techie questions - 1) Comcast web v. ATT DSL; 2) blackberry v Palm

[exiledNms]

OK, techno-types. Here's a question from a proud graduate of the Dogbert School for Technology Imbeciles.

We currently have Comcast Cable web access. mrs. exiled got marketed @ the phone store to consider ATT web access (DSL). We've had very good service w/ Comcast; our only gripe--a non-trivial one!--is that it's expensive.

My question for you smart folks is this: advise me on whether to stick w/ Comcast or switch to ATT DSL.

That's it.

Oh, one more, at the risk of hijacking my own thread. (speaking of phone store) I'm upgrading from my $15 Walmart special to a real phone/PDA. Should I go w/ a Blackberry Curve or w/ a Palm ______ (can't recall the model name).
Eagerly awaiting your collective vast technological know-how & opinions,
exiled

 

[TRUTIDE]

OK, techno-types. Here's a question from a proud graduate of the Dogbert School for Technology Imbeciles.

We currently have Comcast Cable web access. mrs. exiled got marketed @ the phone store to consider ATT web access (DSL). We've had very good service w/ Comcast; our only gripe--a non-trivial one!--is that it's expensive.

My question for you smart folks is this: advise me on whether to stick w/ Comcast or switch to ATT DSL.

If you are happy with the speed and download/upload time with Comcast, it is hard to argue against it. I had to choose between Mediacom and DSL and it was an easy choice because my Mediacom service was awful. I have been real happy with DSL and have upgraded my speeds as they come available. The bundling options with AT&T have been good as well. A few others have told me that they had initial problems with DSL service but once AT&T (Bellsouth) got the external phone lines cleaned up, it has been smooth sailing.

Oh, one more, at the risk of hijacking my own thread. (speaking of phone store) I'm upgrading from my $15 Walmart special to a real phone/PDA. Should I go w/ a Blackberry Curve or w/ a Palm ______ (can't recall the model name).
Eagerly awaiting your collective vast technological know-how & opinions,
exiled

I personally like Blackberry over Palm but this is probally more of a network/OS preference. Maybe like arguing MS and Apple. Speaking of which, the AT&T Tilt and the Iphone are excellent options as well and they are becoming less expensive. I prefer the Tilt but my son has the Apple and I like messing around with it as well. I really like the Ipod touch but that is a different matter altogether. A lot of people do not know it but they offer many more phone options on the website (att.com) than they do in the store. You can do comparisons of the phones and see how they different in features. I might suggest going to a Walmart or Best Buy once you pick a phone out just to see how it feels but after buying on line, you have thirty days to send it back if you change your mind and want another one. I order all of mine online (4 different numbers) and normally get mine in 2-3 days after ordering. They are really easy to activate.

I am still waiting on Bamanation to give us an update on the Uverse he has been testing out. I am past ready to get rid of the Direct TV.

 

[Bama4Ever831]

ATT Uverse works really well! I have it at home when I come back from school. The only gripe I have about it is that apparently there is a limit on how many TVs can be watching an HD channel at once. We only have two HDTVs, but occasionally my mom gets lost and finds her way on an HD channel on her 1980 Sony SDTV. It doesn't look any better, but she doesn't know the difference anyway. The AT&T TV service is great. Tons of channels with a lower price. It even looks better in my opinion. The wireless internet given with the AT&T Uverse is also great. It has a great signal strength and seems to be just as fast if I was plugged into the wall. The only problem was that it was hard to get someone to come and install it. I don't know if it was a clerical error or what, but we had to change times like 3 times.

2) I really like Blackberry. But that is just my opinion.

 

[TRUTIDE]

ATT Uverse works really well! I have it at home when I come back from school. The only gripe I have about it is that apparently there is a limit on how many TVs can be watching an HD channel at once. We only have two HDTVs, but occasionally my mom gets lost and finds her way on an HD channel on her 1980 Sony SDTV. It doesn't look any better, but she doesn't know the difference anyway. The AT&T TV service is great. Tons of channels with a lower price. It even looks better in my opinion. The wireless internet given with the AT&T Uverse is also great.

