My cat Cici passed away this week from complications from kidney disease. I didn't even know she had it. The biggest symptom was bad breath, which I took her to the vet for at the end of August. During the lockdown, I wasn't able to get tartar control kitty snacks. I thought she might have a cavity, but her health checkup showed everything looked normal. A blood test didn't seem necessary. She was only 8.
Last week I related that Visible, according to an email they sent, would be launching 5G within a few weeks. They launched it this week instead. It's only available on the iPhone 12, but that's a temporary problem. They still don't have an affordable 5G phone, but 5G coverage isn't available where I live yet and likely won't be for some time. There's time for 5G phone prices to drop. So, 200Mbps top speed is on the way.
Recently, I also mentioned that my electric company was negotiating a rental fee for its power poles that would allow ISPs to bring broadband into underserved areas like mine. I can only get 1.5Mbps via DSL at this location due to a monopoly situation in the local market, which caused me to upgrade to 4G LTE internet instead. There's good news on that front. The state Public Service Commission has set the pole fee at $1 for the first 6 years and $27.71 per pole after that. With rates that high will it be worth it for anyone to bring broadband here? I don't know. The national average is $20/pole. Not far from here the rate is $7. I suspect the price an ISP would have to charge customers in order to offset the pole fee is going to be high.
By this time next year, this area could be looking at these internet options:
As an added good news, part of the deal for renting a power pole to bring broadband here is that the speed has to be 25Mbps download minimum and 3Mbps minimum upload. That's plenty for streaming 1080p or downloading the occasional large software update.
In other news Israel and Morocco are normalizing relations and bringing full peace in the Middle East one step closer.
Have a great weekend.
I got a call from Windstream in regards to my Better Business Bureau filing. They assured me that advertising products to me that are not available is not false advertising because someone somewhere else can buy those things. What? Uh, liar. When I go to the Windstream web site and type in my address, it ONLY offers me one specific internet connection speed, 15Mbps, and that speed is not available here. They only provide 1.5Mbps where I live. That's why I switched to 4G LTE in the first place. After a decade or more of promising me an upgrade, they never did it. At this time in history 1.5Mbps is too slow for just browsing. Too many sites use autoloading videos and junk like that.
I received a card in the mail from them advertising a 1.6Gbps connection speed when that is not available here or anywhere else. That's almost faster than U.S. 5G and is faster in the majority of places that actually have 5G. That's the definition of false advertising.
Moving on.
Visible sent me an email this week. In part it said,
"We’re excited to announce that Visible is launching 5G for compatible iPhones in the coming weeks, with compatible Android devices to follow. At launch, 5G will offer speeds up to 200 Mbps and be available for Visible members on iPhone 12 where Verizon 5G coverage is available."
I assume "in the coming weeks" means January. The price will remain $25/month for those on the Party Plan and $40/month for those who don't join the Party Plan. From the wording on their web site, it's possible to infer that at some point they'll offer full 5G for a higher price. Visible is owned by Verizon, so I completely expect that. Having 5G coming would change things a little bit. It should be faster than the 4G LTE internet I have now, although distance from the tower concerns me. Also, there's no telling when 5G will get to my area. It's supposed to be by the end of 2021, but that's based on a pre-Covid rollout schedule by Verizon. By the way, when 5G arrives here, so does Verizon's $70/month 5G internet service. I'm interested.
So, if I have 4G LTE, why was I looking at Windstream's DSL offerings? Even though the 15Mbps they advertise here is slower then 4G LTE, it would have had important advantages. It's always on. 4G LTE isn't, although it's usually impossible to tell the difference. The second advantage is that I wouldn't have to charge a cell phone to get internet. Right now, I have a 5,000mAh phone on Visible that I use only for internet. 5,000mAh is impressive, but it still needs recharging. I can't leave it on all the time unless I leave it on the charger all the time. I'm not willing to do that until the battery is shot. That means I only use the Hotspot feature when I'm online which means that I can't use my Google Home minis or my smart devices unless I'm online. That's annoying.
