Indigo Incarnates
Well, I'm afraid it's time for one of my periodic TechnoRants. You know, when I gripe about technological things that should work a lot better than they do, but don't.
--- Internet Explorer 8
Wow! What a piece of garbage! IE7 was faster. IE6 was faster still. So I guess Microsoft doesn't consider a browser fully "updated" until it runs at only half the speed of its predecessor. The new thing I've noticed with IE8 is that you get an awful lot of "This page cannot be displayed" errors unless you're running a broadband connection of 384 kbps or higher. Whenever my phone switches to EDGE mode (115kbps) this new browser is essentially crippled. Oh, it also consumes an inordinate amount of processing power. When IE8 is loading a page, the processor utilization gage is at 100% the whole time. Oh, and it has a hard time closing. I usually have to do a manual application termination through Task Manager to close IE8.
--- When "Unlimited" actually means "10 Gb"
So, I was finally able to get T-Mobile to keep letting me use my SonyEricsson phone as a modem (since I had a contract that explicitly said I am permitted to). However, the cell phone service provider came up with a new hidden limitation. Apparently once a user has exceeded 10 Gb of data transfer in a 30-day period, the carrier disables the 3G data stream (384kbps) and only allows the phone to connect on the EDGE channel (115kbps). To add insult to injury, the phone chimes on the hour, every hour, with a message that reads "You have exceeded a 10 Gb limit. Your data speed shall be reduced for the remainder of the billing cycle). Since the service isn't actually terminated, T-Mobile can still technically say it's "unlimited". I am not impressed.
--- Fake 3G
Word to the wise: There are actually two kinds of 3G phones. Mine is a HSPDA device, which connects in the 350kbps-650kbps range. Then there are the inferior UMTS devices, which connect at 150kbps-300kbps. If you plan on subscribing to T-Mobile,they now only let new customers tether UMTS phones to their computers. The only reason my faster phone still works is because they implemented this policy after I signed the contract -- and I still had to fight them about it for two weeks. So, if you want broadband service and you think T-Mobile is going to be as fast as AT&T or Verizon, think again. UMTS is only *slightly* faster than EDGE. If T-Mobile really had it's act together, I could get 1.2 Mb/sec. That's never going to happen on this network anytime soon.
[ 1 comment ] ( 4 views ) permalink Well, I'm afraid it's time for one of my periodic TechnoRants. You know, when I gripe about technological things that should work a lot better than they do, but don't.
--- Internet Explorer 8
Wow! What a piece of garbage! IE7 was faster. IE6 was faster still. So I guess Microsoft doesn't consider a browser fully "updated" until it runs at only half the speed of its predecessor. The new thing I've noticed with IE8 is that you get an awful lot of "This page cannot be displayed" errors unless you're running a broadband connection of 384 kbps or higher. Whenever my phone switches to EDGE mode (115kbps) this new browser is essentially crippled. Oh, it also consumes an inordinate amount of processing power. When IE8 is loading a page, the processor utilization gage is at 100% the whole time. Oh, and it has a hard time closing. I usually have to do a manual application termination through Task Manager to close IE8.
--- When "Unlimited" actually means "10 Gb"
So, I was finally able to get T-Mobile to keep letting me use my SonyEricsson phone as a modem (since I had a contract that explicitly said I am permitted to). However, the cell phone service provider came up with a new hidden limitation. Apparently once a user has exceeded 10 Gb of data transfer in a 30-day period, the carrier disables the 3G data stream (384kbps) and only allows the phone to connect on the EDGE channel (115kbps). To add insult to injury, the phone chimes on the hour, every hour, with a message that reads "You have exceeded a 10 Gb limit. Your data speed shall be reduced for the remainder of the billing cycle). Since the service isn't actually terminated, T-Mobile can still technically say it's "unlimited". I am not impressed.
--- Fake 3G
Word to the wise: There are actually two kinds of 3G phones. Mine is a HSPDA device, which connects in the 350kbps-650kbps range. Then there are the inferior UMTS devices, which connect at 150kbps-300kbps. If you plan on subscribing to T-Mobile,they now only let new customers tether UMTS phones to their computers. The only reason my faster phone still works is because they implemented this policy after I signed the contract -- and I still had to fight them about it for two weeks. So, if you want broadband service and you think T-Mobile is going to be as fast as AT&T or Verizon, think again. UMTS is only *slightly* faster than EDGE. If T-Mobile really had it's act together, I could get 1.2 Mb/sec. That's never going to happen on this network anytime soon.
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