Between Heaven and Hell

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April 13, 2005

Amusing Forum Reads

OK. as many of you know AT&T and Cingular merged. My Wife and I have had a nightmare experience for the last 3 days becuase we "upgraded" our service to Cingular. In the end, World of Warcraft made all the difference, and now.. all is good.

You may be like.. WTF? but.. here's how it happened... this is a little long, so... go get a cup of coffee... I was SOOO [edit] PO'ed, then WoW came to save me...

The story:

My wife's phone broke last week. Since we don't have a home phone (we're a wireless family, aka 'unhooked'), we had to get a new one.

FACT 1: Since AT&T Wireless is now defunct, you can only buy AT&T phones off Ebay or by paying FULL PRICE by calling customer service for a replacement. And... if you call CS, it takes 3 - 4 weeks for your "new" (read:refurburshed) AT&T phone to arrive.

Basically, AT&T wants everyone to switch to Cingular, so they make it really hard to stay with the older service.

FACT 2: 90% of cell phones are not "compatible" with more than one network. Even if you switch SIM cards. There are some "services" (read: hacks) out there on the net that will "unlock" your AT&T phone to work with the Cingular network (for example), but... it's not gaurranteed, and it can really [edit] mess up your phone. and .. it's pricey.

Basically, even if you bought a $400 AT&T-branded Sony Ericcson T616 Bluetooth phone 8 months ago (like I did), you have to buy a new one when you "upgrade" to Cingular service. Riiiight...

But... My Wife needed a new phone. Given the (lack of) options, we "upgraded" to Cingular. She left for the store, and returned later with two brand-new Nokia 3120 phones (free with 2-year re-up) and a new cingular plan that was $20 more per month than we were paying before. argh...

(salesperson's quotes follow each problem)

Problem 1: The phones didn't work in our house. We have no home-phone (LAN line), so... this was [explicative]'ed.

Salesperson: "The Cingular network is 10 times more coverage than AT&T. We promise!"

Problem 2: We are paying $20 more per month for the same service we had before.

Salesperson: "You have ROLL-Over minutes!"

Problem 3: We can no longer sync our phone with our laptops becuase the Nokia phones do not have Bluetooth (our laptops do).

Salesperson: "These phones can be wirelessly sync with any computer!"

Problem 4: The store did not have the USB data-cable for syncing. So...

Salesperson: "These phones can be wirelessly sync with any computer!"

Problem 5: 3 times my sister called me from the SAME ROOM. My phone never even rang.

Salesperson: "The Cingular network is 10 times more coverage than AT&T. We promise!"

I was so freakin po'ed that I was like Godzilla (Gahr-zhrilla?) with a hemaroid. GGGAARARARARARARARAR!!!!

I went back tot he cingular store the next day. A different store. Returned the phones. told the manager the story. he was like:

Manager: Oh yea... that sucks. we are really sorry about the laptop problem. we didn't know that you use a Mac.

Beast: Yeah, but.. ummm... that doesn't matter. iSync will work with any phone.

Manager: Yeah, but umm... the Nokia/Motorola/SonyE software only runs on Windoz.

B: yeah.. i know. and it sucks. my Powerbook comes with it's own sync software, iSync. It will work, trust me... I have my laptop right here.

M: Oh... ummm

B: What kind of phone do you use?

M: A Motorola T760. It has a speakerphone, camera, video cam, webservice, bluetooth, WiFi, ray guns, hydrogen power, and can be used as an emergency floatation device. I love this phone, but it can be synced only with windows xp.

B: Oh? Really? I think you are misinformed. You willing to bet on it?

M: No. But.. that's the truth. Cingular doesn't support Macs.

B: What exactly does Cingular have to do with whether or not your Motorola phone can be Sync'd with a Mac. Oh.. never mind... [padawan] Do me a favor.. can you open your phone and turn the Bluetooth module on?

M: Umm.. ok.. .sure.... why?

[he does. i proceed to turn on my powerbook and look for Bluetooth enabled devices. I find about 60 phones that are unprotected with Bluetooth enabled becuase I'm in a cell phone store. I pick his phone off the list.]

M: HEY! what are you doing My phone says it is about to have it's memory overwritten.

B: Yeah, i just wanted to demonstrate that My laptop doesn't have a probelm connecting to cell phones. And... it's not really "Cingular's" problem. Now... these Nokia phones suck, and I would like to...

M: That Powerbook you have there is pretty cool. You didn't even need the Motorola software to do that? You didn't install anything?

B: No. The software comes with the Mac. I can sync my PB with almost anything. So anyway... my wife and I need a new phone and we ...

M: Can you sync your calender and inbox and ...

