers, but it certainly applies to my lovely wife -except the cooking part, her cooking is so bad that recently the flies pitched in to fix our broken screen door.

Happy Christmas Worms!

Stuart — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 15:46:34 +0000

Are the worms gonna have a Disco Christmas?

Problem Solved…

Stuart — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 18:49:58 +0000

Make everyone go dancing!

SNL’s take on the VP debate

Stuart — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 16:26:51 +0000

No matter what side of the divide you sit on, I think we can all agree these guys nailed it:

DirecTv Installation

Stuart — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 22:16:55 +0000

DirecTv were meant to come and install today, but there turned out to be a few “issues” that means I am without tv tonight…

I was a little perturbed, and wrote the CEO an email explaining my frustration, and what had happened during the installation:

Dear Directv,

After getting completely exasperated with Comcast, I finally decided to take the plunge and choose another provider for my TV viewing. I did extensive research and eventually chose DirecTv over Dish Network, mainly because of the excellent service I received during my research process.

When I ordered (around 9/9), I was given an installation date of 9/17 (today), which was later than I wanted but within a reasonable time frame. I was very careful to explain to the sales person the fact that my main tv is in the very center of my dwelling, and that running 2 cables (as required by the HD DVR) would be very hard. He assured me this would not be an issue, and that it was covered under standard installation mentioning a piece of equipment that no longer needs 2 wires (a SWM switch).

The sales person did not enquire about my roof construction material (tile), but did ask if I had a clear view of the southern sky (which I do).

So today, when the installation technician arrived (From Ironwood Communications) I was very disappointed to find out that they did not a) have the necessary mount to install on a tile roof, and b) have the required switch to run the satellite feed through a single wire as requested.

He rescheduled the appointment for an additional week (9/25) – or 16 days after ordering. I was disappointed and decided to call the installation help line. They gentlemen I spoke to there was sympathetic, but explained that there would be an additional cost by the installer, and the installers
are totally separate entities to DirecTv, and therefore Directv had no control over additional fees. When I explained that I had explicitly stated the layout of my house to the sales person when I ordered the service, and he had assured me that standard installation would cover this situation. The sales rep said the best he could do was to get the installer on the line, and determine the additional cost. I agreed thinking that the csr would stay on the line as well, but no, he just rerouted my call – without giving me the opportunity to request his name.

I spoke to a lady at Ironwood Communications who checked and assured me there would be no additional charge for the SWM module or the eave mount.

What really surprised me was the way the information I relayed to the sales guy was not on the order form the Ironwood communication installation technician had. I also was not aware the work was to be subcontracted, and was very surprised to hear that the CSR on the DirecTv helpline spent a lot of time explaining how the installer and DirecTv are separate. I consider this to be misleading as I ordered the installation through DirecTv and had the understanding the contract was between myself and DirecTv.

There does seems to be some miscommunication between the installers, the sales guys, and the CSR’s.

I really hope this is just a minor hiccough at the beginning of this service contract. However, now I am without TV service for 8 days, whilst I wait on the installation to proceed. Anything you can do to move up the appointment date would be really appreciated. I really do look forward to having
DirecTv as my tv provider.

The Geeky Brit

Well, within a couple of hours I had a lady from Chase Carey’s office (the Directv CEO). My installation has now been moved up to the day after tommorrow, all for free. I am finding it really pays to be polite, factual, keep records of who you speak to, and go straight to the top when needed.

Good job DirecTv, you have clutched at the last minute…

No Heroics

Stuart — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 19:16:49 +0000

A new TV comedy series ala “The Incredibles” is coming to the British tv channel ITV. Hopefully it will land on BBC America at some point. In the mean time check out the trailer below. It has some strong language and innuendo, so be warned:

Choosing a new internet provider.

Stuart — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 04:12:18 +0000

So when it comes to choosing an alternative to Comcast, the choice is a little more limited. Because of my internet troubles I have now chosen a new internet provider. AT&T DSL.

Well, I really only have 2 options for internet service- Comcast and AT&T. So when one service provider pisses me off, I have little choice. BUT it isn’t all that bad.

Comcast HSI provides me a 6Mbps download and a 1 Mbps upload speed. With powerboost, this can sometimes “feel” a lot faster – but only if you have a powerboost compatible modem. Until I replaced my modem a few weeks ago (Thanks to some crummy advice from Comcast), I did not. Now powerboost looks great on Speakeasy.com/speedtest, but I am not sure how valuable it really is. For those of you who do not know what powerboost is, it is basically the ability to download files at a super fast rate for the first few megabytes of the file – after which the file will download at the regular 6mbps.

