Wednesday, March 31, 2021

Why is Decent Internet So Hard to Find in San Francisco: Addendum 1

Previously I have finally got my Sonic Internet up and running. But I keep forgetting to cancel my AT&T service, so today I actually set a reminder to do so. 

I opened up my account and called the service number I saw. 

It asked me "why are you calling", so I said "cancel service". 

It forwarded me to a number that rang about 100 times, then hung up. 

Try again. 

This time, it forwarded me to a number with voicemail in Spanish. 

I then noticed that I may have called the wrong number in AT&T. The number I saw was for wireless service? Why is it showing me this when I don't have wireless service with AT&T??!?!?!

So I tried a different number after clicking on support, then call. I got almost the same voice prompt, but this time, I was connected to "Mike" almost immediately. 

After about 15 minutes, I got the confirmation that I'm done. Just need to mail the modem back, by taking the modem and power brick to any UPS or Fedex store location. Else they'll charge me $150 for equipment.  

Good thing I have one about one block away.  

EDIT: And it's gone. 


Sunday, March 28, 2021

State of My Games (2021/03/28)

 Let's see... been replaying some games... Actually, mostly one game: Hardspace Shipbreaker

The game is actually pretty simple: you basically sold your life to Lynx Salvage for a job off  Earth... Now with a BILLION credits in debt, you need to make enough money to pay for your expenses (which amounts to half a million a day) but that includes equipment rental that you can make MILLIONS by taking apart ships that Lynx towed in for whatever reasons, and dropping the pieces you took off and dumping them into the furnace (raw materials), processor (processed material), or barge (reusable components) respectively. But each ship has tricks to take apart properly. If you do it wrong, you'll get hurt, or even worse, die and be charged a resurrection fee, or you'll lose so much salvage you'll not make enough to pay your expenses. You also have to pay for consumables like explosives, tethers, fuel, oxygen, repair kits, and so on. But you'll also discover the story hidden in the universe... Will you ever pay off your debt? Then what? In regular mode your "workday" is limited to 15 minutes. Let's just say even a simple ship will take you 40+. A complicated ship can easily take 2+ hours. 

Also "finished" Criminal Girls: Invite Only, which is a sorta hentai game, but self-censored by the publisher as to be more PG-13 than R or even X rated. It's all tease, but no actual exposure, unless you download mods and whatnot. Visually, it's cute, but looks like it came out of the 80's or 90's as if it's on SNES, as you get both the regular and the Kawai version of the girls, 7 in all, with two bonus girls as sorta secret content. The "suggestive" poses don't actually expose anything but the writing at least is a little more than the zero-plot Hentai game writing. 

Just getting started on Sniper Ghost Warrior Contracts, where your job is to take out targets in Siberia. Enemies have drones, and lots and lots of soldiers. You can shoot from any direction that you can reach. There are also a lot of secondary objectives. Some are timed though, so don't dawdle. Graphics are good, and you get bonus if you do things a certain way (challenges). Earn tokens with achievements, and tokens can be used to unlock more weapons and gadgets. So who hired you, and what do they REALLY want? Does it even matter? 

Played a bit of Rise of Industry, a supply chain game, but the complexity, the lack of Quality of Life UI stuff (you are given what the cities want, but you can't see the tech tree or supply chain for such) makes the game less enjoyable than it should be. 

Tried a few hours in Deadliest Catch, the game, but it felt a bit like busy work. As one of the rookie captains, you have to outfit your vessel, hire a crew, prep the deck, and go find crabs. You also have to do the typical deckhand work: unload the bait, process the bait, load the pot, fit the pot with floats and bait, drop the pot, then when the pot's soaked long enough, do the reverse: throw the hook, grab the pot, load it on the crane, drag the pot, dump the crab onto the sort tray, stow the pot, stow the stuff (bait bit and floats), then sort the crab, dump the crabs you can't use, drop the rest into the hold, repeat as needed. Fortunately, your crew is supposed to do some of that, but they may not be very good at it. You get to run around on the crab boat, but the layout is not that simple. I don't know if they do mechanical emergencies like on the show, or injuries that require help, or man overboard, but let's just say, crabbing is kinda boring. 

Will probably do a few more ships in Hardspace Shipbreaker, as I haven't reached rank 10 yet, and the game promised to have a story mode as well. And I want to learn how to break cat 6 ships. After that, will probably do Space Engineers. 

Saturday, March 27, 2021

Why is Decent Internet So Hard to Find in San Francisco: Part 5 of 5 (CONCLUSION!)

Okay, folks. I now have upgraded my Internet. 32-40 Mbps downstream (not quite "up to 60"), but much better than 14-16 I used to get. And upstream? Steady 6 Mbps with occasional blips to 8, compared to barely 1Mbps before. 

And this technician knew exactly what to do. And he's from Sonic, not AT&T. As I reported previously, that other guy was useless. 

However, the work is not done. My new router is up, so HALF of everything is working. This PC and most tablets are good. 

But none of the IOT devices are working, because I haven't been able to rename the new DSL modem's AP into my old name just yet. 

But that's mainly my fault. And I got it working eventually. 

Now I just need to cancel my AT&T service... 

Saturday, March 13, 2021

Why is Decent Internet So Hard to Find in San Francisco? Part 4 of ???

Previously, I reported that Sonic scheduled someone to come out... after the AT&T guy refused to go on the roof to find the phone box for my building and basically reported "unable to get in" (not quite true). 

Another week, and Sonic was scheduled in today for 10-2. 

The guy ran my bell at 9:40. 

Nothing wrong with being early, except today. 