B: Yeah yeah.. and I can use my bluetooth phone as a wireless modem. and I can hack other people's phones while I'm in a cafe. Sure... now... about getting me a new phone...

[now he's looking over my shoulder at my powerbook and see's the WoW icon on my desktop]

M: OMG! You play World of Warcraft!!!!???!!! Awesome. I play that game everyday when i get up and before I go to bed... [his eyes start to spin in opposite directions, like he's turned into some sort of slathering undead from Darkshire]... I LOOVE that game.

B: Yeah! I do to. That game rocks. Runs freakin great on my powerbook too.

M: Really? I bought a new Dell a few months ago and WoW barely runs on it unless I set all the setting to minimum.

B: Oh.. that's too bad. I don't have any issues on my Mac. Nonetheless, the game is definately a home wrecker...

10 minutes of total geek out talk happens. He's like "what server?", what class?, what level?, etc etc etc. I'm like.. yeah.. yeah yeah yeah. Can I get a new phone now please.... but he won't stop talking to me about WoW. All his coworkers are like DORK!, but I'm like... whatever... WoW ROCKS!

20 minutes later I walk out the door with

2x Motorola V180 phones ($180 each; not bluetooth but still can be synced by a wire)
2x Leather cases
1x Data cable
2x $50 mail in rebate coupons

and a bill of $12.65... WTF?! yeah... TWELVE BUCKS.

So.. after the rebate, My wife and I just made money. And, this guy is going to buy a Mac. And... he's coming over to Daggerspine.

warcraft made the difference and the store manager cut me a HUGE break becuase I was a player.

In the end, we got new phones and new service and we made money. All becuase of WoW.

so freaking hilarious.

Freaking hilarious!

Posted by Coyote at 12:30 PM

April 11, 2005

Computer Related Nonsense

I want this: MiniView™ USB KVMP Kit w/Cables - GCS102U.

Ever since Mike said he was getting me a new PC, I've been saying that I wanted to turn my old one into a Linux box, for a variety of reasons:

1. Want to learn Linux.
2. Want to have a PC I can hack and chop away at.
3. File server? Ooh.
4. Media box? Ooo. (Admittedly, I don't know how well Linux will work as a media center, but hell, it's worth a shot, isn't it?).

In the end, all it comes down to is needing to get the second box fixed up. I ripped out my second harddrive (which has been with me through a number of PCs), but never slipped the harddrive unit back properly into place. Stupid, tiny ass HPs. It's no wonder that my new PC is a full tower.

One of my main problems in getting into this is that I would need a second monitor, and my desk—while large—it simply not designed for more than one monitor (okay, technically it could hold three, but for aesthetic reasons it's either one monitor or three, sue me). Tonight while I was reading the WoW boards, someone had started a thread about dual-boxing. I never understood how someone could handle it, until someone finally mentioned the glory of KVM switches. I'm now in heaven.

(And yes, I would actually dual-box WoW now that I'm aware of this. OMG. Hmm, time to look into how well/poorly Linux runs WoW.)

The one above seems to be the best at the moment, for my uses. Both my mouse and keyboard are USB. That was the only one by IOGEAR that was dual-USB. Admittedly, there may be others that are dual-USB, but I have yet to have found them. So, I'm settling on that one for the time being.

In other geeky computer news, Mike and I bought wireless equipment over the weekend. We got D-Link's Gamer's Lounge router, but haven't been able to get it running. God only knows if its due to the cards or the router. Neither of us have any expierence in wireless, so this should be interesting. Mike said he would call them up and see if they could assist, but that was like six hours ago. -_- I also bought a card for my iBook, so once everything is settled, I'll be able to sit downstairs with it. ::Cheers!::

It's been getting hot in our room, and yet only in the 70s outside. While that would (almost) be fine, my video card does not like it, as it let us all know within five minutes of play. Yesterday Mike put the AC unit back in, so the room is considerably cooler and I can once again play WoW.

With the inclusion of a second PC to my desk, I am going to have to seriously reconsider my setup. Below is an artist's representation of my desk:

So I'm thinking that with the heat that gets produced by a single PC under the desk (and the inability to run WoW in moderately warm weather) that I should probably bring both PCs on top of the desk, where the printer and the (apparently) empty space (technically its filled with books, heh) are located. Due to the fan configuration, the custom PC would be on the right (perferred location anywho), with the Linux box on the left. That one currently has only one case fan, in the rear. I may see about installing a second, if there appears to be enough room inside. Damn micro-cases!!!

Yeah. I wish the wireless network was up. LOL If only to be like, "Woot, we are wireless."

Posted by Coyote at 7:32 PM

Priceless

Posted by Coyote at 6:56 PM