When I was going to jump ship from Comcast, before they moved my rate back down, I looked into Direct TV, people on this list any others had good things to say about it. Several people recommended NOT getting any combination packages. So I was going to try Direct TV, with Qwest. . I think I am finally going to move. I’m sick of every few months having to fight them. If I do, I will go Direct TV and hopefully ATT if they are set up here by then
From: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com [mailto:scifino...@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Keith Johnson Sent: Saturday, June 06, 2009 7:42 PM To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com Subject: Re: [RE][scifinoir2] Hulu--Who Knew? I guess I need to look into DirectTV. But what about Internet? Does DirectTV offer that? If so, it can't be fast and reliable like Comcast, which for me currently yields 5 - 6 mbps download speed. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Martin Baxter" <truthseeker...@lycos.com> To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com Sent: Saturday, June 6, 2009 5:57:38 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern Subject: Re: [RE][scifinoir2] Hulu--Who Knew? Keith, I'll say the same. The only reason 'm still stuck with Comcrap is because the bill's not in my name, and the name in question refuses to pick up the phone and cancel the service. If my name were on the mortgage (as it was five years ago, before I hit my own hard times), I'd get my own hook-up with DirectTV. ---------[ Received Mail Content ]---------- Subject : Re: [RE][scifinoir2] Hulu--Who Knew? Date : Sat, 6 Jun 2009 20:35:18 +0000 (UTC) >From : Keith Johnson <keithbjohn...@comcast.net> To : scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com Comcast has been horrible, and I say that as I'm using them... ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mr. Worf" To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com Sent: Saturday, June 6, 2009 2:23:35 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern Subject: Re: [RE][scifinoir2] Hulu--Who Knew? I think that it must happen eventually. Where I am they have it on buses and the other usual places like the library etc. The police have their own network as well. The cable companies are trying to break the back of the consumer by charging the maximum amount that we can bare. If we all drop comcast they will be forced to stand up and pay attention. One of the things about comcast and other big companies that bugs me is that they were about to cancel access to several networks during last christmas break. Can you imagine the chaos being on christmas break and little kids not being able to watch cartoons? (they were going to pull nickeloden, sprout and others) Comcast suggested a phone campaign and they got close to a million calls to keep the shows on the air. Purely manipulation on comcast's part. On Sat, Jun 6, 2009 at 7:40 AM, Keith Johnson < keithbjohn...@comcast.net > wrote: The free wireless nationwide is a great idea, one I support fully. over the last few years, several cities tried to institute such a program--Philadelphia among them. What happened? The telecom and cable giants cried "foul!" saying that free metropolitan wifi was unfair competition for them. In Pennsylvania, the businesses lobbied the state legislature successfully, and helped squash the deal. It's extremely unfortunate and frustrating, because Philly's planned was intended for more than just givig wifi coverage to coffee shops and bookstores near colleges or upper middle class neighborhoods. The goal was really to blanket all areas of the city, especially the inner city areas where the poor and people of color lived who might not be able to afford a monthly broadband bill for Internet. (Or, who had that at home, but couldn't afford the fees to pay for Internet access away from home). I understand making a profit, but it really angered me that this plan was killed. Major cities all over the country ended up fighting the same battle, and mostly losing to big business, who felt they'd lose all income as people would cancel home Internet subscriptions and simply ride the free wifi. That was wrong for many reasons. One, the signals wouldn't blanket entire metropolitan areas in that way. Basically, away from downtown areas you'd be back to the same thing. People living in the suburbs or most outlying areas would still need to buy internet service for their homes. Second, even if you coiuld ride a public signal, depending on how far you're living from the WAP (Wireless Access Point), the signal degradation could lead to major speed reduction. You might find it's simply too slow to do major surfing and movie downloading at home. A pity is that most Americans don't even know that this fierce battle was being waged in recent years. They tend to think the crazy patchwork system we have now--finding wifi where you can in coffee shops, bookstores, college campuses, the odd restaurant, etc.