Lotsa downtime.

Lots of power outages lately. Not the greatest time to move my site. 😛 Good thing I don’t need 99.99%+ uptime. Or even 95%…

Website is moved.

I left Bluehost. They raised the prices (which seems to fly counter to what one would expect in the hosting industry with Google Apps breathing down their necks), and I realized I didn’t need it anyway. My MX records go right to Google. Anyway, time to go to sleep.

Cablevision loses WABC (Channel 7)?

Wow. Glad I left. I imagine this will be temporary (like the HGTV ordeal earlier this year).

On another note, I got my 3rd FiOS bill – still running a credit. That’s $43 for 3.5 months of great service. Good luck competing with that, Optimum.

2nd FiOS connectivity problem

This is the second time this has happened: All the wifi devices in my house lose their connection to the FiOS router/access point (ActionTec MI424WR-GEN2). I checked my wired desktop and it wasn’t able to get an IP from the DHCP server (the router). The “Internet” light on the router was out. I unplugged the router and plugged it back in and it came back up fine. But this happened about a month ago too – I wonder if it’s a monthly thing? Either way, it’s annoying. Other than this, the internet service is phenomenal still.

Got my second FiOS bill

So I got my second FiOS bill a couple of weeks ago. After the issue with my first bill was straightened out I ended up paying about $43 for the first 6 weeks of service. Well, my second bill was about $90, but applied a $180 credit on my account, so the bill showed -$91. So basically the first 3 months of service will end up costing me about $43. Even if it comes to $90/month for the remainder of the contract, this is such a huge savings that I don’t see how Cablevision could match it.

FiOS Ping Test

Ran a ping test at pingtest.net today. Overall I can’t find fault with the FiOS service so far. Port 80 and 443 are open and I have them forwarded to my Linux box so I can actually run a webserver in my basement. I’m debating moving this domain over to my own linux box, since it’s super low traffic, but I probably won’t.

Continue reading “FiOS Ping Test”

FiOS it is.

Fios was installed today. Took longer than expected but I guess it went well. FiOS digital voice is pretty good, has one or two niceties that Optimum Voice didn’t (caller ID info in the emails it sends, for instance). The Motorola STBs are way better than the Scientific Atlanta (or whatever) that CV provides… I’m awestruck that when you hit the Channel + button, the channel actually changes.

Cablevision offered to woo me back again but since the service was already installed I said no thanks. They did say they’ll pay the termination fee for me to go back. Interesting… Anyway, Fios’s speeds are pretty good, I got as high as 26/20 on the 25/15 line. The Actiontec router is pretty nice too (model #MI424WR-GEN2).

FiOS speed test to Cablevision's server 2009-12-04
FiOS speed test to Cablevision's server 2009-12-04

… or maybe I AM going with FiOS.

Well, this was unexpected. Verizon is really playing hardball with pricing. When I called this morning to cancel my install appointment, Verizon countered and they offered an extra $30/month discount. I asked for an extra STB for free (I figured all they can do is say no) and while the rep said she couldn’t do that, she did increase the credit to $40/month which would more than cover the cost of the 2nd box. So as of this moment, I’m on for FiOS tomorrow.

Ain’t competition great?