|
Grex > Agora56 > #2: General Announcements - Winter 2005/06 | |
|
| Author |
Message |
| 25 new of 253 responses total. |
nharmon
|
|
response 114 of 253:
| 
Feb 2 16:48 UTC 2006 |
How does telegraph work? You tell them the name you want to send to and
they magically know where it goes?
|
gull
|
|
response 115 of 253:
|
Feb 2 16:57 UTC 2006 |
Re resp:113: Telephone service and Internet service are going to merge.
They already travel over the same circuits in many cases. With VoIP,
this is going to get carried right through to the end user. Cable TV
will take longer to merge, because of its huge bandwidth requirements,
but eventually all your information services are going to arrive on the
same pipe.
|
keesan
|
|
response 116 of 253:
|
Feb 2 17:10 UTC 2006 |
In parts of the world where people don't all have telephones, telegraph
service is important. I got a few telegrams while living in Macedonia. The
dorm had one phone. The place where I rented a private room did not. Making
long distance calls required a long wait at the post office for the operator
to set it up. That has probably changed, but I doubt everyone has phone
service all over the world. Is there anyone in the US without phone service?
Telegrams were used as greeting cards, not for rapid communication, in the
US.
|
marcvh
|
|
response 117 of 253:
|
Feb 2 17:13 UTC 2006 |
I would like to announce that there is a difference between a telegraph
and a telegram.
|
nharmon
|
|
response 118 of 253:
|
Feb 2 17:18 UTC 2006 |
Thanks marc. #114 should be, 'How does a telegram know where to be
delivered?'
|
mcnally
|
|
response 119 of 253:
|
Feb 2 17:19 UTC 2006 |
re #115: and that "eventually" is closer than many people might think.
For me it's already here and after several months of testing we're
starting to take installation orders from our customers.
|
jep
|
|
response 120 of 253:
|
Feb 2 17:30 UTC 2006 |
I read a few years ago about a very small town in Louisiana which did
not have phone service up to that point, but had finally had it made
available. I don't know if they were the last place in America to have
phone service. They must have been, since there were articles in major
newspapers about it.
|
rcurl
|
|
response 121 of 253:
|
Feb 2 17:36 UTC 2006 |
My recollection of telegrams is that they were delivered by phone if the
recipient had a phone, and were delivered by a person to an address
otherwise. In the latter case they came with the strips of paper on which
the message was printed cut and pasted to a delivery form. You can see all
this in old movies... 8^}
Re #115: I wonder how much of an impediment to that will be caused by the
fact that that "pipe" doesn't work in power failures, while POTS still
does? Maybe the cost or convenience advantages of the former will
overwhelm the reliability advantage of the latter: it won't be the first
time that convenience or cost overwhelmed reliability in something. Or,
perhaps cable could also provide power for at least the modem and
associated phone?
|
albaugh
|
|
response 122 of 253:
|
Feb 2 17:40 UTC 2006 |
Mac IE Dead And Gone
CMP TechWeb 02/01/06
Copyright 2006 CMP Media Inc.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As promised, Microsoft stuck a fork in Internet Explorer for the Mac on
Tuesday, and called it done.
Late last year, the Redmond, Wash.-based developer told Mac users to look for
another browser because it was dropping support and discontinuing downloads
for IE.
On Tuesday, Microsoft posted a notice on its Mactopia Web site that Internet
Explorer for Mac no longer available for downloading.
Microsoft recommended that Mac owners still using IE should migrate to more
recent Web browsing technologies such as Apple's Safari.
That advice may have had some effect. Data from Amsterdam-based Web analytics
vendor OneStat released on Tuesday noted that that Safari use was slightly up,
both within the U.S. and globally. Use of Safari, the number three browser on
most metrics listings, has climbed by about a quarter of a percent in the U.S.
since November.
|
tod
|
|
response 123 of 253:
|
Feb 2 17:44 UTC 2006 |
re #110
You can still send a message when you send cash via Western Union.