--is normal. It drives me crazy. When I was laid off last year, I made a concerted effort to get out of the house so I didn't get overcome by depression. I'd spend some part of each day around people, taking my laptop with me so I could apply for jobs online, work on my resume, ask people for references, etc. My first thought was to go to bookstores (which I love), but guess what? The wifi at Borders and Barnes and Noble aren't free. You have to pay T-Mobile fees or something. Ditto for Starbucks. Well, aside from my inborn disgust at having to pay for wifi when I think it should be free in such areas, I didn't want to start shelling out anywhere from five to ten bucks every day just to surf ! the Net. And I didn't need another subscription card to a service. Why, for example, do I already use T-mobile cell phones, but have to pay another fee to use wifi on my laptop? So I started traveling around looking for a combination of reliable, fast (using 802.11g, instead of the slower 802.11b), and comfortable places for free wifi. Some places were too crowded, others didn't serve food, others closed too early in the day, or gave you wifi access for only a few hours before you had to buy something. I found a couple of websites where people have taken to listing good free hotspots nationwide. In the end I narrowed it down to two places here: Whole Foods and Caribou Coffee. The former is okay, but use the slower 802.11b, and isn't as comfortable feeling for long term work. But they serve a variety of food. Caribou Coffee has the faster 802.11 and can be more comfortable for locations with couches, so I ended up spending the bulk of my time there. I detail that long story just to point out the ridiculous situation of not having metro wide wifi here in Atlanta. It was like some kind of scavenger hunt just for me to find a decent play to go online each day without having to shell out more of my dough. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mr. Worf" < hellomahog...@gmail.com > To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com Sent: Saturday, June 6, 2009 2:09:45 AM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern Subject: Re: [RE][scifinoir2] Hulu--Who Knew? There are people that share bandwidth. I read something that they were talking about making a national free wireless program, but I just don't see that happening right now. On Fri, Jun 5, 2009 at 10:37 PM, Keith Johnson < keithbjohn...@comcast.net > wrote: Anyone in the area with a standard broadband (1.5 mbps) connection and a wireless access point? You could try to ride their signal, although frankly too much distance could degrade the speed until it's not much faster than your current setup. If you're in an apartment, someone next door, upstairs, or downstairs could possibly work. You could test it out, see if if works, then pay them a small amount each month. It's done all the time in big cities... ----- Original Message ----- From: "C.W. Badie" < astromancer2...@yahoo.com > To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com Sent: Saturday, June 6, 2009 1:00:04 AM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern Subject: Re: [RE][scifinoir2] Hulu--Who Knew? Oh god no! With upload and download speeds around 330kbps, I suffer enough! --- On Fri, 6/5/09, Keith Johnson < keithbjohn...@comcast.net > wrote: From: Keith Johnson < keithbjohn...@comcast.net > Subject: Re: [RE][scifinoir2] Hulu--Who Knew? To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com Date: Friday, June 5, 2009, 11:45 PM So are you on dialup now? ----- Original Message ----- From: "C.W. Badie" To: scifino...@yahoogro ups.com Sent: Saturday, June 6, 2009 12:17:08 AM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern Subject: Re: [RE][scifinoir2] Hulu--Who Knew? I got sick of them...Now I have no cable TV and DSL internet...I just wish it was faster, but I'm not being robbed....Well, that is after I threatened to cancel when they jacked it up to where it was more than I was paying with Comcrap...Yes. ..They all want to play games... --- On Fri, 6/5/09, Mr. Worf wrote: From: Mr. Worf Subject: Re: [RE][scifinoir2] Hulu--Who Knew? To: scifino...