DSL does not have powerboost, but it does have an equivalent 6mbps download, and 1mbps upload. Indeed, this is the maximum for my area, but in many places (Fresno included diatoid), there is a 10Mb per second service available – which is faster than what Comcast currently offers.

The 6Mb service is $35 per month, if you also have a phone line. With no phone line it is $45 per month – or $40 if you tie it in with your AT&T wireless plan. AT&T also offer a $150 rebate for switching from cable, so long as you sign up for the phone service as well. There are also other rebates available if you sweet talk the AT&T rep with your english accent. However the rebates are only available if you order a phone line, which you must keep for 30 days.

So what I did was order the most basic phone line money can buy ($11 with taxes and fees), I talked the rep up to $200 in rebates, and will cancel the phone line after I have received them taking my service cost to be $40 per month (I am also a AT&T Wireless subscriber). If you count the rebates, I amortize out a years internet service to cost me $24 per month!

Basically, the same service (not counting powerboost) for half the price. I will be testing the speed of the internet when it is installed on Tuesday, and will report on how it compares. I hope it will be more than adequate for me.

Btw, if you go for the 6Mbps service, you also get a free subscription to AT&T Wifi. This is what is at all the Starbucks now as well as many airports. So if my internet does go out at home, I will only be left paying for the coffee, the bits will be free.

I figured it out…

Stuart — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 03:45:01 +0000

So I figured it out. At last. As you know, my cable experience has been less than stellar of late. My tv is frustrating (seriously the DVR is a POS). But my internet connection is what kills me. It is so flaky, and would randomly (or so it appeared) go out on me. I sometimes work from home, so when the internet dies – i have to relocate to a Starbucks. Not all bad, except I then have to pay for the internet as well as the coffee.

So the past few days have seen the internet drop out. It usually starts exhibiting issues around 3pm – slow downs etc. And then by 4 it is gone – only to reappear at about 7-8pm. I always plug my cable modem into every jack in the house to make sure it is not a line failure – and it never gets a signal. I have had Comcast out a few times – but they always show up in the morning. When it is working. The tech grumbles at me that if it ain’t broke he can’t fix it, and goes on his way. I can understand this, but doing nothing (a number of times) was starting to frustrate me.

So on Friday the internet went out, and it did yesterday too. Around 4pm. Now, we have had really hot weather these days, and I looked in my log to see when my internet was out before, and sure enough, it was when it was super hot. It seems my cable internet does not like heat. Eureka!

I phoned Comcast with the news, and this was met with a little disbelief, and the usual – well we can have a guy out next week, but if it intermittent there is nothing we can do. I asked if there was a service outage in my subdivision, and he said no. I asked how he knew and he said because none of my neighbors complained…

So I took my dog for a little walk, and guess what. Every house on my street has a satellite dish. Every one. I spoke with my neighbor and asked what service they used for High Speed Internet, and they said ATT dsl, cos cable is too expensive if you don’t get their TV service (it is about $58 a month). So if all those other neighbors have a Satellite dish, I am guessing they also use ATT DSL.

So Comcast, let me get this right. There isn’t a problem in my neighborhood, because no one else has complained – yet NO ONE ELSE USES YOUR SERVICE. Needless to say, I am done with Comcast.

Dish vs DirecTv vs Comcast

Stuart — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 15:46:00 +0000

So I recently sent my Perfect TV Service list to Dish, DirecTv and Comcast for them to comment on. I told Comcast, they have to try and keep me, and Dish and DirecTv they have to try and win my business.

Here is how each of them responded to my list. I grade each out of 3.

3 points = got it covered.
2 points = kinda, or its coming.
1 point = they have it, but didn’t tell me about it.
0 points = no way jose

1. Multi room DVR.
Dish Network has their VIP 622, VIP722 series of DVR’s. It is not a true multiroom dvr, as it is not networked, but it does allow me to watch my recordings in 2 rooms. DirecTv is working on it, but cannot give me details. Comcast did not even comment on it.

Dish: 3, DirecTv 2: Comcast: 0

2. HD content.
All 3 providers provide some level of HD. DirecTv has the largest lineup followed by Dish, and then Comcast. However, Dish do not provide Fresno CA DMA local channels in HD, they do provide an alternate HD feed.

Dish: 2, DirecTv 3: Comcast: 3

3. Same channel number for HD and SD
Channel Mapping as it is called. Dish and DirecTv both provide this, as well as the ability to view only subscribed channels etc. Comcast forces you to remember 2 distinct numbers.