Thanks, that is good news on the Uverse. Have you worked with the DVR much. This is my biggest gripe with Direct TV. The DVR is always screwing up and I have to keep replacing it. They also stopped letting people record (and keep) PPV movies. I do not know if this is a new FCC rule or if it is just with Direct TV.

 

[Bamaro]

Maybe its model dependent but I have a blackberry 8700c from work and cant stand it. Bulky, loves to make pocket calls and causes horrible interference with other electronic equipment (radios, phones, computer speakers).

 

[CrimsonCT]

Speaking of which, the AT&T Tilt and the Iphone are excellent options as well and they are becoming less expensive. I prefer the Tilt but my son has the Apple and I like messing around with it as well.

The Tilt has been replaced by the slightly smaller Fuze (HTC Touch Pro). Having used the Tilt for over a year, I'm a pretty big fan of HTC phones. I suspect they will only improve once Android is natively ported and Windows 7 is released on phones.

GSMArena: Fuze review

 

[uafan4life]

OK, techno-types. Here's a question from a proud graduate of the Dogbert School for Technology Imbeciles.

We currently have Comcast Cable web access. mrs. exiled got marketed @ the phone store to consider ATT web access (DSL). We've had very good service w/ Comcast; our only gripe--a non-trivial one!--is that it's expensive.

My question for you smart folks is this: advise me on whether to stick w/ Comcast or switch to ATT DSL.

I had Comcast for the internet only - ATT can't touch the speed, especially the upload speed, at least not here. But it is expensive. I don't use my home internet near as much as I used to (I don't take my work home much anymore, yay!) so I switched to ATT to save money. The only time I notice it is when I'm doing large downloads or torrents - it takes at least twice as long on ATT DSL to download the latest ubuntu iso than it did on Comcast.

Basically, if you're a typical user, then it won't make a huge difference.

Oh, one more, at the risk of hijacking my own thread. (speaking of phone store) I'm upgrading from my $15 Walmart special to a real phone/PDA. Should I go w/ a Blackberry Curve or w/ a Palm ______ (can't recall the model name).
Eagerly awaiting your collective vast technological know-how & opinions,
exiled

Ooh, now here's a subject I like.

I'm an IT guy, and can't stand either blackberry or palm.

I always go with the latest flavor of whatever HTC phone ATT has. HTC has some of the best, if not the best, hardware out there and their phones are easily hackable. I've unlocked my phone so I could switch to T-Mobile or whatever (basically anyone but Verizon) and keep my phone. Plus I can put custom ROMs on it (basically like putting xp, vista, or linux on your pc). I actually ran an iPhone interface on top of a linux kernel on this phone for a while - just to see if I could.

Anyway, with a hackable windows-based phone you're not just stuck with what you get when you leave the store.

Want a smooth touchscreen interface, customizable weather, mobile firefox, a call firewall (to blacklist numbers and prevent private/800 calls from even ringing), video calls, mobile ms office, gps enabled googlemaps, making your own ringtones out of mp3 files, mp3 player with a bluetooth wireless headset, IM'ing with people with googletalk or aim or yahoo, remote desktop and/or logmein mobile to connect to your pc at home or work, etc. --- then get a good HTC phone and load a custom ROM.

Disclaimer: This process, if you CID unlock your phone (to be able to change networks) will void your warranty. You can put custom roms on almost all htc phones without doing that, just make sure you put the ATT rom back on if it needs service or replacement.

 

[sabanball]

To simplify the biggest difference between cable and DSL is that cable speed slows down as more users in the area subscribe to the service. DSL is an individual connection between your location and the AT&T Central Office. Both have their pros and cons. I've had both and favor DSL.


I currently have an AT&T Tilt and prefer it over the iPhone, but I am a .NET Software Engineer by trade though. I will say this, everyone I've been around that had an iPhone loved it. My advice would be to "play" with both and see which one fit your needs. If you do happen to get a Tilt, I recommend that you do a hard reboot and clean off all the bloatware that AT&T puts on it as soon as you take it out the box.