@yahoogro ups.com Date: Friday, June 5, 2009, 10:42 PM If I had kept HBO and Showtime on my tvs it would have cost $170 a month! That is without internet! This is totally crazy. They should change their logo to a skull and crossbones! Such a waste of money. Hell, for $50 a month I can get 8 movies at a time from Netflix. Or get internet from someone else and download everything. On Fri, Jun 5, 2009 at 8:35 PM, Tracey de Morsella < tdli...@multicultur aladvantage. com > wrote: I have a ritual with Comcast. We had phone, internet and cable for $100. They jacked it up to $250, so I threatened to leave. They tried to lets see what we can get rid of pitch. I told them I did not have to, because I could have the same elsewhere and I thought they have deceptive practices, so they put me at $108, Six months later pretty much the same thing happened, but this time they split my special rates up so that one changes in 6 months and the other changes in 9. They figure when I come back, they will be able to better manage me, but I’m going to just dump them and try direct Tv and separate my internet and phone with Quest or somebody I HATE Them I’m sorry http://comcastmustd ie.com/ thinks they have accomplished their mission. They are just sneakier From: scifino...@yahoogro ups.com [mailto: scifino...@yahoogro ups.com ] On Behalf Of Mr. Worf Sent: Friday, June 05, 2009 8:07 PM To: scifino...@yahoogro ups.com Subject: Re: [RE][scifinoir2] Hulu--Who Knew? I would love to cut off my cable. They are really seriously trying to rip us off here in California. Its about $100+ a month just for digital extended basic. On Fri, Jun 5, 2009 at 7:52 PM, C.W. Badie < astromancer2002@ yahoo.com > wrote: It is a cable company here in Chicago...the only competition against Comcrap on the southside... I'd have their service now if I didn't owe them money...long story so don't ask... --- On Wed, 3/25/09, Keith Johnson < KeithBJohnson@ comcast.net > wrote: From: Keith Johnson < KeithBJohnson@ comcast.net > Subject: Re: [RE][scifinoir2] Hulu--Who Knew? To: scifino...@yahoogro ups.com Date: Wednesday, March 25, 2009, 8:11 AM What is WoW? ----- Original Message ----- From: "Wayne badie" To: scifino...@yahoogro ups.com Sent: Tuesday, March 24, 2009 9:59:27 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern Subject: RE: [RE][scifinoir2] Hulu--Who Knew? Hey, thanks to Martin and Keith, sites like Hulu and Fancast were places I turned to catch up with episodes of shows from the Sci-Fi Channel after Comcrap dumped it into their digital money pit.....Hey guys, as of Mid-March, I have been Comcrap-free! Granted, I'm on DSL and steaming videos sucks on this P4, but I hope Advanced TV comes to my part of town this winter or I can switch to WoW, Comcrap's competitor.. . --- On Tue, 3/24/09, Augustus Augustus wrote: From: Augustus Augustus Subject: RE: [RE][scifinoir2] Hulu--Who Knew? To: scifino...@yahoogro ups.com Date: Tuesday, March 24, 2009, 5:17 PM continue.... ......... ......... .. the should have gotten the rights 2: firefly and continued it. that was a great show! here is a question, whatever happened 2: surface & invasion? they did one season, and then done. i especially like invasion.... .now that i am ranting, what about threshold? and daylight? still a little miffed about the early cancellation of SG:A too. hell, SG:1 also! heck, they could have continued Enterprise and did a couple of DS9 made 4 tv movies too! sorry about the rant, but it slipped out. Fate. --- On Tue, 3/24/09, Tracey de Morsella wrote: From: Tracey de Morsella Subject: RE: [RE][scifinoir2] Hulu--Who Knew? To: scifino...@yahoogro ups.com Date: Tuesday, March 24, 2009, 4:42 PM In addition to Dresden add Farscape, Eureka, and Battlestar. I never saw all of Dresden. I will have to check it out From: scifino...@yahoogro ups.com [mailto: scifinoir2@ yahoogroups. com] On Behalf Of Augustus Augustus Sent: Tuesday, March 24, 2009 6:23 AM To: scifino...@yahoogro ups.com Subject: Re: [RE][scifinoir2] Hulu--Who Knew? Martin, i really missed the Dresden Files. that was one that was kool that scify messed up on. Fate. --- On Tue, 3/24/09, Martin Baxter wrote: From: Martin Baxter Subject: [RE][scifinoir2] Hulu--Who Knew? To: scifino...@yahoogro ups.com Date: Tuesday, March 24, 2009, 8:16 AM Keith, there was a web site that had those last three in their entirety. The place was shut down the day after I found it, the old story about rights and so on. :-( Myself, I've only used Hulu a few times, my last visitt not for myself, but for a dear friend who missed an ep of NCIS she really had her mind set on viewing. I went there to obtain and send her the link to it. Before that, it was to catch up on 'The Dresden Files". ---------[ Received Mail Content ]---------- Subject : [scifinoir2] Hulu--Who Knew? Date : Tue, 24 Mar 2009 05:26:29 +0000 (UTC) >From : Keith Johnson To : scifino...