"maybe this helps defends Sticks' "charge" of "gross negligence" in my post regarding cable modem speeds?"
Perhaps, perhaps not. After reading your post I took it upon myself to inquire about the (newly laid) cable services in my area -Westlake Village CA. Apparently the new lines are owned by Americast, a division of GTE. After a careful demographic study they determined that this would be one of two areas in the country where cable modem service would be offered.(the other was Clearwater Fla.) As TCI was already offering cable television in the area, its been a hard sell to get people to switch over, so their only discourse was to offer the installation and change over to their service for free, and they've been fairly successful in finding converts -but wait till you hear about their products;
They offer two internet access programs The "Zephyr" which offers speeds "faster than ISDN 64" and the Tempest which boasts a whopping speed "faster than ISDN 128" Geeeee!!! I'm really impressed now. It appears that all that bandwidth (supposedly 30mb as per the article) has been sucked up by the 65 plus TELEVISION and MOVIE CHANNELS which continuously occupy the line. No wonder there's no room left for internet bandwidth -at least they're not attempting to make it available for that purpose.
-Now for the pricing;
Both programs require an activation fee of $54.95 -not bad, but the monthly nut for the ISDN 128 shattering "Tempest" is $64.90 including the modem rental (they're not for sale) To top it off, voice service is not a part of the package, so you can keep your phone bill too. (forget about 3 in 1) Sounds to me like I might as well just get an ISDN line installed and keep the TCI cable service for what it was meant for- Broadcast television.
In the meantime, thanks for unearthing the many "seeds of doubt" that you do. I'm quite impressed with your technical prowess (but for some reason get the impression that you're holding a large short position- that's OK by me too as long as you remain objective - a claim I can't always make myself).But it does seem that the tone of your posts often gets more negative during market weakness and corrections and then they subside when the stock price is on the rise - Perhaps it's just my imagination. In any case, I thank you, as I wouldn't have done my homework right here in my own back yard today without a little provocation from you!
Regards-
Schmedley |
