Hawk's Babble-Log

As previously mentioned, DNS requests often fail on my new AT&T U-verse connection. This is the most annoying thing about AT&T’s U-verse internet account. When hitting a site such as ebay, or yahoo, or google, or amazon, sometimes the page fails to load at all and the browser reports DNS failure (cannot find the site). Or the page will start to load, but then other DNS requests fail for things like images, .js files, .css files, etc.

Unfortunately, I cannot recommend AT&T U-verse internet service.

Since being online with AT&T U-verse, I’ve noticed two more annoyances:

• DNS queries often fail for no apparent reason. I notice this in two different operating systems (Linux & Windows) across four machines (including my roommate’s). This can happen in the middle of loading a page which then stalls the rest of the page from loading, or upon loading an image within a page, or before contacting the site at all. Stopping the request and then re-trying usually works. This happens often and is very annoying.
• Connection timeouts. When connecting to my home computers from work, if left idle for a little while, the connection silently drops. This happens on SSH connections as well as VNC. Looks like I’ll have to starting using spinner again.

Internet service with AT&T U-verse is not looking good.

I got back online with AT&T U-verse.

Here’s the bad:

• The speeds I’m getting are not what I should be getting. That’s probably because of the building I’m in and distance from central switching station.
• Needed to buy new hardware, both a new DSL modem, and a new Cisco Linksys router. Technically, I did not need the new router (already had one).
• AT&T sets the “activation date” seven days past whenever you make the order. When you don’t have net but you have all the equipment and everything, waiting those last few days for an arbitrary “activation date” really sucks.
• No static IP. Boo!

Here’s the good:

• I’m back online!

So… it’s not all bad.

There was no place on their website to cancel the account, and they wouldn’t cancel over the phone. I had to mail them a letter. So I did. And I certified it so I’ll get a receipt once they receive it.

Again I ask, “Can you believe this?”

I also asked for a refund on this months service, because there hasn’t been any.

DSL Extreme has got to be the worst company I’ve ever dealt with.

I finally found someone who would talk to me at DSL Extreme! Unfortunately, she could not help me.

Here’s what happened: I called DSL Extreme, hit 3 for Billing, 4 to speak to a person, then did not enter anything for my phone number / account number. That worked and I sat on hold listening to horrid muzak while my phone sat on my desk in speakerphone mode.

Less than 10 minutes later, I spoke to a nice lady who could do nothing for me at all. I explained that I wanted to cancel my service. She verified me by getting my address, phone number, email address, etc. Then she told me that she couldn’t cancel my account but that I had to fax in a letter to the “main office”.

I told her I did not have a fax machine. She put me on hold while she asked what to do about that. Amazingly, she came back on the line after only a minute or two. She told me that I had to mail in a letter to the “main office” to cancel my account.

Can you believe this?

Still in DSL Hell.

I just called DSL Extreme, hit 3 for billing, 4 to speak to someone, entered my phone number, then waited on hold for exactly 10 minutes, at which point they hung up on me.

Still in DSL Hell.

Whenever I call up, it’s like I’m talking to the person for the first time. I’ve been pretty careful to take notes on every call. I’ve spoken to many, many people. Even when I speak to someone who I’ve spoken to in the past, they still treat me the same way. It goes like this:

• Greeting, how may I provide you with excellent service?
• What is your DSL phone number?
• And what trouble are you having?
• Your account is suspended, transferring you to our billing department…
• (on hold for somewhere between 30 and 45 mins)
• Loop back to first step and repeat.

An alternate path is this:

• Greeting, how may I provide you with excellent service?
• What is your DSL phone number?
• And what trouble are you having?
• Okay, let’s go through some debugging steps. Turn your modem off and then back on again. How many green lights do you see? What kind of modem is it? Please plug it in to just one computer. Still not working? Transferring you to our tier 2 tech support, please hold.
• (on hold for somewhere between 30 and 45 mins)
• Loop back to first step and repeat.

Even when I used their web-based chat (just now) and asked to cancel my account, they still ignored me and left me high-and-dry. I guess I should not be surprised. This seems to be how they treat me whenever I contact them.

As soon as I can get someone on the phone, I’m going to cancel the “service”.

To be fair, the DSL service has been solid almost since I got it six years ago. But ever since AT&T killed the DSL, the company DSL Extreme has been terrible (horrendous is more like it) and completely incompetent. They ignore me, leave me on hold for hours at a time, and really don’t even want to talk to me. At all. I honestly don’t know how they stay in business.

Still in DSL Hell.

Have you ever heard of a company that didn’t want to talk to their customers? All of ‘em, right? Well, I don’t know about that, but this is, apparently, the case with DSL Extreme. Every time I call “tech support”, they tell me that my account has been suspended and that I’ll need to talk to a “tier 2 tech”.

