Technology catch-all thread

[Balta1701]

The United States has lost the top spot in Nokia Siemens Networks' annual broadband development index, the Connectivity Scorecard, to Sweden.

 

The Connectivity Scorecard is, as Stacey Higginbotham reports for GigaOM, a favorite measure of the telecom industry, since it paints the America in a particularly favorable light.

 

The Scorecard looks not just at broadband infrastructure, but also at how a country uses its broadband, and how much that helps its economy. So while the United States has less and slower broadband than many Asian and European countries, it was the top rated country on the Scorecard until this year.

 

But as this chart emphasizes, U.S. broadband is far less advanced than that of leading countries. Despite ranking the United States second, the report states: "While it has significantly more fiber and DOCSIS 3.07 deployment than most of Western Europe, US infrastructure is uneven, and the gap with respect to Asian economies and even Sweden and the Netherlands remains substantial."

Link

[Kalapse]

So my girlfriend is looking for a new phone and she seems pretty dead set on getting one with a physical keyboard. So my questions would be: what new phone would everyone recommend with a physical keyboard (I've had my Droid since launch and after a few months I was flying on it's mediocre keyboard, I like it but I wouldn't recommend it to her do to the steep learning curve) and what would be the better non-iPhone phones out there especially for someone that does a lot of texting? Online reviews are fine and all but they're inconsistent, I'm looking for some personal opinions here.

[lostfan]

I have a Motorola Cliq and I like it, it's not the best phone on the market or anything. My complaint about its keyboard is that the numbers are shared with the QWERTY row so you have to press Alt if you want to type any numbers, twice if you want to type a series of numbers, which is kind of annoying. I've tried its on-screen keyboard and it works decently, but that's not for me.

[Buehrle>Wood]

Are you looking for a smartphone? I'd say try the orginal Droid with the better keyboard if you can find one or else wait until the Droid 2 drops.

So my girlfriend is looking for a new phone and she seems pretty dead set on getting one with a physical keyboard. So my questions would be: what new phone would everyone recommend with a physical keyboard (I've had my Droid since launch and after a few months I was flying on it's mediocre keyboard, I like it but I wouldn't recommend it to her do to the steep learning curve) and what would be the better non-iPhone phones out there especially for someone that does a lot of texting? Online reviews are fine and all but they're inconsistent, I'm looking for some personal opinions here.

[SoxFan1]

Anyone got the new iPhone 4 yet? I'll probably be picking it up in a couple weeks.

 

Nevermind, went back and read some of the thread. I'm excited. I've had the 3G for a while now and the OS 4.0 update just killed the phone completely. I use that thing so much and since the update it's just been slow as s***.

[lostfan]

This video brings the funny. I think everyone knows somebody like this.

 

[lostfan]

Another one.

[HuskyCaucasian]

FCC Redefines Broadband as 4Mbps down and 1Mbps up?

Up to 24 million Americans lack access to broadband, the Federal Communications Commission announced Tuesday.

 

Between 14 and 24 million people in the country lack access to high-speed Internet, and immediate prospects for them accessing this service is bleak, the commission said in its sixth annual report to Congress about the state of deployment. The 14 million tally would about equal the 2005 estimated populations of New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago combined.

 

The FCC said the results underscore the need for reform to the Universal Service Fund, innovative approaches to spectrum allocation, the removal of barriers to infrastructure investment, and better broadband data collection.

 

None of these suggestions are really new, of course. The need for more spectrum has been a hot topic for ages, and efforts on better broadband data collection are already under way.

 

The report did, however, update its definition of what constitutes broadband service. For over a decade, the standard has been set at 200 Kbps downstream, but the FCC now puts it at 4 Mbps downstream and 1 Mbps upstream.

 

"This is a minimum speed generally required for using today's video-rich broadband applications and services, while retaining sufficient capacity for basic web browsing and e-mail," the FCC said.

 

The report also outlines states that would qualify as being "unserved" by broadband. The data used to calculate this, however, is based on Census Tract information, as well as ISP subscriber information, so the FCC cautioned that it is not as complete as possible. More detailed broadband data information is in the process of being collected.

 

Tuesday's study, however, identified 39 states that have areas without broadband access. States not on that list are mostly in the Northeast, including New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Delaware, Maryland, and Rhode Island.

