I have a plea for all of those people out there who love their Android phones. For the love of Pete, *DO NOT* convince your elderly Grandmother to get an Android phone!
As some of you are aware, I've been providing small-time tech support since about 2001 (as a side-business to my main job as a Network Engineer). I cannot begin to count the number of times I've been on the phone with an elderly person troubleshooting an Android phone problem. Don't even get me started on the issue of Android fragmentation. :|
I'm no Apple FanBoi (I hate that word), but I can say that I've seen the elderly handle the iPhone's iOS with ease. Downloading apps? Easy. Setting up email? Easy. Texting, sending a photo over SMS, taking a picture, making new contacts? All easy on the iPhone.
I *challenge* anyone with any modicum of technical skill to watch a senior citizen try to do *any* of the above on an Android phone. You will cringe, you will cry. I *dare* you to try to do any of that over the phone... You'll want to strangle Android.
You'll want to strangle the person who convinced Grandma to get an Android phone.
Wednesday, August 27, 2014
Monday, July 14, 2014
Sapphire Glass -- Ending the Need for Screen Protectors?
The iPhone 6 is rumored to have Sapphire Glass as a screen. Could this new technology end the need for screen protectors?
Wednesday, July 02, 2014
Saturday, June 28, 2014
The Law of the Cheap Tool vs the Expensive Tool
So often, I've been at a fork in the road. There I stand, in the aisle of some store staring at a section of tools. These tools have run the gamut... weed trimmers, electrical tools, cabling tools, etc. You name it, I've been there.
In the (long ago) past, I made my decision based on price. Inevitably, that low-cost tool either broke or made me rage in frustration at the poor engineering and difficulty in use. If you've ever used a cheap pair of RJ45 crimpers or punch-down tools, you know what I mean.
My mind would vacillate between the trade-off of the cheaply priced item versus the obvious high-grade material, better engineering, and good "feel" of the more expensive item. I used to think to myself, "Eh, I'm only going to use this a few times, no big deal."
!! ( insert The Price is Right fail-horns here ) !!
Eventually, I learned the same painful lesson over and over and over until I stopped making that mistake... and here it is:
The Law of the Cheap Tool vs the Expensive Tool:
If given a choice, and you choose the cheaper tool, eventually, you'll have to go back to buy the same tool (the first one broke, failed, frustrated you, etc). You'll purchase the more expensive one the 2nd time around. In the end, you've spent more than twice the amount of money than had you purchased the more expensive tool in the first place!
In the (long ago) past, I made my decision based on price. Inevitably, that low-cost tool either broke or made me rage in frustration at the poor engineering and difficulty in use. If you've ever used a cheap pair of RJ45 crimpers or punch-down tools, you know what I mean.
My mind would vacillate between the trade-off of the cheaply priced item versus the obvious high-grade material, better engineering, and good "feel" of the more expensive item. I used to think to myself, "Eh, I'm only going to use this a few times, no big deal."
!! ( insert The Price is Right fail-horns here ) !!
Eventually, I learned the same painful lesson over and over and over until I stopped making that mistake... and here it is:
The Law of the Cheap Tool vs the Expensive Tool:
If given a choice, and you choose the cheaper tool, eventually, you'll have to go back to buy the same tool (the first one broke, failed, frustrated you, etc). You'll purchase the more expensive one the 2nd time around. In the end, you've spent more than twice the amount of money than had you purchased the more expensive tool in the first place!
Friday, June 13, 2014
Using a Cell Phone Jammer? You Will Eventually Get Caught!
April 2014
A Florida man was finally caught after using a cell phone jammer in his car for at least 16 months.
MetroPCS noticed one of their cell phone towers had failures every morning and evening around the same time every day (presumably only on the days when this guy was driving by).
They reported it to the FCC and a bandwidth stakeout ensued. We can only assume a demure FCC vehicle roamed the roadways in question scanning for rogue transmissions. Sure enough, they found this man's blue Toyota Highlander transmitting "strong wideband emissions."
The FCC fined him $48,000.
The jammer probably cost him less than $150.
Not worth it, for sure.
Story Here:
http://www.cnet.com/news/man-put-cell-phone-jammer-in-car-to-stop-driver-calls-fcc-says/
A Florida man was finally caught after using a cell phone jammer in his car for at least 16 months.
MetroPCS noticed one of their cell phone towers had failures every morning and evening around the same time every day (presumably only on the days when this guy was driving by).
They reported it to the FCC and a bandwidth stakeout ensued. We can only assume a demure FCC vehicle roamed the roadways in question scanning for rogue transmissions. Sure enough, they found this man's blue Toyota Highlander transmitting "strong wideband emissions."
The FCC fined him $48,000.
The jammer probably cost him less than $150.
Not worth it, for sure.
Story Here:
http://www.cnet.com/news/man-put-cell-phone-jammer-in-car-to-stop-driver-calls-fcc-says/
Saturday, May 24, 2014
I Can't Ping the Internet
Customer technicians at a site contacted me recently about not being able to ping anything on the Internet. I asked them to describe the cabling layout and this was the result...
Online Speedtest Results Will Vary
Recently, I worked with a customer installing a new 50M ethernet WAN circuit. This customer already had an existing 50M ethernet circuit through another carrier; however, this existing service was much more expensive. The new circuit was going to be a significant cost savings.
After a few unsuccessful attempts at turn-up (VLAN, speed, & duplex mismatches), we finally arrived at the point of expected success. That is, until the customer opened up a web browser to perform a speed test on the new circuit.
The default server the speedtest chose (based on their location) gave them 50M download, 30M upload. On the old circuit, the default server the speedtest chose consistently gave them 50M download and 50M upload. Hard to argue with what appears to be gospel to the customer.
The truth came out after we chose different speedtest servers. From the same location, using only a test laptop (directly connected to the WAN router) and no other traffic on the new line, the results were wildly different as you can see below.
Eventually, the customer was convinced that the 50M circuit was going to be fine (given the fact that 3 different servers indicated 50M for down & up speeds). We had also ruled out config mismatches, packet drops, and physical layer problems. The end-to-end circuit was very clean.
Link to download the PDF below:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5ttjkGSReNeMTlBancwT093ZzA/edit?usp=sharing
The default server the speedtest chose (based on their location) gave them 50M download, 30M upload. On the old circuit, the default server the speedtest chose consistently gave them 50M download and 50M upload. Hard to argue with what appears to be gospel to the customer.
The truth came out after we chose different speedtest servers. From the same location, using only a test laptop (directly connected to the WAN router) and no other traffic on the new line, the results were wildly different as you can see below.
Eventually, the customer was convinced that the 50M circuit was going to be fine (given the fact that 3 different servers indicated 50M for down & up speeds). We had also ruled out config mismatches, packet drops, and physical layer problems. The end-to-end circuit was very clean.
Link to download the PDF below:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5ttjkGSReNeMTlBancwT093ZzA/edit?usp=sharing
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