I spoke with the first tech support guy for about 5 or 10 minutes, then he put me on hold for about 45 minutes. After that, I found myself back at square one again, talking to a new guy. This guy had no idea who I was or what the issue was. So I started again from the top. He told me my account had been suspended and put me on hold. Again.

I really do get the impression that they don’t want to talk to me, but that they are afraid to hang up on me. Strange.

I’ve got my phone plugged-in to the charger and on speakerphone. The hold muzak is looping annoyingly in the background as I sit here.

Still on hold, and still in DSL Hell.

Still in DSL Hell.

I’ve been going through the “Tech Support” maze at DSL Extreme for a few days now, but they can’t help me. What I need done, the regular tech support guys can’t do. They always run through the standard, “How many green lights do you have on your modem?” and “Now we’ll need to connect a computer directly to the DSL modem.” It’s no good to tell them that my set-up is good, that I’m a Linux AysAdmin and NetAdmin.

All they can do is run through all the standard idiot questions and then, finally, give me a “Tier 2 Ticket”. Then I wait for a call-back. The call-back never comes.

Still offline.

AT&T’s tech comes out to our place and finds nothing wrong.  What a shocker!  Then he explains how it’s not possible that AT&T shut off the DSL.

I called AT&T again, spoke to a nice lady who did some research and found out that yes, in fact, AT&T had shut off the DSL, even though the DSL was from another company (DSL Extreme).

I called the tech back and told him the story, just so he knew what happened.

Now all I need to do is get DSL Extreme to turn our DSL back on again.

It’s really, really bad when a company disconnects your existing DSL and then claims that they can’t do that. AT&T did this to me. They cancelled my current DSL and then told me, “Sorry, you’ll have to contact your existing DSL provider to get that straightened out.”

I repeatedly told AT&T to not disconnect my existing service. They did it any way.

Now I’m on the phone with DSL Extreme and AT&T, going back and forth with them, trying to get my service turned back on like it was.

Neither company is taking responsibility for killing my DSL, and neither company seems to be able to turn it back on.

I’m in DSL Hell.

Guess what?!  A tech from AT&T has to come out here and “check the wiring” before he can turn our DSL back on!  Can you believe this?!

So then, he’s checking that the wiring has gone bad within the last few hours… after having been on for five or six years!

AT&T’s incompetence level continues to soar!

Remember all those calls I made to AT&T?  Well, looks like they decided to kill my existing DSL, even though I did not want their service.  I had made sure any “order” I had with them was cancelled.  I had called them twice to verify, and they did verify that the order was cancelled.  But they turned off my internet access anyway.  Looks like they will shove their service down your throat even if you don’t want it.

I’m offline right now.  I’m posting this from my phone.  Nice going AT&T, your incompetence level continues to climb.

I got a call on the home number this morning from a computer. It was confirming my appointment (or activation date) for my new internet access account with AT&T U-verse. Any order which may have been in progress was cancelled on the first of the month. So why am I getting an automated call about it?

I called AT&T just a few mins ago to find out. The guy I spoke with confirmed that the order was indeed cancelled. He did not know why I got the call.

Then he asked about why the order was cancelled. I told him, briefly, how I always seem to get a different answer from anyone I talk to about what is available and what isn’t, what costs what, etc.

I asked him, “Is U-verse available in my area?”

He replied, “Yes.” Then we were talking about speeds and he told me that the best upload rate I might be able to get would be around 384 (kilo-bits per second). So now I’ve got yet another different story from someone else at AT&T! This is awesome! I’m going to call every day and get a different story from everyone I talk to about what is available. I’m going to start keeping a log. I’ll bet you money it’ll be different every single day.

Last week, I started doing some research for a new DSL provider.  I found AT&T U-verse, but the plan that I wanted said, “call”; I could not sign up online.

So I called.  Over several days (don’t remember how many exactly) I spoke with at lease six different people and every single one had a different story.  It went a little like this:

“Yes, we can get you going with a new U-verse account.”  “No, you cannot get static IPs with that.”  “Yes, you can get static IP’s for $15/month extra.”  “No, you can’t get static IPs on that account.”  “Sure, I can put static IPs on there, but there is a $149 tech installation charge for the guy to go out there and plug in the modem.  No, I was wrong, it’s actually $200.  No, wait, it’s $250.”  “No, static IPs are not available for a DSL account.  But you can get them with a U-verse account.”  “No, U-verse is not available in your area.”  “This new non-U-verse account with static IPs is now $90/month.”

At this point, I gave up.

Maybe I’ll call ‘em back some time and get someone else’s opinion on what is available. You know, for a good laugh. Because it won’t be what anyone else has said thus far.

