ReedMe

As some of you may know I was stuck with Wildblue Satellite internet.  Using the internet was pretty much unbearable and it worked to pay the bills with but browsing for info was pretty brutal, especially during peak hours.

After filing complaints with some different people I was finally released from the contract with no termination fees.  Since then I have signed up for Verizon wireless internet service and it is pretty nice.  The ping times are about 1/10th of the satellite times and I see about 90% of the max rated speed, and well above the guaranteed speed for the service.  The upload bandwidth is also considerably higher than most basic DSL packages as well.

I purchased an add on antenna booster and CTR-350 wireless router to go with my USB720 modem.  Initially I tried the UM150 and the results weren’t as great, while the USB720 appears to provide better pings and more consistent bandwidth at the upper end of the rated speeds.  The 3GStore has been an excellent source of info as well as EVDOforums.

The other feature I am looking forward to is having high speed internet pretty much anywhere with my laptop by taking my usb modem along with me.

Here is a quick summary of what has been announced, the full article is at DSL Reports.

• 200Kbps speeds are no longer considered “broadband.”
• 768Kbps, which is the entry-level speed offered by major DSL providers like Verizon, will be considered the low end of “basic broadband,”
• Upload and download speeds will have to be reported in a more specific way. At the moment, the broadband speeds most commonly offered by cable and telephone companies are lumped into two major categories: those between 200Kbps and 2.5Mbps, and those between 2.5 and 10Mbps.
• ISPs will be required to report numbers of subscribers, and at the census-block level. Under the current methodology, ISPs report only the number of zip codes in which they have at least one subscriber, and they report numbers of lines nationwide.

I think the biggest part of this is one location receiving broadband in a zip code does not constitute the entire zip code have broadband access. I wonder how long it will take to get companies to roll out broadband to the more rural areas that were “covered” before the classification changes?

This is not a paid advertisement, this is just an article about me buying a John Deere Lawn Tractor.  I asked my Dad to come along, mainly because he has bought more tractors than me, and he has a truck.  We went down to Lowe’s on Sunday morning and
spent some time checking out the different models they had on the floor.  After looking at the various brands, and sitting on them to make sure they would be a comfortable fit for me we started talking to the salesman.

The low end starts about $1,000 for a Fire-Engine Red Troy Built, and goes all the way up to $6,000 for some of the ZTRs.  My lawn is neither large enough or difficult enough to require a ZTR so anything above $3,000 wasn’t even taken into consideration.

My needs for the tractor are as follows, obviously I will mow my yard with it.  My next consideration is using small pull behind accessories like a Broadcast spreader or possibly a small cart.  The final option I wanted available was the ability to add a snow blade.  This last winter probably wouldn’t have justified a snow blade, but all it takes is one bad snow to make that blade worth its weight in gold.

This basically narrowed my choices down to 1 of 3 models on the John Deere list, they are as follows: LA110, LA135, and LA145.  The 110 used the 19.5 Hp motor while the other 2 used the larger 22 HP V-Twin.  Due to the hilliness of the front yard and Driveway the best fit seemed to be the larger motor.  From there the options left were the LA135 and LA145.  Between these 2 models the price difference was only $100 and the following features were what the extra $100 bought:  6in larger deck, Electric PTO instead of manual, Larger Gas Tank, 4 Deck wheels instead of 2 and Mulching Deck.  The LA135 technically had a few nicer features on the steering wheel and seat, but I hope the larger deck and easier PTO operation will offset that because I will be spending less time on the mower.

In the end I went with the LA145, the larger deck and electric PTO were more of a deciding factor than anything else.  I threw in a gas can and oil filter for that first oil change after 8 hours of operation, and took it home with me that day.  I have already used it to fertilize the lawn and I hope to get as many years of use from it as my Dad did from his last John Deere tractor.

I have given up hope for the local weather guys.  So far this year they are 0 for 6 on snow predictions of more than 1 inch, including a dusting that was supposed to be 7-9 inches as well as a grass covering that was predicted to be 5-6 inches.  At this point I pretty much disregard any forecast, and wonder why I can’t get a job that requires accuracy in the single digit range.

This was posted on Slashdot earlier today,

An anonymous reader writes “With the time approaching when we’ll be changing our clocks again, the Wall Street Journal is running a timely article on a study done by a UC-Santa Barbara economics professor and a Ph.D. student. The study unambiguously concludes that Daylight Saving Time not only doesn’t save any energy, it actually wastes energy and costs more. The study used energy company records from Indiana before and after that state mandated DST for all of its counties, and calculated that the switch cost Indiana citizens $8.6M per year. ‘I’ve never had a paper with such a clear and unambiguous finding as this,’ the professor said.”

