Good News, Everybody!

Kevin Martin, chairman of the FCC, recently told the New York Times that the FCC plans to end exclusive deals between telecom companies and apartment communities.  This is good for a variety of reasons.  First, hopefully this would mean that there will be more choices to consumers.  As Ars points out, that usually just means one or two more choices, that is still better than nothing.  Secondly, and closer to home, assuming that this would apply to all telecom companies and not just cable providers, I could switch over from using AT&T.  As I've mentioned before, the irony is that AT&T is one of the major backers of this proposal.  I have had nothing with problems with AT&T since moving into my new apartment a few months ago.  The service is horrible, with my getting disconnected multiple times a day.  I can't manage to keep a solid connection more than a day or two.  Not to mention that this service is costing me more than my cable internet and TV combined cost me.  Also, I just plain don't like AT&T and really don't want to do business with them.  The issue is expected to be discussed in a few days at the FCC meeting.  Martin said that it is possible that they may even strike down existing contracts before they expire.  While I don't think we can expect anything to actually have an effect in the immediate future, I'm hoping for something in the next year or so.  Then again, that might just be wishful thinking.

MIA, AT&T, and a Horror Story

I know, I know.  I've once again been MIA for quite some time.  I have much better excuses this time, though.  This time it includes more than me just being lazy.

First, my grandmother died a few weeks ago.  Between living at the hospital for a couple days, and then all of the craziness that followed, that put me off the grid for about a week.  Since then, I've just been trying desperately to catch back up with everything.  Before that happened, things at work were going at just the right pace where I could work and not worry about deadlines.  Now, though, I'm still about a week or two behind.  It's amazing how things will snowball like that.  Missing a week suddenly puts you behind three.  So I've been working a ton lately, and that usually means that when I get home it's either late or I have no desire to do anything but vege.  All of that, though, means that not only have I not really had time to write, but I've also not had time to read.  There were a couple of things that would catch my eye, but they're all considerably old news now.  Oh well.

Since most topics I was going to mention have pretty much come and gone, I'll just briefly touch on a couple.  Both about AT&T.  First, if you follow those links in the last sentence, you'll see the story about AT&T's new terms of service that basically said that they could disconnect you as a customer if you said things that were critical of the company.  While that does seem a bit absurd, I honestly would not doubt AT&T to do it.  The second article, though, is where they retracted on that, and said they never meant it to mean that they'd actually disconnect someone for being critical.  Yeah, right. 
The other item about AT&T hits close to home.  I started doing some searching to find out just why telecom companies are allowed to have exclusive deals with apartment and condo communities.  This really pisses me off that they do that (like pisses me off more than you can even imagine).  Well in the course of my searching, I found a fairly recent post about the FCC looking into prohibiting these exclusive deals.  One of the chief proponents of barring such contracts?  AT&T.  I feel a bit dirty, but I am actually rooting for AT&T here.  Ironically, AT&T thinks that if they get these contracts banned that they'll sign up more customers, all the while I'm going to jump ship from them first chance that comes along.  Companies with cheaper, better service provide for my area, but I can't get them because my complex has a contract with AT&T.  Oh, wait, not all of my complex, just half of my complex.  If I were living in the building across from mine, I wouldn't have this problem.

I'll close with a horror story that will make you just angry and saddened at the same time.  Go check out this post on this lady's blog, and then read in order all of the ones after it.  Yes, it's a number of posts.  Yes, it's worth the read.  Here's the gist of it: Concerned parents take baby to doctor, hospital calls CPS, CPS takes away baby from non-abusive parents.  The lady is actually a friend of a friend, so she's vouched for and isn't writing BS.  Check it out, it's just crazy.

Dry As a Bone

Partly due to Zelda, and partly due to my mood, I haven't been able to come up with much of anything to post lately. I'm reading the news, but nothing is just jumping out at me. I mean, Apple has made a fool out of themselves twice recently. I suppose that's something. Apple really grinds my gears. They are so full of themselves it's amazing that they are taken seriously. They are also treated so differently from other companies by the public, I'm always left wondering. Speaking of this, Apple announced that the iPhone is going to get up to 8 hours of talk time. I'm skeptical, at best. However, if this turns out to be true, then props to them. Maybe others will figure out how they did it and we can all start having incredible battery life on our electronic devices. Another thing about the iPhone: Jobs has said that it is the best iPod yet. I don't see how a portable media device with as little as 4 gigs of storage can be the best yet. Part of me really wants to see the iPhone fail horribly, just to knock Apple down a few pegs. The problem is that that won't happen. The over-hype about the phone will mean that it will be a success at launch, regardless. After that, even if it does start to fail, Apple will be forgiven and the masses will forget about it. Personally, I've got a few things I dislike about the iPhone, but only two that would keep me from buying one. The biggest is the price tag. People many places are saying that there hasn't been any firm evidence on what price will actually be, but I beg to differ. The slide at MacWorld 2007 seems to show that the $499 and $599 price will be with a required two year contract. Which brings me to my second item. There is no way I'm becoming an AT&T customer. I've heard horrible things about their wireless business for many years, and their latest bit about spying on people means that I won't be counting myself as any type of AT&T customer. I realize that the price is all but guaranteed to drop after a while, but I'm not talking about buying one later. Plus, I seem to remember seeing something about the AT&T exclusivity being five years. I could be wrong on that one, though.
Really, though, the iPhone does have some compelling features, but nothing that makes me think it deserves the price. They give their little comparison chart, but leave key features that many find important off of it. I also wonder how happy users of their onscreen keyboard will be. I think that the iPhone is a step in the right direction towards what people want, but I think it's a far way from the best thing ever. I know that none of this is new, but that's never stopped me before. I guess that only time will tell. Well, maybe. There just might be enough fanboys out there to keep it alive even if it does suck.

Clarification

I just wanted to clarify something from my last post. I'm not for people cheating. I was just trying to use an example of something that isn't good, but is also something that you don't want a big company spying on you to see if you're doing it. Just wanted to make sure I wasn't sending the signal that I want people to cheat without getting caught.

Thank You for Choosing ATT, How May I Screw You Today?

First it was the NSA, and now AT&T is going to start working with the RIAA and MPAA by turning over customer information. They are going to try to help track down pirates, and make sure that they get punished. Now, if you're an AT&T customer, even if you're not a pirate, I'd strongly encourage you to get off their network ASAP. If this is any indication, they are on a slippery slope downwards to having no regard to their customers' privacy. By actively helping to track down customers that are pirating things, AT&T demonstrates just what kind of company it is. If this was some sort of move to track down child molesters or something I could see where they might have a defense, but as it is they are basically just telling their customers that they don't care what they want. Even that would be a bit questionable. Duncan Riley is correct.

There's something very, very wrong when a company starts conspiring against
its users.

What's next? Are they going to start sending letters to spouses if it looks like their partner is cheating? How much monitoring are customers going to allow before they jump ship?

Updated: No, really, I can spell.