Another advantage of DSL would be running my Roku streaming sticks at any time. 15MBps would let me do that at 1080p and still leave bandwidth over for normal internet things. And it would be always on. If I want to watch television on Roku now, I have to make sure my phone is charged enough and set up a Hotspot connection. At the present I use the 5,000mAh phone for internet and my 3,200mAh personal cell phone for Roku. That's more convenient, and it lets me split the data load. Visible is a cell phone company not an internet company, so I try not to go nuts with data. I talked to a rep that said it doesn't matter how much I use, but I'm familiar enough with the industry to still be cautious.
Another advantage DSL would have had would be not having to buy a 5G phone. Prices are coming down but not fast enough. Using DSL for a year while waiting on 5G to arrive in my area and waiting for more and cheaper 5G phone to become available made sense. In addition, Verizon's 5G internet plan would make having a 5G phone no longer necessary. There are other things I don't have time to go into. This post is too long already. Long story short, always on internet is really helpful for this part-time online business idea I'm preparing to launch next year. More about that later if I can get it going and be successful with it.
Have a great weekend.
I've blogged about switching to 4G LTE internet after being promised for a decade or longer by Windstream that faster speeds were on the upgrade schedule with no upgrade ever taking place. Well, last week I got a Christmas type card in the mail from Windstream informing me that my neighborhood has been upgraded to 200MBPS speeds. Amazing. That's 1.6Gbps and 8 times faster than 200Mbps. Maybe they should stop using all caps. False advertising and all. I went on their web site and put in my address to see if it was true. Nope. It was another lie. However, the site said that 15Mbps per second was available. In fact, it was the only option for my address. It looked like they finally upgraded the switch! With a price of $37/mo for the first 12 months, I was intrigued.
The 4G LTE internet that I have now is good. I get speeds better than 15Mbps on a regular basis, but because it's cellular data, it's not "always on" the way DSL is. The speeds also fluctuate. Normally, that's not a problem. I don't download big files very often. But it can be annoying. Sometimes, I'll have to restart the phone to get a better connection. The $25/mo price I get from Visible for true unlimited cannot be beaten, especially with 5G 200Mbps coming in an estimated January or February time frame at the same price. But 5G phones aren't cheap, and I'd have to buy a new one to get 5G speeds. Not to mention that I don't know when my area will be upgraded to 5G. A while back Verizon promised by 2021, but that was before the pandemic. It could be a while. Visible is owned by Verizon.
The thought of having 15Mbps of always on data vs having to keep charging a cell phone to make sure I have internet compelled me to drop by the Windstream office in Cornelia, GA on Monday to at least check it out. The lady at the desk checked the computer and told me she would have to email someone about it. Hmm. Since it was after 5pm, he was already gone for the day. She promised to call me "in the morning" and let me know. Tuesday came and went with no call. I called their office on Wednesday and left a voice mail. By late afternoon with no return call, I went to the office. Guess what? The only speed at my address is 1.5Mbps just like it's been the past 10+ years.
So, I went home and looked up how to sue Windstream for false advertisement. What I ended up doing was filing a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission reporting Windstream for false advertising fraud and misrepresentation of their services and/or products. I also filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. I don't know what's going to happen with those, but I do know that my area is not the only one to have slow speeds that Windstream seemingly has no plans to upgrade. Maybe the cost of fighting with the FTC and BBB will be more than the cost of some simple upgrades.
There's some good news on the internet front. Until now Windstream has had a near monopoly here as an internet provider. The local electric company offers internet, but it's only to a few customers on a fiber line. How few? I'm less than a mile from the fiber line and can't get it. However, the electric company has made its poles available to rent to ISPs who want to provide internet to underserved areas like mine. Comcast is one of the companies interested. The hangup is the price of the pole rental. According to the local paper, it will be resolved by the middle of the month. It looks like competition will finally be arriving.
Have a great weekend.