Dish: 3, DirecTv 3: Comcast: 0

4. True HD – and no twisting the figures
So this cannot really be measured unless I have all 3 services, so I did some research on the internet. No provider provides full HD, it is all transcoder somewhat. Both Dish and DirecTv seem to offer the best picture out of the 3, with comcast coming in slightly behind. Despite my best prodding no information about the down resing was forthcoming from the providers.

Dish: 2, DirecTv 2: Comcast: 1

5. My must have channels
As I mentioned Dish does not have my locals in HD. Dish does not offer MLB extra innings, but does carry Setanta. Comcast does not carry Setanta. The only carrier to provide MLB in HD is direcTv so once again DirecTv is the winner here.

Dish: 2, DirecTv: 3, Comcast: 2

6. Low hardware lease costs – minimal startup costs
Comcast has the lowest startup costs – free. Dish does have a startup cost – the installation fee, which can be waived if you sign a 2 year contract. DirecTv has the largest start up cost (by far), with installation, equipment and other fees. For each provider I had the following startup costs for similar packages: Comcast: $0, Dish: $50, DirecTv $250.

Dish: 2, DirecTv: 0, Comcast: 3

7. OnDemand HD Content
Comcast’s OnDemand content is very strong. They have instant on HD content. DirecTv also has a lineup that is rather large, although you have to wait before the content has downloaded enough to your hard drive before starting to watch it. Dish has a very limited lineup, but does offer 1080p pay movies. But what about the free content?

Dish: 1, DirecTv: 2, Comcast: 3

8. Reliable Equipment and Service, and good support when needed
So I felt I had to split this up into 2. Firstly lets talk about hardware: The Dish network equipment is recognized throughout the industry as being exceptional. DirecTv suffered a horrible start to the life of its HD DVR equipment with a lot of bugs, although these seemed to have calmed down somewhat recently. In my opinion the Comcast equipment is exceptionally frustrating to use. It also has suffered a lot of bugs that are starting to get fixed after 2 years of frustration.
Equipment:
Dish: 3, DirecTv: 2, Comcast: 0

Now, I really did not know what to expect from the emails and calls I made to these providers. Firstly, DirecTv is excellent. Really, they were prompt in their responses (usually a couple of hours), always courteous and always well written gramatically correct english. Dish left a lot to be desired. Their emails took on average 24 hours to be responded to. The answer to direct questions was usually a canned sales pitch, which is very frustrating. When I asked them not to send me another pitch, they half answered my question, and then waited 24 hours for the second half of the question. Comcast’s customer service is poor. Despite numerous call outs I still have my cable internet drop out fairly frequently. I was waiting for a service credit 2 billing cycles, only to call and be told it was not happening as it was in a hold queue. Somebody had forgotten to enter a reason for the credit. Now the office of the president is dealing with me things have become a lot more courteous, and my contact is obviously more capable. But not everyone will get to deal with a senior customer service rep.

Customer Service:
Dish: 1, DirecTv: 3, Comcast: 1

Subtotal:
Dish: 2, DirecTv: 2.5, Comcast: 0.5

9. Remote Scheduling of my DVR
Comcast have been promising this for about a year on fancast.com. No show just now. DirecTv offer this for all their DVR’s as do Dish, although I have reports of the Dish Online Scheduling only working for some DVR’s (Specifically the VIP722).

Dish: 2, DirecTv: 3, Comcast: 2

10. Multimedia Center

DirecTv allow you to connect your DVR to a Intel Viiv PC to view photos, music and more. A cool feature! If it could also stream movies, that would be great. Dish does not have network media sharing, but will allow you to plug in your digital camera to store the pictures on the hard drive. Comcast has no such feature.

Dish: 2, DirecTv: 3, Comcast: 0

And the winner is…

DirecTv is the winner with 23.5 points. Dish follows closely with 21 points, and Comcast sweeps up the rear with 14.5 points.

Let me know what you think about what I wrote. I now have decided to bump comcast for definite. The multiroom dvr thing is still making me lean towards Dish right now, as is the startup cost associated with directv, but on pure features DirecTv certainly has Dish beat. Besides, I want my locals in HD.

Comcast now implements download caps

Stuart — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 14:46:18 +0000

Comcast has announced they are now implementing download limits for their customers.

Now I use a lot of bandwidth per month, mainly as I sometimes stream test video through the internet from my place of work. This use is legal, but high bandwidth. I also back up my machines to amazon s3 storage -and with each full backup being around 150Gb… This is also legal, but high bandwidth. Now Comcast are saying we shouldn’t do this? Wow, so in reality you don’t get what you are paying for.

As you may have read, I have been having a whole boat load of troubles with my Comcast internet service. Comcast has already been implementing this limit, but has only now published it. I think this is the final nail in the coffin for Comcast, at least as regards to my use of them.