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The Tethering / Hotspot Debate: No, You’re Not a Thief. But Somebody Else is a Highway Robber.

 

Interesting debate at ZDNet over wireless data plans:  James Kendrick claims that unpaid tethering makes you a thief.   Thankfully his fellow ZDNet-er Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols has the common sense to dispute  this tethering thief nonsense.

Yes, technically if your wireless contract includes an anti-hotspot clause and you turn this feature on, you are in violation. Of the contract, that is.  Your provider has the right to levy additional charges, or terminate your contract. But does that make you a thief?  I’d much rather conclude your provider commits highway robbery.

Remember this device?

Yes, phones used to look like that.  And there was a time when phone companies (actually, “the” phone company, Ma Bell) charged extra when you had more then one outlet in your home….

Remember the early days of cable TV?   You had to ( well, were supposed to) pay extra for each additional cable outlet.

How about the early days of the Internet, before wireless became pervasive?  Yes, ISPs expected you to pay extra for each outlet…

(Cross-posted @ CloudAve » Zoli Erdos)

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Ungrateful iBozos, Stop the Whining. Get a (i)Life.

<sarcasm>

iPhone-4-steve-jobs I’m sick of all this whining within the iFamily.  These iBozos just don’t appreciate all the goodness they have.

iPhone preorder systems failed.  So what?  You’ve just saved a boatload of money, be happy, get a life!

Yet another At&T security breach. What’s the big deal?  All your data is public anyway, has been for a while, will always be so, so STFU.

Orders Charged and Sent to the Wrong People – and Gizmodo has the balls to call it a disaster.  They don’t understand the Grand Scheme. Have you ever been to a potluck party?  You bring some, get some (or not).  Random credit cards get charged and iPhones get delivered to random people – so what?  On the average it all works out, everyone receives an iPhone (or not).  We’re all part of iFamily.

MG Siegler Wants a Micro-Cell Rip-Off Box – WTF?  To actually waste time making calls?  Voice calls are so 90’s anyway. He should pay extra to AT&T for providing such a valuable time-saver plan.

I’m fed up with these unfaithful, ungrateful iWhiners.  They should be happy to be admitted to the iChurch and shut up. At least while on AT&T

</sarcasm>

(Cross-posted @ CloudAve)

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iPhone iPen iPaper

What’s iPen? Not this.  What’s iPaper?  Not this (although Scribd has a strong case).

It’s AT&T taking iPhone orders on paper and pen.  In 2010.

paper order

Well, at least paper won’t leak customer data like AT&T’s systems are.

(Cross-posted @ CloudAve)

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iPhone? Android? It’s All Irrelevant when you Can’t Get a Signal

Will iPhone users move to Verizon? – goes the speculation, based on a study published @ Fortune showing AT&T drop calls 3 times as frequently as Verizon.

From my vantage point even dropped calls would be a luxury – meaning you can get a strong enough signal to place calls in the first place.  Apparently I live at the end of the World.  Sometimes I tell friends if Friedman is right and the World is really flat, this is where you fall off the edge. 🙂

But it’s not really the “end of the world” – Pleasanton is (was) was hometown to software giants like  PeopleSoft, Commerce One,  Oracle, Workday, or to name a few more traditional businesses, grocery chain giant Safeway, or mega-HMO Kaiser Permanente.  Yet this is what AT&T’s coverage map looks like:

at&t coverage map

Ad no, we’re not even talking about 3G data, this is for voice calls.  Now, being in the “good” (on the boundary of moderate) zone may not look so bad, until we look at how At&T defines good voice coverage:

Should be sufficient for on-street or in-the-open coverage, most in-vehicle coverage and possibly some in-building coverage. This AT&T owned network provides GSM, GPRS, and EDGE service

Possibly some in-building coverage?  Calling that good?  How pathetic.  But let’s look at other carriers’ definition of “Good”.  T-Mobile:

You will likely be able to place calls outdoors, in a car, and occasionally indoors.

Occasionally?  What are they smoking calling this “good” coverage?  Hm, let’s check Sprint, home to the uber-super HTC EVO 4GS and the superfast Overdrive 4G hotspot:

You should generally receive a signal strength sufficient to make calls outdoors, in a car and in some buildings.

How Pathetic.  All these companies must speak a different version of English, where “good” means “no can do” in most buildings.  Insanity.

That only leaves Verizon, which has solid red (best coverage) in my entire area.  Which makes my choice easy: all those comparative reviews of the iPhone 3G and 4G, HTC Incredible, Nexus One, HTC EVO 4G are so irrelevant, if I can’t get a signal.  HTC Incredible (Android) and Verizon, here I come.  By default.

(Cross-posted @ CloudAve)

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AT&Tease

Again

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What Do Americans Stand In Line For?

The privilege to give their money to Apple and AT$T:

And the hope to get their money out of collapsed Indymac: (no. it’s not *that* Mac)