Comments From Slashdot Here

Here is a letter I received from Dish after inquiring about the most recent bill increase.
Dear Customer, Thank you for your e-mail. We appreciate your feedback regarding the 2008 price changes. The changes are a result of our programmers enhancing and adding new channels to our programming packages, including a growing selection of HD programming.

So I get to pay $3 extra dollars for a couple new channels when the current price per channel is less than 50 cents. On top of that I get to pay for HD channels when I don’t even subscribe to them. Don’t get me wrong I would subscribe except Dish treats existing loyal customers like dirt….

Through these business improvements, we take pride in the fact that we significantly reduce the impact that higher television fees have on our customers. Our cable competitors, by comparison, have increased rates by 93 percent from 1995 to 2005.

They could reduce cost to their customers even farther by coming into the current decade and realizing that it is asinine for them to require a customer to carry a phone line for the receivers. I refuse to pay $23 a month to avoid their $5 charge, they should update and make the receivers talk via IP.

Please know that DISH Network does everything in its power to provide you with the best value in TV, including the highest quality programming at the lowest price possible. As you consider the new pricing, please keep in mind that DISH Network is rapidly expanding its programming lineup.

Yet you still can’t offer me my locals????

DISH Network has invested in technology to remain the leader in HD with over 70 national HD channels. And with 3 new DishHD programming packages to choose from in 2008, we are pleased to offer something for everyone in your family with the best in sports, movies, entertainment and family programming.

Right now Direct TV is advertising over 90 HD channels. I have already told Dish that once cable is available I will be leaving them immediately, mainly due to the fact that I can’t get an upgrade close to the equivalent of what a new customer gets, and they won’t drop the service access fees because I don’t have an unnecessary home line.

The FCC says Broadband penetration is very high in the US, help the broadband census out by taking their short survey to help dispute the FCC’s claims. According to the FCC I have 7 internet broadband services available in my zipcode, when in reality there are none. Please take a few minutes to go fill this out, even if you don’t know your speed numbers it is still a good idea to take it. Broadband Census

I know it has been a long time since I posted, we moved and were stuck with dial up for a long time, and then I pretty much ignored the site for the last several months. Well I have decided to post something up but only because insurance companies make me so mad.

This rant is about Anthem Health Insurance. I previously had Anthem provided health insurance through work and the last few weeks with them have been very interesting. Anthem has made a few moves that are somewhat suspicious in my opinion. Everything seemed to be going well with them, and then within the last week things took a turn.

The whole reason this became an issue was to due to some health bills that were billed back in November of this year. As of 12/21 they hadn’t been fully processed but I had been in communication with them and at that point I was told by a CSR over the phone what the exact amounts for coinsurance and deductibles would be. Fast forward to 1/2/08 when I entered the Anthem website and much to my surprise it showed that I owed the full amount on all of the bills that had accrued in the November period.

I immediately placed a phone call to Anthem to find out what was going on and much to my surprise again, I was told that my insurance had been canceled effective 10/31/07. I found this to be very interesting especially since they continued to take my payments, and just a few weeks earlier the CSR told me over the pone exactly what the prices would be on the bills. I contacted my company HR and they informed me that we did still in fact have coverage.
So my next question is what has happened since I contacted them in mid to late December? I can only guess and I suppose only the people at Anthem truly know why it was done but I have my suspicions.

I believe the insurance was marked as canceled served a couple of purposes for Anthem. First of all I know my company would not have called and canceled the services before the time was up, so them doing accidentally is most likely out of the question as it is probably more difficult to cancel an entire company’s insurance with one click.

Anthem knew ahead of time that our company was switching to a different insurance as of 1/1 and I wasn’t even going to post this but I received an envelope in the mail a few days ago. Its contents included a document that is supposed to be used to “PROVE” that you had previous insurance. It turns out it was marked with the expiration date of 10/31/07 which provided exactly 60 days with no claimed coverage. For those of you without much knowledge of health insurance, getting coverage after 60 days of no coverage opens one up to many problems including dismissal of insurance for pre-existing conditions.

The second problem with the insurance being marked as canceled means that my claims that had set for almost 60 days to be processed initially showed as declined by the insurance and I had to call and request they all be re-processed. If I hadn’t kept a close eye on this or if the amounts had been smaller this could have resulted in Anthem avoiding paying some bills they should have paid.

In the end Anthem has cost themselves more money whether these actions were deliberate or not I cannot say but I do know they have wasted more of my time and their money than was necessary.

I maintain that I despise all forms of insurance.