Cablevision -- Aaarrgghh!
Arrrghhh -- Broadband out at home for the past 14 hours!
Cablevision says most of Long Island is down.
I got into the office sometime ago; several posts to follow . . .
UPDATE: 9/8/06 5:31pm
I go thru the networks diagnostic on the iMac -- swap a setting or two -- presto! Access restored. Now how they got changed, I canot fathom
It was probably not Cablevision's fault -- although their crpytic Long Island has outages message made me assume so.
Friday, September 08, 2006 | 08:51 AM | Permalink
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Get a business line for cable modem or DSL. It's the same bandwidth with a SLA. Only about $15 a month more.
Available here in Ohio.
Posted by: khare | Sep 8, 2006 9:59:07 AM
BR -- time to invest in a high-speed cellular card for that laptop. Then you can blog/trade from any metro area location, the airport, etc. Combined with a micro laptop like a Libretto or those tiny Sony units, it's a huge plus to your day and only runs about 3 lbs.
Posted by: T | Sep 8, 2006 10:25:22 AM
1. Cablevision Customer Service only knows when widespread service is down when (1) users call or (2) tech updates. Sadly, tech updates are often several hours behind the users.
2. Cablevision Customer Service procedures require that the rep first place responsibility with user (i.e., unpug/plug modem, check in-house wiring) before they will arrange service call.
3. Like all dysfunctional union shops, Customer Service has no authority or control over the union techs. The Union techs hate the CS folks and, based on my many observations, are often petty about getting work done beacuse they always feel "pu upon" by the "man".
Solution: Get the service techs name and phone number and call them direct. They respond much better to customers directly. If you continue to go through Customer Service, you may feel like killing yourself.
Posted by: R | Sep 8, 2006 10:57:14 AM
WIreless broadband as backup OR if availabe in ur area, sign up fo Verizon FIOS...it's faster than optimum online & provides for a nice backup line to the home
Posted by: Dave | Sep 8, 2006 12:35:57 PM
Blame Lockheed - they were going to go big into satellite broadband with the company I worked with, ViaSat, until they got the F-22 contract and pulled out.
We could all be using satellite broadband now if the contract had just gone to Boeing....
Posted by: donna | Sep 8, 2006 12:54:12 PM
Better yet encourage city governments to support free wi-max, which could provide free access to everyone for a mere fraction of the cost of what is spent now for pay per user/household. Socialism? Yes. Just like schools, military and public roads.
Posted by: Bob A | Sep 8, 2006 1:18:09 PM
I have said that we no longer have the capacity as a nation to take on projects like the Apollo moon program or the Interstate Highway system.
This proves it.
Perhaps it is time we caught up with South Korea.
Posted by: kevin_r | Sep 8, 2006 1:34:05 PM
Anyone that requires 24x7 Internet access (whether it be at home or the office) simply must have redundant access.
Redundant means completely different paths -- for example, two different DSL lines wouldn't work because there is common electronics, and both could go down at once.
I have DSL and Cable access. This is somewhat preferable to wireless as wireless coverage is spotty and unpredictable (the carriers constantly reconfigure and reallocate the towers), prone to dropouts, and not terribly fast (this goes triple for direct satellite).
Once you have two (or more!) access feeds, you will want a way to load balance amongst them (to take full advantage of the bandwidth you are paying for, and to keep the kid's online games from slowing down your performance).
You will also want a way to automatically monitor each path so that you know when they go down -- both to place service calls and to keep statistics on uptime -- if one is constantly flaky you probably want to move on to something else).
How you balance and monitor is outside the scope of this lecture (and is equipment and software dependent) -- your local "friendly" system administrator is sure to give you lots of help and advice.
Huh? Your's doesn't? That's funny, the rest do.
One last thing -- overly large uninterruptable power supplies (UPS) on EVERYTHING -- all the network stuff, the modems, and so forth! And test them every month or so, and replace the batteries every 6-12 months (or get new ones).
Oh yeah, you DO take backups and test them?
Posted by: Jim Bergsten | Sep 8, 2006 1:47:32 PM
Come on! South Korea is a joke. It's a closed society that wreaks of bribery, payoffs, broken socialism, high import tariffs and, oh yeah, the best stem cell researcher in the world. Oh, yeah, I forgot that he was found to be making his entire research up. Did I tell everyone I've mastered cold fusion? South Korean has one good thing going for it. Their BBQ is the best there is. Oops, not anymore. The Japanese copied it long ago and made it better. Kobe beef yakiniku.
We don't need a tax levied on everyone to get wireless internet. It'll be pervasive soon enough. In the mean time, it costs $12 a month to get high speed DSL.
Posted by: BDG123 | Sep 8, 2006 2:44:29 PM
" It's a closed society that wreaks of bribery, payoffs, broken socialism, high import tariffs "
..... like the rest of Asia
Posted by: MJM | Sep 8, 2006 2:54:57 PM
Jim B,
You forgot:
Brush your teeth every morning and every night!
and Take out the garbage.
Just Jesting. Everything you said should be done.. but well.. you know how things go... testing the backups is such a pain.. it probably works... maybe.
I might recommend just using some online file hosting service for important files unless you really are running a datacenter at home.
Posted by: eli | Sep 8, 2006 2:59:42 PM
" It's a closed society that wreaks of bribery, payoffs, broken socialism, high import tariffs "
...and I thought they were the model for democracy we are attempting to spread throughout the middle east. Silly me.
Posted by: Bob A | Sep 8, 2006 3:03:24 PM
Yeah, well...
When you go into your local computer store, you will see rows and rows of "backup" packages?
Ever wonder why they aren't called "restore" packages?
Posted by: Jim Bergsten | Sep 8, 2006 3:12:17 PM
Anecdote: About 35 years ago when they tried to bring cable to Boston my Libertarian father fought it. The price will only go up up up-he told me. The cable cos swore everyone's cable bill would be $10 forever. The rest is history.
Posted by: lola | Sep 8, 2006 4:34:28 PM
"I go thru the networks diagnostic on the iMac -- swap a setting or two -- presto! Access restored. Now how they got changed, I canot fathom."
Just keep telling yourself -- "it's all junk."
Very forthright to admit your "mistake," nonetheless, my assertion still stands.
Posted by: Jim Bergsten | Sep 8, 2006 5:41:16 PM
9 times out of 10 the problem exists between the screen and the seat. Heh, we've all been there! Kudos for the admission!
Posted by: KP | Sep 18, 2006 2:31:38 PM
