Back and Forth

Google Voice Voicemail Transcriptions Finally Gets One 100% Correct

I was very surprised to finally see a voicemail today that was transcribed perfectly. Perhaps they are continuing to improve the algorithms? It was only two days ago that the phrase “I came across dot cripple death” was included as part of a message in my inbox. A little disconcerting, really, like some sort of morbid new web protocol.

Eris With Leaked Android 2.1 v3 Gets OTA Update

My HTC Eris had the 3rd leaked version of Android OS 2.1 (by all rights it was the official release version of 2.1 functionally). There has been some speculation as to whether or not over the air updates would continue to work with the leaked versions. This morning my phone received the most recent official update and is now running build number 2.37.605.4.

While it didn’t really matter and I was fully aware of what I was getting into when I rooted the phone and installed the leaked version, it is comforting to be back official.

Now we just need a leaked version of Froyo!

It Just Keeps Getting Worse for Net Neutrality

Apparently 74 Democrats signed a letter to the FCC to show their support of the major internet providers. Apparently they forgot to add in the letter how much money each of them received from the telecom lobbyists. When will policy be affected by morality and not money?

Anyway, here is the letter in full with some great notes by the folks at savetheinternet.com:

http://www.savetheinternet.com/node/30594

6 Month Review of Clear Mobile – It’s Getting Cancelled

Well, I’m trying at least.

I actually had this conversation with a chat rep:

Your question is: Cancel my service please.
Marc Jammer: Hello Justin, may I ask why you are looking to cancel your service today?
Justin: The connection cuts out about every 20 minutes
Justin: and when I do have service
Justin: I can’t do anything, really
Justin: and this is around multiple parts of Austin
Justin: and San Antonio
Marc Jammer: May I have the phone number associated with your account, please?
Justin: sure, ***-***-****
Marc Jammer: Thank you.
Marc Jammer: There is a security question on the account: What was the name of your first pet please?
Justin: *****
Marc Jammer: I apologize for any inconvenience. In order to resolve this, if you are the account holder, please contact our Account Services
Marc Jammer: department at 888.888.3113, option 4 then option 4 again, M-F from 9am-8pm (9:00am-6:00pm HST).
Justin: srsly?
Justin: then why did I just talk to you at all?

Clear started out as a beacon of hope; a viable solution to replace the monopolistic and over-priced local ISPs. And indeed it was for a short time. The service started out well enough (though, calling it broadband is a little optimistic) and fulfilled my immediate need. I was one of the first adopters in my area actually predicted that as people hopped on board the service would suffer. And indeed it did.

As time went on the speed deteriorated to the point where I actually couldn’t telecommute at all. Yes it was slowing but the biggest problem was frequent disconnects. A disconnect meant the computer at the office crashed losing whatever work hadn’t been saved and a waste of about 20 minutes as I waiting for everything to sort itself out.

A lot of their promotional materials recently have centered around watching movies or other high bandwidth media. Don’t count on it. If you manage to stream a Netflix movie (at the lowest quality) it will eventually have to pause to catch up assuming you haven’t been completely booted from the network.

It does, however, provide a glimmer of hope that eventually there will be competition. Eventually providers will be vying for your business instead of acting as if they could care less. Sadly, the future is not now.