 

[uafan4life]

To simplify the biggest difference between cable and DSL is that cable speed slows down as more users in the area subscribe to the service. DSL is an individual connection between your location and the AT&T Central Office. Both have their pros and cons. I've had both and favor DSL.

That's mostly correct. However with DSL you're only guaranteed a direct line to the DSLAM, not the central office. Many DSL providers provide this, giving dedicated bandwidth to the DSLAM from the central office for each DSL line off of it, but many do not.

Depending on your provider and location, you may be sharing bandwidth with your neighborhood just like cable. Bellsouth (now ATT) routinely split more DSL lines off of a DSLAM than they had dedicated lines because it wasn't worth the cost of adding additional lines to that area.

When I had Comcast I routinely got actual file download speeds in excess of 1.5 to 2 megs. With ATT DSL I'm lucky to get half of that. And my actual upload speeds with Comcast were over 4 times faster than with ATT DSL. Oh, and I've got the fastest DSL they offer in the area and I live downtown, less than a block from my DSLAM.

 

[uafan4life]

I currently have an AT&T Tilt and prefer it over the iPhone, but I am a .NET Software Engineer by trade though. I will say this, everyone I've been around that had an iPhone loved it. My advice would be to "play" with both and see which one fit your needs. If you do happen to get a Tilt, I recommend that you do a hard reboot and clean off all the bloatware that AT&T puts on it as soon as you take it out the box.

The Kaiser was a good one. There are a lot of cool hacks and toys for it. Are you using a custom ROM?

 

[TRUTIDE]

The Tilt has been replaced by the slightly smaller Fuze (HTC Touch Pro). Having used the Tilt for over a year, I'm a pretty big fan of HTC phones. I suspect they will only improve once Android is natively ported and Windows 7 is released on phones.

GSMArena: Fuze review

I have not seen a fuze yet. In the link, does the Fuze = the touchpro? Does it come with the writing stick like the tilt?

 

[sabanball]

That's mostly correct.

I was just trying to simplify for the OP and was referring to the copper pairs (local loop) as compared to cable.

The Kaiser was a good one. There are a lot of cool hacks and toys for it. Are you using a custom ROM?

No I didn't want to void the warranty. I've just removed the bloatware then installed the HTC Home Customizer along with some other minor apps such as the Reg Editor, Battery bar and such. I did all that the first weekend I had the phone and haven't messed with it since. I've never even used the GPS functionality of the phone.

 

[Bama4Ever831]

That's mostly correct. However with DSL you're only guaranteed a direct line to the DSLAM, not the central office. Many DSL providers provide this, giving dedicated bandwidth to the DSLAM from the central office for each DSL line off of it, but many do not.

Depending on your provider and location, you may be sharing bandwidth with your neighborhood just like cable. Bellsouth (now ATT) routinely split more DSL lines off of a DSLAM than they had dedicated lines because it wasn't worth the cost of adding additional lines to that area.
When I had Comcast I routinely got actual file download speeds in excess of 1.5 to 2 megs. With ATT DSL I'm lucky to get half of that. And my actual upload speeds with Comcast were over 4 times faster than with ATT DSL. Oh, and I've got the fastest DSL they offer in the area and I live downtown, less than a block from my DSLAM.

I am required by my apartment to have BellSouth and it is terrible during peak hours. Essentially noon to midnight everyday the internet is absolutely terrible. If I have something I have to do online it is actually faster sometimes to drive to the library and do it then drive back. It must be split with my entire complex. I am sure one jerk is just downloading torrents w.o capping his upload speed all day long. Is there anyway to figure out who it is and stop it other than just calling BellSouth?

TRUTIDE: I haven't worked with teh DVR too much. But apparently since each TV has a receiver, you can select to DVR from any TV in the house, but are only able to watch it on the TV with the actual DVR.

 

[uafan4life]

I am required by my apartment to have BellSouth and it is terrible during peak hours. Essentially noon to midnight everyday the internet is absolutely terrible. If I have something I have to do online it is actually faster sometimes to drive to the library and do it then drive back. It must be split with my entire complex. I am sure one jerk is just downloading torrents w.o capping his upload speed all day long. Is there anyway to figure out who it is and stop it other than just calling BellSouth?

