[libreoffice-users] Re: top and bottom - again. was (Re: Re: new article - with quote from TDF.......)

On 6/2/11 11:53 AM, Roland Hughes wrote:

> I have always lived on a remote farm.  Until satellite came along with
> DirectPC, I used to have to spend $300/month on dial up just to check
> email.  Not only was dial-up the only game in town, every ISP was long
> distance.  Switching to satellite the day it was available was a no
> brainer.

I remember those days!!!!!  I had exactly the same issues, only I lived 
175 miles NW of Fairbanks, AK, and used GEnie.  Wild Blue can't get you 
satellite where I was, but Hughesnet can.  Went to dialup when I moved 
to Colorado.  That was the only option at the time, also.

> It is true that there are more people on dial-up than one suspects in
> the U.S.  In many cases they are simply stubborn.  One of my Aunts would
> be a prime example.  Where she lives she can have cable or satellite TV,
> but she has an antenna.  She has a choice of cable, wireless broadband,
> DSL, and ADSL for Internet, yet chooses dial-up.

Where I live now, internet options were dial up and satellite until a 
couple months ago.  Now, fiber optic is here, but still so new, the 
phone company hasn't even had time to put the notices in people's bills 
to let them know!   LOL  I found out solely as a result of calling about 
charges on my bill, and have had it less than a month.

> I suspect you would have better signal if you changed cell carriers.
> Those maps lie.  Verizon is the worst company on the face of the planet
> to work for (with the possible exception of Walmart), but its 3G and
> wireless network does cover>  90% of the geographic U.S.  All other
> "nationwide" carriers only cover about 20% of the country.

LOL!!!  Everyone tells me that, but it won't work.  We can't see the 
cell towers.  The Sheriff's deputies all know the specific places where 
they can pull off to the side of the road and their cell phones work.  I 
can usually receive, but not transmit on mine.  And if I move 3', I'm done!

Even the highway patrol's radios have dead spots here.  And to think, 
I'm just an hour away from Colorado Springs, CO.

> That being as it may.  There is a massive push mandated by state and
> federal governments for all phone carriers to upgrade all switches
> around the country to provide at a minimum ADSL service.  Even the lowly
> little switch in the town of less than 300 people which provides my
> local phone service got a brand new fibre channel cable trenched to it.
> The switch is way down on the waiting list for upgrade...but...I believe
> the carriers only have until the end of 2012...just like when the
> government mandated the elimination of rotary dial switches and party
> lines.

I actually agree with this, the country needs this infrastructure 
improvement nationally if we are to remain competitively in a global 
marketplace.  But it's going to be time consuming and expensive.  We are 
so far behind in so many areas.  :-(

> FWIW, the government body which compiles Internet statistics has stated
> that they are going to remove from counting "dial-up access customers"
> because they could not obtain the minimum bandwidth necessary for most
> services these days.

Great, just what we need, more inaccurate statistics.  :-(  And will 
just create more mistrust of the government, in some circles at least.   IMO



--
Ken

Mac OS X 10.6.7
Firefox 3.6.17
Thunderbird 3.1.10
LibreOffice 3.3.2


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