Tag Internet

Entries 30 Total

Charter Cable Touts 100 Mbps Download And 5 Mbps Upload Speeds For $59.99/Month If You Bundle

Dec 3, 11 5:56 PM

After reading the article “Charter Cable boosts downloads to 100Mbps, keeps uploads limited to a modest 5Mbps,” I compelled to call Charter up to see if their service would be available in my area, and I did call.  Unfortunately, Charter isn’t servicing my area.  I guess I have to stick with my slow ISP for now.

Some people might not notice that even though United States is very techie, but the American general population is behind many other parts of the world in regarding to the Internet speed.  A commenter who wrote a comment below the Engadget’s article I mentioned above boasted he had only paid $19 for 100 Mbps download and 100 Mbps upload speeds in Lithuania.  If that is true, it’s just one example among many other examples that proves American general population is really behind in regarding to the Internet speed.

It’s not a surprise that we might see people who are giddy up and called Charter, because Charter is now providing faster Internet connections at cheaper prices than any other Internet service provider I’ve heard about.  For an example, its Express package which touts up to 15 Mbps download speed is almost as fast as AT&T’s most expensive package which touts up to 24 Mbps download speed, but the price for Charter Express package is only one third of AT&T’s fastest Internet package.  Charter Express package costs you $19.99/month.  The juiciest Charter’s Internet package would be 100Mbps download speed, and it costs roughly the same as AT&T’s fastest Internet package, but AT&T’s fastest Internet package touts only at 24Mbps download speed, about four times slower than Charter Ultra package.

If you look on Charter’s website, it shows that the prices for their Internet service are low as listed if only you bundle.  Does this mean you have to order their Internet service with something else too?  Perhaps, you have to bundle the Internet and TV services together to keep the price of the Internet service low and enticing?

I forgot to ask Charter’s salesperson about contract.  This is why I’m not sure if Charter requires you to sign a contract for however long before they can hook you up with the awesome Internet speed.  I’m so hoping Charter isn’t going the contract route, because it’s one more reason for some people to not upgrade their Internet speed.  I know I hate services that require me to agree to a contract enough that if I can help myself, I would stay away from such services at any cost.

Charter provides free Internet security suite known as Charter Security Suite to protect users from viruses, worms, trojans, and hackers.  I’m not sure the strength of their Internet security product.  Usually, Internet service providers would team up with well known security companies such as Symantec.  Maybe Charter is doing something similar for their security products too.  Nonetheless, I guess you have to find this out for yourself when you become a Charter customer.

Charter salesperson told me customers can also order $5/month Cloud Drive.  If I heard correctly, Cloud Drive would be free for the first month of service.  Cloud Drive allows customers to back up their data.  When I asked the salesperson how much Cloud Drive space a customer could have?  She said it is unlimited.  If our conversation has any merit, I guess $5/month, unlimited Cloud Drive is a sweet deal.  Still, I do not yet know how reliable Charter Cloud Drive would be, therefore I cannot really vouch for Cloud Drive until I really use it.

In conclusion, Charter touts amazing Internet packages that make me drool.  If Charter services my area, I would think about becoming a customer of theirs, but it has to do without contract and bundle.  I think Charter will eventually push other Internet service providers to provide better services, because it’s all about competition.  Unfortunately, it seems even though it’s already highly competitive among Internet service providers within the United States, other parts of the world have already touted faster Internet services for a long time already.  In regarding to the Internet speed for the general population, let hope someday we Americans will eventually lead and not play catch up, but today isn’t the day!

Leave a Comment

Ubuntu One Gives 5GB Of Storage For Free, Premium Plan Allows Users To Stream Music

Oct 21, 11 2:44 AM

Ubuntu 11.10 has two ways for users to backup data.  One is through the use of Deja Dup backup tool, but I’m not going to go into this method in this blog post.  The second method is Ubuntu One which allows users to backup files and folders through Internet.  Ubuntu One saves users’ data securely in network of servers known as cloud service, and users can retrieve data securely to Ubuntu computers and mobile devices.

In addition to allowing users to backup data, Ubuntu One can sync files and folders across Ubuntu devices, including mobile devices.  Ubuntu One allows users to stream music to their mobile devices, but they have to pay $3.99 per month or $39.99 per year for this feature.  Streaming music feature will work with Android phones, iPhone, and iPad.  Users can subscribe to 20GB of storage for $2.99 per month or $29.99 per year, and this plan doesn’t support streaming of music.