TRUTIDE: I haven't worked with teh DVR too much. But apparently since each TV has a receiver, you can select to DVR from any TV in the house, but are only able to watch it on the TV with the actual DVR.

Required by your apartment???

Do you pay for the service and is it in your name or is it part of the rent or something like that?

If you have your own DSL line it shouldn't be affected that much. There is some QOS (Quality of Service) in the DSLAM's. It's possible that a larger connection (T1, fractional DS3, etc.) is being split through the entire complex. The complex charges you $35 a month for "DSL" and rakes in an extra $3500 a month for a $1500 internet connection.

If that's the case there are two options. 1) Ask the complex if they will (or offer to do it for them) set up an internet gateway to help with the problem. Untangle is an excellent product for this. It's a linux based gateway server that will run on fairly basic hardware and does anti-virus, spyware, spam, internet protocol control (blocking or throttling, say, IM or torrents), QOS, intrusion protection, and a bunch of other stuff. It's also free. It's not open-source, but many of the components are. They also have pay-for services, but the free version works as well as most corporate internet gateway/firewalls. 2) You can find some neat little apps that will hunt down and mess with the packets from the offender's computer. The torrents will shut down and it'll take a few minutes to start back up hogging the bandwidth. Do this a number of times or, better yet, set it up so that it runs ever 15 minutes or so and he'll think there's something wrong or the torrent app will give up and you'll have good speed then.

If they're not splitting a connection themselves and you have a dedicated DSL line running into your apartment you've either got something wrong with your hardware and/or a really crappy internet provider.

 

[uafan4life]

No I didn't want to void the warranty. I've just removed the bloatware then installed the HTC Home Customizer along with some other minor apps such as the Reg Editor, Battery bar and such. I did all that the first weekend I had the phone and haven't messed with it since. I've never even used the GPS functionality of the phone.

Actually, you can do it now without voiding the warranty. It takes up a few K of extra space, but a lot of the newer ROMs will use SSPL bootloaders. j It basically loads a second bootloader on top of the official bootloader and that one loads the custom ROM. That way you don't have to fully unlock the phone and void the warranty. Then if you have a warranty issue, you just flash their ROM back on it and send it in. Not that their warranties are ever worth a crap anyway.

Then you've got a better OS, better performance, and more memory. I've got over 100 apps installed on mine and average over 40MB of free memory with typical usage.

 

[CrimsonCT]

I have not seen a fuze yet. In the link, does the Fuze = the touchpro? Does it come with the writing stick like the tilt?

I think AT&T removed the video call feature, but it should otherwise be the same. GSMArena reviews are typically the best, so I reference them constantly. It should have a stylus, and as far as I know, it's the QWERTY version of the HTC Diamond. Personally, I'd rather have the thinner Diamond (the Tilt is great, but I'm getting tired of the bulk), but I guess AT&T doesn't want such a direct iPhone competitor in their lineup.

 

[sabanball]

Then you've got a better OS, better performance, and more memory. I've got over 100 apps installed on mine and average over 40MB of free memory with typical usage.

OK I'm bored at work anyway so I'll bite...which custom rom are you running and what is your list of apps.

 

[CrimsonCT]

Actually, you can do it now without voiding the warranty. It takes up a few K of extra space, but a lot of the newer ROMs will use SSPL bootloaders. j It basically loads a second bootloader on top of the official bootloader and that one loads the custom ROM. That way you don't have to fully unlock the phone and void the warranty. Then if you have a warranty issue, you just flash their ROM back on it and send it in. Not that their warranties are ever worth a crap anyway.

Then you've got a better OS, better performance, and more memory. I've got over 100 apps installed on mine and average over 40MB of free memory with typical usage.

Which ROM are you running, btw? I upgrade mine every so often, but half the installs are just as sluggish as the original AT&T one. If you grab yours from XDA, I'm about to load the latest Garmin (DK.10) ROM and see how that one fares.

