Southwestern Bell Archives - The Silicon Underground

Does AT&T U-Verse drop connections like DSL?

Dave Farquhar — Fri, 05 Jun 2015 11:00:39 +0000

I got this question anonymously, but it’s a fair question: Does AT&T U-Verse drop connections like DSL? In my experience, over the 3½ years I’ve had it, sometimes. But not nearly as often. I can think of two times this year I’ve seen my

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Stand up for net neutrality

Dave Farquhar — Thu, 15 May 2014 11:00:49 +0000

Neocities has decided to do something about Net Neutrality–shunt the FCC into the slow lane, and post the code for doing it so the rest of us who run web sites can do it too. The original was written for

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Usage caps for solving problems that don’t exist

Dave Farquhar — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 23:53:48 +0000

If you haven’t read, Southwestern Bell AT&T is solving a bogeyman problem of network congestion by imposing usage caps of 150 GB per month for standard DSL, and 250 GB per month for U-Verse (fiber). Use of AT&T’s own IPTV,

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Fixing my b0rken WordPress installation

Dave Farquhar — Sun, 28 Nov 2010 13:46:47 +0000

A little over a week ago, WordPress started acting weird. First, it just got dog slow. Then my site stats page started freezing until I scrolled down and then back up again. Then I started seeing a WordPress.com logon screen

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Review: D-Link DSL-2640B

Dave Farquhar — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 12:15:52 +0000

I've had DSL for right around 10 years. I would have ordered it sooner, except it wasn't available in my area any earlier than that.

Over the years I've owned several modems. I started out with an Alcatel, then after I moved a mile down the street I owned a couple of different Speedstream modems. Each would drop connections every so often, and each had a different (and undocumented, of course) ritual to get it back online.

The highest praise I can give to the D-Link DSL-2640B is that I haven't discovered such a ritual yet. If the phone line and electricity are working, it finds a way to stay online.

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The Western Electric 500

Dave Farquhar — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 02:56:20 +0000

Another year, another cordless telephone/answering machine.

I bought a cordless phone to replace an aging and failing 2.4 GHz model this week. Our luck with modern phones makes me long for the old days.

I like the old Western Electric 500 (also known simply as "The Bell Phone") because it was specifically designed not to break.

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How to become a millionaire in 10 years (safely)

Dave Farquhar — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 00:52:10 +0000

I saw a blog post today called How to become a millionaire in 10 years. The majority of commenters dismissed it outright.

I don't like that attitude. The plan makes some assumptions that aren't always true. But having the plan is an important first step. What's impossible now might not be impossible in a few years, so it makes sense to do what you can now.

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Maybe this is the end of being like a yo-yo

Dave Farquhar — Sat, 02 Jun 2007 21:47:35 +0000

I run this website on a shoestring budget, using a PC in my office strung off my home broadband connection. I've been doing it this way for something like 7 years.

That was all fine and good, but it stopped being reliable recently.

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In case anyone\’s wondering why I don\’t run an open forum anymore…

Dave Farquhar — Fri, 15 Dec 2006 02:31:04 +0000

I think David Pogue sums up what's wrong with online etiquette pretty well.

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In honor of Southwestern Bell and AT&T getting back together

Dave Farquhar — Tue, 01 Nov 2005 22:32:07 +0000

In honor of Southwestern Bell and AT&T getting back together, here's how to do your own phone wiring.

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