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Comment Re:There needs to be a way to avoid the subsidy. (Score 1) 355

We have MVNO providers that offer a pretty low price for similar. Simple Mobile has a $40/month plan that is unlimited voice, unlimited text, and unlimited 3G data. For $60/month you get the same, except unlimited 4G data (it's HSPA+ on T-Mobile). Straight Talk offers unlimited voice, unlimited text, and unlimited 3G data for $45/month on T-Mobile or AT&T and you can bring your own phone.

So, why do I still have Verizon and am paying $156/month for two Android phones with "unlimited" data, 700 minutes shared on a family plan, and 500 text messages on each line? I have no idea. I think it's the fear of losing my "unlimited" data plan on Verizon that I've been grandfathered into even though neither my wife or I use more than 500MB of data a month. I could easily be saving $70-$80/month switching to a prepaid provider. I'm actually looking forward to the day when Verizon pulls the same throttling thing AT&T did on their grandfathered data customers because I won't even think twice about switching providers at that point to save money.

Comment Re:Does RSA store usernames and pins? (Score 1) 138

Exactly. Even if the seed files for the token were stolen, RSA still has no information about what seed file information was associated with what user! A company like Lockheed Martin could have tens of thousands of Securid tokens. The permutations for users to tokens to guessing PINs is still astronomical unless an insider was involved that had access to the securid database.

Comment Re:Shouldn't governments impose balance? (Score 0, Troll) 305

Capitalism naturally weeds out situations that are unsatisfactory to the consumer. If you don't like your ISP with its two-tier Internet approach, use another. If there are no other options, assuming there is no government-imposed monopoly in place, then petition companies to start offering service in your area. If enough people get pissed off with poor service then other companies will jump at the chance to fill the void.

Comment Re:Opposite Experience with Adobe Download (Score 1) 348

Cox's Akamai node they host on their internal network is massively overloaded by all the Cox users that hit it. When I first changed to Cox last year I started noticing massive buffering when trying to access Akamai sites like Apple's movie trailer's site or even just updates for my iPhone. I was barely getting 512 Kbps downloading stuff. The minute I switched over to using Level 3's DNS servers my download times cut to a fraction of what it used to take and I was getting 20 Mbps.

I reported all this information along with detailed traceroutes and packet dumps and what was their response? "Reboot your computer. If that doesn't resolve the situation you may need to reset your cable modem." That was it. They totally ignored all the analysis and just told me the problem was on my end. I haven't used their DNS servers since.

Comment Re:Physical Books (Score 1) 226

The point is that eBooks take the vast majority of the cost of publishing out of the equation and yet they want those books to cost as much as, if not more, than a physical book made out of paper. Then on top of it they screw you by not letting you resell, loan, or just plain give the book away to someone else despite the fact that it is perfectly possible for a DRM scheme to be created that allows the transfer of electronic content while removing your access to read it.

Comment Re:Diesel (Score 1) 1141

Bullshit. I live in a rural area of Ohio and the air is clean, the skies are blue, and the visibility is as far as the horizon. Beijing on the other hand... well... there were plenty of examples of its air quality around the time of the Olympics when athletes were complaining they had difficulty breathing in the fucking air and pictures out hotel windows could barely see to the next block on some days. That was AFTER they shut down the factories for the duration of the Olympics!