Edit: Guess I was late in asking.

 

[Bama4Ever831]

Required by your apartment???

Do you pay for the service and is it in your name or is it part of the rent or something like that?

If you have your own DSL line it shouldn't be affected that much. There is some QOS (Quality of Service) in the DSLAM's. It's possible that a larger connection (T1, fractional DS3, etc.) is being split through the entire complex. The complex charges you $35 a month for "DSL" and rakes in an extra $3500 a month for a $1500 internet connection.

If that's the case there are two options. 1) Ask the complex if they will (or offer to do it for them) set up an internet gateway to help with the problem. Untangle is an excellent product for this. It's a linux based gateway server that will run on fairly basic hardware and does anti-virus, spyware, spam, internet protocol control (blocking or throttling, say, IM or torrents), QOS, intrusion protection, and a bunch of other stuff. It's also free. It's not open-source, but many of the components are. They also have pay-for services, but the free version works as well as most corporate internet gateway/firewalls. 2) You can find some neat little apps that will hunt down and mess with the packets from the offender's computer. The torrents will shut down and it'll take a few minutes to start back up hogging the bandwidth. Do this a number of times or, better yet, set it up so that it runs ever 15 minutes or so and he'll think there's something wrong or the torrent app will give up and you'll have good speed then.

If they're not splitting a connection themselves and you have a dedicated DSL line running into your apartment you've either got something wrong with your hardware and/or a really crappy internet provider.

Its part of the rent so it isn't in my name. I have complained and they won't do anything about it. I am pretty sure they have a big connection and they split it amongst all the members so hence why it is effected by peak hours. I'll try some of the stuff you suggested and see if any of it helps.

 

[uafan4life]

OK I'm bored at work anyway so I'll bite...which custom rom are you running and what is your list of apps.

Which ROM are you running, btw? I upgrade mine every so often, but half the installs are just as sluggish as the original AT&T one. If you grab yours from XDA, I'm about to load the latest Garmin (DK.10) ROM and see how that one fares.

Edit: Guess I was late in asking.

Well, the phone I have now isn't the kaiser. I broke it, and had to go back to my hermes. I'm rough on phones, and usually buy non-contract refurbs if I can find them.

I ran a custom homebrew based on duttys kitchen on the kaiser. The hermes is basically the kaiser with a little lighter hardware and no gps. I miss the gps, but I've got a bluetooth one I use.

I'm kind of wanting to get another kaiser and try to run android on it now, but they're getting hard to find. And there's the whole money thing.

On my hermes I'm running a custom homebrew using joshkoss' kitchen and a bunch of TNT's components, running pointui as the touch interface.

A lot of the app/toys are ROM specific, and most of my general apps are games. As for regular apps and stuff, I like:
Total Commander
Flash Lite
CallFirewall
Call2Contact
Opera
or
Firefox mobile (minimo)
Pocket E-Sword
MS Office 6.1
MS OneNote Moblie
Bluetooth FTP
Bluetooth Printing
BTAudio
startclean
wm5torage
wktask
settings+
gps enabled google maps
PTT Vibe toggle
HTC Internet Sharing
HTC YouTube
FTouchFlo + HTC Home
or
PointUI
Bluetooth ModemLink
dutty's ver of VoiceSpeedDial/MS Voice Command
AltTab
PocketRar
Pocket Screen Capture
SoftReset
Wifi Scanner
Clear Temp
Oxios CloseApps
Oxios Hibernate
1-Calc Lite

Ok, now I'm tired of typing. The PTT Vibe toggle lets you use the PTT button to switch in and out of vibrate mode, since you never use that button anyway. Bluetooth ModemLink and Internet Sharing let you use your phone as an internet modem, like an air card. Wifi Scanner is like MiniNetStumbler, but works on more phones. WM5torage lets you access the sd card directly as a usb mass storage device, so no special drivers to put a file to/from your phone and a pc. 1-Calc Lite has a built in Tip calculator where you add the tip by percentage and split the ticket any number of ways. I use it all the time.