For those of you who read the previous entry, you probably figured it out. 

The restaurant next door isn't open yet. Pretty sure nobody arrives until 10:30 or so, maybe 11. I haven't looked at their hours. And you need to go through THEIR roof to find the phone box, as stated earlier. 

So this guy basically came out for nothing too. 

I was hoping to get my new Internet by mid-month, but at this rate, it won't be done until April, if at all. 

Right now, it seems they need to reschedule an AT&T guy or check restaurant hours next door and coordinate better. 

Fortunately, it seems that Sonic did get MY email... but whether AT&T will listen is a different problem. 

Will keep you guys updated. 

Some Shareholder Lawsuits are Stupid

Why "some shareholder lawsuits are stupid"? Because some of them really are just legal extortions to get money out of a company following some bad news. 

Let's take the most recent lawsuit of some shareholders of Workhorse. 

For those of you not aware, US Postal Service needs to replace those decades-old mail trucks (LLV - long life vehicle) with something that are just as rugged, but a bit more modern, less emissions, newer tech like autobrake, 360 camera, etc, enclosed cabin for AC... They had tried to pick this for many many years, and in February 2021, they finally picked Oshkosh to build the new truck. 

So that means all the other bidders, including Workhorse, lost. And it's interesting that USPS didn't give out any consolation prices, like a small piece of the contract to other bidders. 

This is where it gets interesting. At least one congressman is calling for an investigation into the contract award. It is a coincidence that in his district is an EV (Electric Vehicle) maker of which Workhorse owns 10%? And Workhorse stock price, which took a beating after the USPS announcement, is creeping back up, now that there may be a chance of reversal.  

But we're here to talk lawsuits. And it seems at least two shareholder rights law firms have filed class-action lawsuits against Workhorse. One of them (Rosen) alleged that a) company "knew" that USPS is not going electric, and Workhorse's entry for NGDV (next-generation delivery vehicle, the USPS contract) would never be accepted because it's EV, and 2) therefore mislead investors into believing the company has a chance in the contract. The other lawsuit, launched by Brager Eagel & Squire, alleged essentially the same things.

I have no particular like or dislike for Workhorse. Not even when Trump tried to shill for them by exposing their deal to buy a portion of Lordstown Motor (another EV maker). And while they do produce EVs, their last consumer attempt, the W-15, was just really a GMC Sierra 1500 with Electric guts (easy when it's a body-on-frame pickup truck) and some new cladding with a disappointing 80-mile range without a range extender. It wasn't discussed what their NGDV entry's range would be. 

But let's discuss the contract. Sure, it's bad to lose a contract, but it's not as if that's the only thing the company makes. Furthermore, it was one of the five finalists, among who knows how many entries. I believe even the Indian company Mahindra Group entered something based on their truck platform using an American motor. 

But alleging "misleading investors", really? 

To me, this is basically legal extortion. Investors know contract awarding involves winners and losers, esp. huge contracts that involve a government entity. When you lose, you lose. You didn't get a lot of money to grow a new assembly line, but your company didn't really lose much. It's POTENTIAL business, nothing more. 

And CEO making remarks about still in the running for the contract and expressing optimism, in general, is somehow "misleading investors"? Really? 

IMHO, law firms that sue the loser are just trying to make money by forcing the company to settle and pay them off. Insult on top of injury and all that. 

Tuesday, March 9, 2021

Why Is Decent Internet So Hard to Find in San Francisco? Part 3 of ???

 I previously reported that the AT&T DSL Tech came out, and probably decided to not climb the roof claiming no one was there to let him into the building, and this is DESPITE me telling him personally that he will find the phone box on the roof of the adjacent building. 

Well, now it's confirmed. I got a notice from Sonic...

Greetings,

AT&T has reported that no one 18 years of age or older was available on site to grant their technician access to your phone box for delivery of the lines for your new Fusion service. We will need to reschedule your appointment for a date when someone will be available to grant access...

My reply to Sonic:
Dear Sonic Support, 

I told the AT&T guy that the phone box is on the rooftop of the ADJACENT building. And must be accessed through the restaurant roof at 28 Waverly. He refused to listen to me. Keep mumbling "it's not possible, I can't climb a whole floor up". He did not even get on the restaurant roof to look for the box. 

That's what the PREVIOUS AT&T guy told me when my DSL was first installed a few years back. I don't know what to tell you. 

I know it's not Sonic's fault. It's AT&T for not keeping proper access notes, i.e. go in here, do that. It's not a dis for AT&T... They are huge, and not all techs can know everything. But not keeping detailed notes on how to access a certain junction box is just bad practice and not passing down institutional knowledge.  

A new tech was supposed to turn up yesterday, but I didn't see anyone. Maybe that guy or gal knew more about the install. Who knows? Will await next update from Sonic. 

Saturday, March 6, 2021

WTF: Woman Sues Man Who Setup GoFundMe for a server She Shamed

 It goes like this, as per USA Today:

Amber, an anti-mask coffee drinker in San Diego, posted her outrage on her FB page back in June, that "lenen" won't serve her at her local Starbucks. 

A guy named Matt then launched "Tips for Lenin" campaign on GoFundMe, and raised over 105445 dollars for the server, Lenin Guitierrez. 

Amber decided because the campaign used her name, she's entitled to some of that money, and demanded half of it. When Matt refused, she sued Matt for "unspecified damages". 

Both have launched respective GoFundMe campaigns for their legal costs. Let's just say, Matt's winning by a wide margin. 

Just proves that you can hire a lawyer for almost ANYTHING.