Of course, Ubuntu One has a free plan which allows users to have 5GB of free storage.  Users can use smartphones and computers to access their files from Ubuntu One.  It’s like having additional hard drive or a partition on a computer.

Backing up specific files and folders to Ubuntu One is pretty easy, because you just drag and drop such folders to Ubuntu One folder.  When drag and drop files and folders to Ubuntu One folder, you basically retain the original copies on your system, and the backup copies reside on Ubuntu One’s servers (i.e., cloud service).

Whenever you delete files and folders from Ubuntu One folder on your system, the duplicate copies of files and folders on Ubuntu One’s servers will also be deleted.  This is how files and folders sync between your Ubuntu system and Ubuntu One’s account.  This is why it can be dangerous to delete files and folders inside Ubuntu One folder, unless you do not care of losing these backup files and folders.

You can be extra careful by just leave the files and folders where they are and make copies so you can paste these files and folders to Ubuntu One folder.  This way you have three copies of the same files and folders — two on system and one on Ubuntu One’s servers.  This way also fills up more space locally!

Anyhow, I’d created a video which briefly goes over Ubuntu One’s features and shows Ubuntu One in action.  You can check out the video right after the break.

In my opinion, users should not use Ubuntu One to backup the whole Ubuntu system, because Ubuntu One is more efficient in backing up regular folders and files of users.  To backup the whole Ubuntu system efficiently, I recommend users to use Deja Dup backup tool which comes by default with Ubuntu 11.10.

Leave a Comment

Netflix Isn’t Desperate, But Will It Be So?

Oct 17, 11 10:59 PM

Netflix has been scarred with mistakes lately, and mostly they had done it to themselves.  By now you probably had heard how Netflix raised prices, tried to split Netflix into two then reverted to one service again, and then decidedly kept prices high as it had intended all along.  Customers were furious, and some of them still do.  Many shareholders bailed Netflix’s stock, gave way to a stock that once was neared $300 but now it’s hovering around $117.

Has Netflix forever destroyed itself?  This question is quite important in this period of time for Netflix, because so many other players are willing to spend huge amount of money to build something that might be fit to compete against Netflix.  Just to name a few, Vdio, Amazon, Google, Dish’s Blockbuster, and Apple.

I don’t think Netflix is yet to be desperate, because it has several advantages that the competitors aren’t yet capable in matching or surpassing.  Let see, Netflix is still considering to be the best service.  It has more film titles than anyone else for instant streaming, and its CD/DVD by mail is still intact — has huge collections of films.  Although Netflix has raised prices higher, it’s considerably cheap, still.  People can instantly stream Netflix’s films on most devices and gadgets in the markets — this hasn’t been the case for the competitors.

I do think that by giving enough time, anyone can catch up to Netflix as long somebody is willing to spend enough cash to play the catch-up game and the customers are willing to switch to try out newer services so they can compare the formers versus the newcomers.  This is why I do think Netflix has to innovate more than just being the service which has acquired more film titles for instant streaming than anyone else.  Why?  Some customers might be contented with just enough film titles, because not everyone is able to sit down and watch all of them titles.  Nonetheless, good titles are very important, because only the titles people want to watch most will be able to promote the charm of the service.

How Netflix should innovate?  Netflix needs to add features and whistles and bells to its instant streaming service!  Let see, when I watch a TV show, I do not want to switch manually one episode to another, because I hate to get out of my couch or bed just to switch to the next episode of the series.  What can I say, people like me are born to be lazy, and I’m afraid there are tons of us out there!  Let see, Netflix might want to try incorporate social network features similar to Facebook and Google Plus into its own service, because it’s logical to allow users to communicate better.  Perhaps friends on Netflix might want to share favorite movies with each other and so on.  Let see, Netflix might want to bring live shows to users/customers.  Live shows have the potential to be game changer, because some people just want to be able to watch news the way they have been doing for ages on regular TVs.  There are so many things that Netflix can enhance its service, and by doing so I think Netflix can basically mute its competitors in way that it’s not even funny!  Let not forget to be simplistic and yet at the same time appearing to be capable!

In summary, Netflix isn’t that desperate yet, but it will be if it allows the competitors to catch up!  Netflix can enhance its service by tweaking its service in ways that appeal to customers more.  Netflix can dominate even more by controlling more popular film titles and TV shows.  Keeping the prices affordable, Netflix will be able to ensure its longevity.  Happy customers in the end will make things very costly for Netflix’s competitors.

Leave a Comment
Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 135 other followers