I was so looking forward to this movie.  Ever since I saw the preview months ago, I’ve been anxiously awaiting the movie called “Sucker Punch”.  I showed the preview to my friends and family.  I told everyone how awesome it looked.

Finally, the big day arrives.  I get to the theater early, get tickets, get good seats, sit through the cool previews… then it begins.  Yayyy! I think to myself, I finally get to watch the most anticipated movie of the year!

Without going in to the details and spoiling the movie, here’s the summary: the fight scenes are cool, the rest sucks. Especially the ending. The ending of Sucker Punch is the worst ending I have ever seen, of any movie.

I’m so disappointed. I will not be buying this one when it comes out on BluRay.

I just have to take a quick moment here (even though I really need to get to bed) and say that this movie, Mars Needs Moms, is outstanding!!!

Whatever you need to do, go and see this movie! It’s worth it!

I saw it in standard 2D, and it was wonderful. But I’m going to go and see it again in Digital 3D. Oh yeah, it’s that good. Personally, I don’t understand why it’s not doing so well in the theaters. Perhaps because it’s so costly for a family to go and see it?

I don’t know. But I do know it’s a wonderful movie, it’s awesome, it’s an excellent adventure, and I highly recommend it. Go and see it!

Here’s what I loved about the Color Nook:

• It’s in COLOR!!! This is so awesome!
• It runs Android! This means it’s almost like a tablet PC or a slate. In fact, you can even hack it to be an Android slate. That’s right up my alley.
• Browsing the web is amazing. Very nice, fast, and the browser renders web pages really well.
• It’s got a ton of storage: 8Gb!
• You can watch special versions of “digital copies” of movies you buy right on the Nook!
• You can lend books to your friends. Specifically, this is not a feature of the device, but of the underlying service, Barnes & Noble.

This new Color Nook is much more the device I was describing in my Open Letter to Jeff Bezos.

Continue doing things right, Nook team!

I was playing around with my sister’s Color Nook (from Barnes & Noble). She got it for Christmas and loves it. She’s already gone through over 10 books on it. The main difference between the Color Nook and any other e-reader is it’s screen. The Color Nook has a back-lit screen. My Kindle is e-paper, and is not lit in any way.

Personally, I have never minded the back-lit nature of screens. I work on computers all day at work and all night at home. I can read a book on my Android-powered G1 phone using Aldiko e-reader or Amazon’s Kindle app (a back-lit screen). I can read a book on my computer screen using Amazon’s Kindle for PC. I can read a book on my Kindle (1st generation). It’s all-good for me. But one thing I really do mind is the trend of trying to simulate paper on a back-lit screen.

No, a back-lit screen is NOT paper!

Here’s my position: If the screen is back-lit, I want the text as white as possible and the background as black as possible. This is very similar to how I write programming code; the background is very dark, the text is very bright. However, in this example, the background is semi-transparent and the text is syntax highlighted.

If I’m reading a book on Kindle for PC, I set the background color to BLACK and the text to WHITE. This is much easier on my eyes than trying to simulate paper by making the background white and the text black, as most word processors do. Why do word processors do this? They’re trying to simulate paper. I can understand that position for desktop publishing. But that just makes it more difficult to read, in my humble opinion.

Same with the new Color Nook. By default, the background is a glaring white, and the text is a hard-to-read black. There is much more light coming off the screen this way. It almost makes me want to squint to read. Going in to the settings, I could not find a way to change this. I wanted to make the background black and the text white as it’s easier to read, less light is glaring at me, and I don’t feel the need to squint or anything.

But the Color Nook does not make this easy! I had to search the web. Finally found a reference about touching near the bottom of the book (once you’re reading the book) and then hit something like text options, then hit something like themes. They had a few themes, like standard blinding white background with black text, puke sepiatone, and some other worthless themes. The one I went with was the “night” theme. It had a dark-gray background with lighter-colored text. It’s not what I want, but it’s better than the alternatives.

Dear Nook Programmers: if you make a setting (in the SETTINGS) for an inverse, a black background with white text, I’ll buy one. The gray “night” theme is better than the rest, but is not what I want.

I saw Green Hornet and thought they did a pretty good job on it. Very entertaining. Sometimes Seth Rogen is a bit annoying (or more than a bit), but I really enjoyed the overall storyline and how they pulled it off. Jay Chou kicks ass! In all ways. I like what they did with Cameron Diaz’s character and how she ties in to the team.

The bad guy Chudnofsky (played by Christoph Waltz) was really, really funny. Very entertaining.

The effects and stunts were fantastic. They were all really well done.

Directed by Michel Gondry. Written by Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, and George W. Trendle.

If they decide to make another one, I’ll go and see it. And I’ll buy this one when it comes out on Blu-Ray.