Did you finally get @HOME installed? If so, let me know what you think!
Hi Scott- The answer is "yes." The guys came out last Wednesday. I haven't commented yet, because I am working through some technical glitches.
I decided to let them run the cable, for fear I would do something incorrect. The "wire guy" liked that I had scoped things out and used my suggestions for the cable route. He followed the route that I used for my dial-up separate line. It took him about 30 min. or less. He replaced all my switches with higher quality equipment. Evidently he wasn't impressed with my Radio Shack hardware. It was nice of him to do that, as all of the switches routed the signal to TVs.
Another person soon joined him and installed the COM 21 modem. The software installation went smoothly, and I was receiving a great signal. No problems at all. The modem/software installer was glad to see I had a relatively new Dell vs. an antiquated Packard Bell. He said that was the most difficult part of his job. Some computers take so long to install software and trouble shoot. He would like to hand over the software and say, "Load it yourself." He doesn't though. The guy also said he sees problems that he just can't leave "unfixed." He will spend the few extra minutes to correct something totally unrelated. I thought that was a great way to foster good public relations.
The installers were subs employed by Utilicom of Des Moines. TCI does none of the @Home installations. TCI evidently is busy with digital setups and other things. The software installer did say there were 700 people on a waiting list to receive @Home in the Quad Cities. The "wire guy" said he does 8 or 9 jobs a day. There are four guys that do what he does in the whole Quad Cities. Definitely not a huge crew. He did admit that there was an outfit or two that also installed. So, it's hard to say how many are installed each day in the Quad Cities.
As far as speed is concerned, I believe TCI@Home may also be having some problems in Iowa. While downloads are faster, only five times faster than my dial-up. I noticed surfing can be as sluggish as dial-up.
I contacted TCI@Home, and they thought my RAM needed upgrading. They felt a RAM of 32 was a bit anemic. I was going to upgrade soon anyway, so I ordered another 128 from Dell. Personally, I feel I have a software conflict. If I leave the computer idle for a few hours, I come back to a very sluggish situation. It is near impossible for me to do anything on the Net, or with any program off-line. It is sometimes so bad that I have to simply shut off my tower. I have ample space on my hard drive, so that's not my problem.
I did a download test for @Home, and responded to them on their live support chat room. Even though there were six agents sitting there in a quiet room not providing assistance, it took 20 min. before one of them responded with a comment. She said that Iowa was experiencing problems.
So...it may be awhile before I experience the speed. Things need to be ironed out a bit.
Ed |
