I got my Computer back (Never use anything desirable to the masses that is free)

The BBQ Pit
#1

I took it into my ISP to have them install a faster modem for my High Speed lite connection. Previously I had been using just the regular old 56K modem that came with the computer. Now I connect at speeds of 115.2Kbps, up from 26.4Kbps, but there are some fine print disclaimers on that speed, ie it only works on web pages, and it doesn’t work on anything compressed, but the faster speed is nice. More importantly, I have internet again in my home; there were four hours while it was being installed that I had no internet.
After bumming around town for 3 hours (delivering stuff for my parents mostly), the fix it guy told me it would take another hour, so I decided to go to the public library to kill an hour there, use their free internet while waiting for my computer (I had already read most of the magazines, and I don’t like borrowing books becasue I have a hard time returning them). This is what I got to put up with at the library: Some kid was baby sitting his 2 yr old bros, who obviously had a s***(poopy)** diaper (or maybe handn’t bathed in a couple weeks). I use the term baby sitting in the loosest possible term. The older kid (not more than 12, 13) was using a computer, and his little bros was climbing on top of the desks, rolling around in the chairs, and otherwise misbehaving. The extent of the “baby sitting” was that the kid would tell his little bros to “behave” every five min, but make no other effort to control the child. And the librarians looked the other way, and who could blame them?

You just know that in a case like this (IE there are some things that I am not disclossing that would get me flammed/banned big time) the mother/parents/media would come back later in the day, and rip the librarians a new one. (I digress: Once when I was working at A&W, there were these kids (small) that had been left in the store for about an hour w/o obvious parentage (ie no one was in the resteraunt), and the cops/someone official (I got this half of the story from scuttlebut) were called. Anyway, when I was working my shift (on working at A&W: don’t), the parent (I think) came in and started screaming at me. I had no idea what it was about, and very quickly left and got a supervisor, they get paid more than me so that I don’t have to put up with that. The way they yelled (and throwed, and messed up [they actually squirted the ketchup on the counter]) at the super more or less confirmed the rumour. The ending is basically, they left after yelling at the super for a while (and a kitchen drone came out and said that they called the cops (unusual initive for an A&W drone)) then they left)

This really P****** me off (annoys). First off some mother would trust the care of her kid (the baby) to another kid (12 yrs old is still a kid). And secondly, someone would bring a misbehaving child to a library, and not stop the inappropriate behaviour or leave, but as much as I would like to blame the older kid for this I can’t. I can hardly expect a 12 yr old to be able to control a baby/toddler, fortunately most 12 yr olds don’t have to. So I guess I have one gripe from
this: I hate lacking parents.

I wish I had thought of calling Children’s Services, I bet there was an infraction in there somewhere.

On the plus side, I found a place that sold me a dollar bill, and a Manitoba dollar for $1.50 each, and gave me 2 fifty cents pieces in change. For the Americans, dollar bills are no longer printed, the Manitobia dollar wasn’t a circulation piece, and the fifty cents pieces are circulation pieces, but are hard to find, as many banks do not order the coins.

I’m afraid that is not really pit worthy, but I had to vent.

BTW the moral is: “If it’s free, and desirable, you will have to fight all of the (how shall I put this) undesirables for it” Or: “Free samples from the grocery store have fed many a small child”

#2

12 year olds are perfectly capable of babysitting, in most cases.
I personally love my library, I rarely have any problems there. In your case, you probably should have said something to the librarian. It is her job to deal with guests, both the charming and the not so. At the very least she could have asked the boy where the toddler’s mother was, and let him know he was bothering people.

#3

There’s a whole lotta tangents there…

#4

Is it really a different kind of modem for these connections?

#5

I hope so, that guy had to be doing something for the 4 hours (although some of that time was spent under a power black out). And I know for a fact that something is different, because my computer is telling me that I’m connecting faster, and web pages are poping up slightly faster.