(MoneyGram is cheaper and more global, though.)
|
rcurl
|
|
response 124 of 253:
|
Feb 2 17:55 UTC 2006 |
I use Firefox (but have Safari installed) on my Macs, but a lot of web sites
are written for only IE compatibility - and only for the most recent IE for
PCs. I have the last IE for Mac, and it doesn't work on all sites. Is this
Microsoft action an indirect attack on the Mac platform?
|
twenex
|
|
response 125 of 253:
|
Feb 2 17:58 UTC 2006 |
No doubt.
|
albaugh
|
|
response 126 of 253:
|
Feb 2 17:58 UTC 2006 |
Both, I'd say.
|
mcnally
|
|
response 127 of 253:
|
Feb 2 18:37 UTC 2006 |
re #120: Depends on what you mean by "have phone service." Do you mean
*any* service at all (such as a shared community phone at a grocery store)
or do you mean residential phone service? Stehekin, WA, was debating the
latter as recently as August of last year:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002419687_stehekin04m.ht
ml
And I'd be willing to bet there are numerous small villages in Alaska that
don't have regular phone service, though they might have radio links for
emergencies.
|
gull
|
|
response 128 of 253:
|
Feb 2 20:19 UTC 2006 |
Re resp:116: One interesting thing about developing countries that
don't have widely-deployed phone systems is they seem to be skipping
the whole wired phone idea altogether. They're jumping straight from
nothing to cell phones.
Re resp:119: That's very cool. If I were in your service area I'd be
tempted. Comcast just started punishing me for being a loyal customer,
so I'm a bit annoyed with them. (In other words, the six month
promotional "new customer" discount ended, causing my bill to jump by
$30/month.)
Re resp:120: Many commercial PBX systems have battery back-ups. I
imagine the same thing could be provided for residential customers
without too much extra cost.
|
scholar
|
|
response 129 of 253:
|
Feb 3 15:40 UTC 2006 |
Why are you upset that they gave you the discount during the period they
promised, and then began to charge you the regular price? Isn't that exactly
what you agreed to? What would you have done if you were in charge of such
a promotion? Why do you choose to see the promotion as a way to punish loyal
customers, rather than encourage new customers to sign up?
|
rcurl
|
|
response 130 of 253:
|
Feb 3 17:10 UTC 2006 |
Perhaps because he feels he was gullible? I feel the "urge" to accept such
"bargains" (for a couple/few months), but put it aside to consider if I'll
accept the *real* cost when that starts. I'll sign up if I think I'd be
willing to pay the full cost from the start.
|
slynne
|
|
response 131 of 253:
|
Feb 3 17:59 UTC 2006 |
I sometimes sign up for the promotional price and then discontinue the
service when the promotional period ends. Usually, they sign me up for
another "promotional" period.
|
glenda
|
|
response 132 of 253:
|
Feb 3 19:25 UTC 2006 |
There are still areas in the U.P. with no phone service. We have been looking
at cell phone plans to find one with reasonable coverage up there. So far,
not much luck. Most of them cover the bigger cities but most of the center
part is not. There are still areas up there without electricity other than
generators or natural gas. The pockets are getting smaller but still exist.
(We have been looking for property for a vacation home/retirement home in the
U.P.)
|
rcurl
|
|
response 133 of 253:
|
Feb 3 19:27 UTC 2006 |
I've been tempted, but a) that may create gaps even though I really want
the service and, b) that creates some "make work". I suppose if the
savings compensate for the "make work", it would be worth it.
|
gull
|
|
response 134 of 253:
|
Feb 3 19:41 UTC 2006 |
Re resp:129: It just seems unfair, considering that I'm saving them
money by not making them come out and disconnect/reconnect my service.
They only pull this crap because they know they have a monopoly.
Re resp:132: Look for a plan that allows analog roaming. You'll need a
"dual-mode" phone for this. My old Verizon phone worked pretty well up
there, in most areas. Put a premium on any phone that has a way to
connect an external antenna, because that can dramatically improve your
range, especially if you can get the antenna up in the air a little.
|
tod
|
|
response 135 of 253:
|
Feb 3 19:54 UTC 2006 |
re #132
I had great success in rural UP with my old Qualcomm analog phone..the kind
with the pull-out antenna. I think Sprint or Verizon will support those
models of phone, too.
|
keesan
|
|
response 136 of 253:
|
Feb 4 00:07 UTC 2006 |
Isn't there already an item (networking) for cell phone discussions?
|
tsty
|
|
response 137 of 253:
|
Feb 8 16:11 UTC 2006 |
firefox is the only way to go ... unless some safari afficianado knows
something i haven't found out yet .....
btw, with i.e. dead for mac ... how will *updates* work now (obviously
not o.s. updates, duh).
|
mcnally
|
|
response 138 of 253:
|
Feb 8 17:32 UTC 2006 |
Updates to what? There won't be any updates to MacOS IE (not that there
have been for quite a while, actually..) That's what "dead" means in this
context.
|