[BigSqwert]

This video brings the funny. I think everyone knows somebody like this.

 

Wasn't this posted here when it came out about 3 weeks ago?

Edited July 23, 2010 by BigSqwert

[lostfan]

<!--quoteo(post=2214717:date=Jul 21, 2010 -> 03:59 PM:name=lostfan)-->

<!--quotec-->This video brings the funny. I think everyone knows somebody like this.

 

Wasn't this posted here when it came out about 3 weeks ago?

Was it? I don't remember.

[G&T]

Here's a question for the AT&T subscribers. I just got my first bill from AT&T and I noticed that they billed for the previous month and next month. So we are essentially being double billed this month (6/16 - 7/15; 7/16 - 8/15) . I called and they said that's how they do it. But I want to be sure. I don't recall any other wireless carrier billing a month in advance. Is this actually how they do it?

[bigruss]

So Virgin Mobile has been advertising unlimited everything minus minutes for $25 a month (300 mins per month, which is fine with me, I dont talk much but I def would like to use email, internet, etc more but wont pay the extra $30/month it costs for Verizon). But their phone options suck, anybody know that if you buy an HTC droid phone or something like that that they could still hook it up with their service?

 

Anybody ever use their service? Good quality?

Edited July 26, 2010 by bigruss22

[SoxFan1]

Another question for AT&T people:

 

They used to have the unlimited data plans but I've read something about them now doing 600mb and 2GB. Do you get grandfathered in with the unlimited plan or are they making everyone switch no matter what?

[G&T]

Another question for AT&T people:

 

They used to have the unlimited data plans but I've read something about them now doing 600mb and 2GB. Do you get grandfathered in with the unlimited plan or are they making everyone switch no matter what?

 

Grandfathered

[Balta1701]

Grandfathered

For now.

 

Could easily be that you're grandfathered in until you buy your next iPhone.

[Jenksismyhero]

Here's a question for the AT&T subscribers. I just got my first bill from AT&T and I noticed that they billed for the previous month and next month. So we are essentially being double billed this month (6/16 - 7/15; 7/16 - 8/15) . I called and they said that's how they do it. But I want to be sure. I don't recall any other wireless carrier billing a month in advance. Is this actually how they do it?

 

Yeah, I think I had the same concern when I first signed up for AT&T. Someone told me that you get a refund whenever you cancel. We'll see if that actually happens.

[Balta1701]

Yeah, I think I had the same concern when I first signed up for AT&T. Someone told me that you get a refund whenever you cancel. We'll see if that actually happens.

[BigSqwert]

This might be an app worth looking into (Android phones).

Edited July 29, 2010 by BigSqwert

[flippedoutpunk]

For now.

 

Could easily be that you're grandfathered in until you buy your next iPhone.

 

i bought the iphone 4 and got grandfathered in. if they made it to where id have to give up my unlimited data plan id definitely leave at&t.

[BigSqwert]

Woohoo! EVO owners rejoice! OS gets upgraded to Froyo on the 3rd.

[Sonik22]

Woohoo! EVO owners rejoice! OS gets upgraded to Froyo on the 3rd.

I'm pretty excited for this

[SoxFan1]

i bought the iphone 4 and got grandfathered in. if they made it to where id have to give up my unlimited data plan id definitely leave at&t.

Good. Very good.

[HuskyCaucasian]

I work for a church/school that has been getting Comcast Cable free (or nearly free I think). Today I came in, turned on the TV in my office and noticed there were no more channels available above 35. Did Comcast cut back analog channels in the area recently? I had a feeling they would eventually, but I never received a notice (not that it would have ever made it to my desk even if we did get one)

[southsider2k5]

I work for a church/school that has been getting Comcast Cable free (or nearly free I think). Today I came in, turned on the TV in my office and noticed there were no more channels available above 35. Did Comcast cut back analog channels in the area recently? I had a feeling they would eventually, but I never received a notice (not that it would have ever made it to my desk even if we did get one)

 

Yes they did. There are hardly any without a new receiver.

[HuskyCaucasian]

Yes they did. There are hardly any without a new receiver.

oh drat. ok. I refuse to pay for 20+ digital tuners