@yahoogro ups.com Wow, this is pretty cool! Frustrated at having missed back-to-back eps of "Legend of the Seeker" yesterday, I went to the series' website to watch it online. As I clicked on one of the eps, I noticed that it was a Hulu feed. Hulu, perhaps you've heard of it? :) I haven't done much with it past glancing at a few things. Not currently owning a nice widescreen computer monitor or flatscreen TV, I never much saw the need to watch programs on my 14" laptop screen. But I have to admit, the speed with which "Seeker" streamed surprised me. And the clarity--wow! Even on my old IBM T42 laptop running pokey WinXP, the picture looked great. Intrigued, i then navigated to the Hulu website. Wow. One reason I haven't been as much of a You Tube nut as some people--such as my brother, who's always on me for not watching movies there--is that a lot of the stuff on You Tube is not all that great quality. I especially hate going full screen with an animated clip, only to get a pixelated, blurry image. Other sites like Apple have great looking trailers, but sometimes the download speed is a bit slow. Hulu impressed me by offering the best of both aspects. I found myself going to the Animation section (of course), and was greeted with a wealth of choices. Too many to mention them all, but not everything I could want (no old Looney Tunes or Popeye, Felix the Cat seems to be the inferiour version from the late 20th Century). But still, enough things to keep me very, very happy. Let me mention just a few things that caught my eye: Exosquad! http://www.hulu . com/exosquad? c=Animation- and-Cartoons The late great cartoon that showed Americans could actually make a good, serious 'toon. Fifty-one eps (a handful are missing). Makes me very, very happy! I will note the quality isn't the greatest--not that it's bad, but the series itself never had the sharpness and beauty of something like Robotech or any other Japanese 'toon. But still, it looks the same on Hulu as I remember it on broadcast TV. If you've never watched this show do yourself a favor and check it out. Rocky and Bullwinkle http://www.hulu . com/rocky- and-bullwinkle- and-friends? c=Animation- and-Cartoons The classic, satirical 'toon from the '60s, which even includes great stuff like Mr. Peabody and his boy Sherman! Haven't seen yet if my fave, Fractured Fairy Tales, is included as well. But with thirteen twenty-two minute eps, I think it must be there. Talk about a blast from the past! Speed Racer http://www.hulu . com/speed- racer?c=Animatio n-and-Cartoons The Monster Car! The Great Race! The Supersonic Car! All the great, horribly/amusingly dubbed episodes you remember loving as a child. I don't care how many times I see 'em (and I own several), hearing that theme, watching that cool car jump across a chasm or roll along the bottom of a lake, and listening to the characters' hyper speech--it's still great fun! Fat Albert and The Cosby Kids http://www.hulu . com/fat-albert? c=Animation- and-Cartoons This 'toon is like a snowy day in January: too cool for school! And even.... Bravestarr http://www.hulu . com/bravestarr? c=Animation- and-Cartoons the adventures of Marshall Bravestarr, the Native with animal-based powers who protects the people of the planet New Texas. Like Exosquad and many American-made 'toons of that time, it's not exactly the sharpest, finely detailed cartoon around, but it has nice pastels. And I still get a kick of of "Equestroid" Thirty-thirty speaking fondly of his beloved gun Sarah Jane! Now, if only they could pick up eps of the awesome 'toon "The Real Ghostbusters" , "Battle of the Planets", and "Starblazers" , I'd be ecstatic! http://www.youtube . com/watch? v=JQdwk8Yntds -- Bringing diversity to perversity for 9 years! Mahogany at: http://groups. yahoo.com/ group/mahogany_ pleasures_ of_darkness/ -- Bringing diversity to perversity for 9 years! Mahogany at: http://groups. yahoo.com/ group/mahogany_ pleasures_ of_darkness/ -- Bringing diversity to perversity for 9 years! Mahogany at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mahogany_pleasures_of_darkness/ -- Bringing diversity to perversity for 9 years! Mahogany at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mahogany_pleasures_of_darkness/ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQdwk8Yntds