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From: (no name) (no email)
Date: Thu Mar 11 2004 - 15:04:30 EST
Ahoy Everyone,
I must apologize for tossing out the "Justify Jobs" message and then
disappearing. The hard drive failed in my Dell 8200 notebook and I only just got it
replaced yesterday.
However, I was delighted to see the spirited exchanges of viewpoints I
provoked. There was very little really mean spirited feelings expressed as compared
to the distant past. Perhaps this means that we are becoming better at
describing our viewpoints. I have not yet decided if I will respond to anyone's
messages, there are several points that are begging to be clarified, but writing
email is so time consuming I am reluctant to go over the same ground again.
I will only say now that my viewpoint toward the Coast Guard has been formed
by my experiences with the Coast Guard.
On the positive side, I am overjoyed to report a great leap forward in cell
phone/laptop Internet communications.
My old faithful LG 510 cell phone, with Verizon service, has given me
excellent service, but I had heard that by buying a newer phone I could raise my data
speed from 14 Kb/s to from 50 to 100 Kb/s. So when wandering in the mall a
few weeks ago I looked at a display of cell phones in a Radio Shack while Jan
was grazing in some nearby shops. I saw a nice compact folding phone and
inquired about it. Eventually, a few days later, I decided to go for it. However,
the salesman, once he understood what I wanted to do, demonstrated with his
personal cell phone and his laptop a connection with a data speed of 256 Kb/s!
I was astonished but skeptical. He said try it out for two weeks, with
Sprint service, and if I didn't like it return everything and he would refund all
my money. I went for it. The phone was $100, data kit $30, versatile (120vac,
12vac, USB) charger kit $32, a belt hanging kit$10, and a 36 month warranty
$60, came to about $248.
The monthly service deal was called PCS Free & Clear with 300 minutes.
Includes free long distance, unlimited nights and weekends, caller ID, call
waiting, 3-way calling and voicemail for $35. PCS vision pictures pack and PCS voice
command was $15 (this allows unlimited data connections at any time with NO
air charge). Extra government fees and taxes about $15 for about $65 or $75
per month.
He also help me set up the software on Jan's computer, and when I got my hard
drive working I set it up myself on my computer.
One glitch. The data system is designed to simply transmit and receive
pictures, hence the "PCS vision pictures pack" monthly charge. But by connecting
the phone to the laptop I can go on line anywhere, to any site, for as long as
I want for free. The glitch is, I suppose because the system is designed to
just send pictures, you have to sometimes "run" (as in the Windows "run"
dialog) "ping www.yahoo.com -t" to stay on line. I simply made a shortcut to that
effect that I run when I sign on. I am told it is not always needed, but used
if dumped shortly after signing on.
He also gave me a web site, bandwidthplace.com, that has a (free three
times/month) speed test function. But the SnapDialer software used to make the
Sprint Internet connection pops up a window showing the speed and data transferred.
So the bottom line is, I am now on line anchored in St Augustine harbor at
230 Kb/s (the speed does seem to vary a little) for $15/month unlimited!
The salesman told me that the Sprint and Verizon networks work together as
one so our coverage should be better than ever.
So far everything is working flawlessly as advertised.
Norm
S/V Bandersnatch
Lying St Augustine FL
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