Oh and sorry about the tangents. I like using brackets (it makes the sentance look nicer, and more organized than using commas [especially if you want multiple thoughts in one sentance]). It makes better sense to me than using commas and all the other paraphinalia of sentance structure. If only I could convince my english teachers of that; Really, it’s just like in math, you put all your terms in brackets. Ex: (3x+5)(5x+2)=7.

I imagine I could change that bolder sentance into something more gramatically correct (what do you think? :slight_smile: ). I like using brackets because it makes the sentance look nicer and more organized than using commas; this is especially important if you want multiple thought in one sentance. (Brackets make useful "aside indicatiors as well. I didn’t use MS Word Grammar Check on that, but the revised sentance looks okay to me)

Not to get distracted in my reply (whats his name started it) but I was thrilled when I discovered “;”'s; finally, a legal way to make run on sentances. The semi colon is great for me because I can use it when two sentances are more closely related than than normal sentances; The way I think of semi colon joined sentances is that the sentances are cousins.

#6

As far as I know, there is no analog modem that goes over 56k. What creates the illusion of high speed is the way it is able to download text and pictures faster, which is accomplished by software, not hardware.

I could be wrong, but it sounds like a scam.

#7

I believe you’re correct.

But more importantly, CloudClever:
shitty

pissed

Fuck’s sake, don’t use asterisks. Either use the words or don’t.

#8

Also, and I could be wrong as I’m remembering this from at least five years ago, the FCC doesn’t allow you to connect at speeds greater than 53.3k per second.

I think the 115k is the speed at which the modem is transferring data to the hard drive. It’s been years since I’ve dealt with this kind of stuff so I could be a little off, though.

#9

Yeah, it’s an old trick. Some vendors back in the old days would set their modems to report internal connection speeds by default to fool customers into thinking their internet was a lot faster than it really was.

An ex-roommate had this really crappy Toshiba desktop that did this. He refused to believe me when I told him he was not getting a 128k connection on his dialup. I was on the same line and never connected at better than 24k or so…

#10

Like Emeril says, Bam!

You been snowed. You’ve got a regular old 56K modem in there because the Federal guv’mint says it should be so. Hope you didn’t pay too much for that bridge, err, Modem installation. :wink:

Sam

#11

While I realise it’s unlikely, ISDN in dual mode does 128 kbits. Could that be what the OP has been sold?

Mind you, if internal connection speed is what gets reported then my old 33.6 internal software modem is actually a gigabit-plus monster by dint of being on the PCI bus. Who knew?

#12

By modem he could be referring to one of those cheap high speed cable or DSL modems. Most ISPs have a “lite” version which is just a capped cable or DSL. Like this for example.

#13

ISDN is probably unlikely due to cost and technical issues, and it’s just such a dead technology.

I guess it could be one of those, but around here, DSL usually comes in the form of an external DSL modem and will get you at least 320kbps. Oh, and the consumer should know they have DSL because it can be such a painful experience getting it turned on-dealing with ISPs and local bell services.

Sam

#14

That is the way it works. My downloads aren’t any faster (they are already compressed), but I can play Halo online for the first time, and the pages are popin up faster.

Also the modem was free with a years subscription.

#15

To what, your ISP? Better Homes & Windows?

#16

It’s not that the FCC doesn’t allow it. 53.3 k is the best connection that can be achieved over analog phone lines.

#17

And the reason for this limitation based in science, not an arbitrary law, that the telephone line used to carry voice was designed to sample 8,000 times per second taking what amounts to be an 8 bit sample. 64,000 Hz. Modems are regulated in speed by an internal crystal, which if I remember right will vibrate 115,200 times a second.

Considering the carrier signal is overhead, the fastest data transfer you’re going to get, due to the technological limitation of an analog phone line, is 53.3. (Divide the modem’s internal clock by two and subtract the carrier overhead).

#18

I find that I myself — for what reason I do not know — am fond of dashes.