Archive for the 'Philadelphia Metro' Category

Looks like Comcast in Philadelphia isn’t as saturated as I thought. I’m averaging about 5 mbps and have hit up to 7.3 mbps a few times during peak hours (wow!). Not too bad for $29.99/month.

Since I finally configured my network again, I’ll probally upload the Cali pictures real soon. I saw an iphoto gallery plugin that I really want to test out. Keep posted!

Speaking of networks, I finally bought a network printer (Dell 1600n). The cool thing is that you can scan, print, and fax through the network. No more carrying my printer from computer to computer (j/k!). The cheaper printing costs are also very welcomed.

Previously I was paying $40/month for 1.5/384 and 5 static IPs from DCA.net, but Verizon had a killer deal for $30/month after the promotion for up to 3.0/768. I signed up with Verizon on the 1st (canceling DCA on the 20th or something like that), and they gave me an activation date for the 8th. Come the 12th, i get an email saying that my new turn up date was the 15th. Then on the 12th i get another email stating a turn up date on the 22nd.

Ummm….3 weeks of false turn-up dates?! I proceeded to call up Comcast on the 13th and ask for the best price they can give me. The CSR told me $19.99 for 6 months and then $57.00 after that. I told her fine I’d like the service for 6 months and to have it canceled after the promotion. She then told me that if I call her on the 5th month and tried to cancel, she’d give me the retention rate of ‘$29.99′ for 12 months. I guess it never hurts to ask for a lower rate -=)

Of course I canceled with Verizon after the Comcast call. Well apparently there was some sort of technical mishap (yeah right) and they offered me some lower rate. I pretty much told them Comcast is giving me the same rate plus it’s faster. Well after talking with the CSR for 20 mins or so, he told me that Philadelphia should be almost done with their FIOS rollout! The ETA of completion should be 4q05, which is nearing.

Gotta love Philadelphia! I remember when we were one of the firsts to get broadband in the nation and we’ll again be one of the firsts to get fiber!

So no internet at home for me until tommorow (it’s been over 2 weeks now). I’ll have pictures of the California trip up as soon as I get everything working at home again.

Woohoo! On 6/28/2005 T-Mobile Philadelphia finally upgraded their towers to EDGE. I’m currently getting 100kbit/s+ which definately makes browsing, chatting, and e-mailing off the Treo 650 a much nicer experience compared to the 20-30kbit/s I was getting before.