CheezWizHed

Al Gore invented it, so he gets to say if it stays or not! The USG is not even 25% of Iridium business today Interesting, I hadn't realized it has started to grow again. I left Motorola in 2004, so I've been out of that industry for a while...

No, I wasn't suggesting Iridium do anything with data plans. My point was that it became too expensive with cheaper terrestrial options. The only reason it still exists is the USG funds it for the convenience and privacy. But the parallels are there between that tipping point in the early 2000s and high speed internet options today. It looked like satellite was the best and easiest option (plus available everywhere), but terrestrial solutions came that were cheaper and people didn't want to pay for the convenience. If I'm a user in the middle of Alaska... The problem is the uber-remote are always going to be at the mercy of what is available. No company is going to fund a solution for the 0.1% as that won't fund the business. Maybe if the 5% (pick your preferred number, I didn't do a business analysis for this post. ) will select the satellite, then Grizzly Adams in remotest Alaska can use it too. The shorter wavelength allows for faster transmission of data, but it also means a shorter range. From what I understand, 4G has a range of about 10 miles; 5G has a range of about 1000 feet. Unless they can make towers cheaply, or turn people's phones into mini-towers, 5G is really only going to be practical in bigger cities. Good point. But that is today's tech and/or solutions also. No one thought satellites would reach starlink speed either. What if people put up 5G towers at various places where the high speed fiber resides rather than running that fiber to each house. For example, a friend of mine has fiber running down the road past his house. Rather than the $20k bill of running it up to his house, what if they put in a tower and picked up him and his neighbors? Perhaps the business case isn't there today, but you need to look forward where costs continue to drop due to volume and improvements.

I'm curious if 5G wireless data will once again make satellite obsolete. I worked for Motorola when they launched iridium for the world sat-phone network. But that died so quickly as terrestrial towers were cheaper and easier to maintain (NOTE: I believe Iridium is still active, but only for the US Government use). Yes, there are still holes in coverage, but competition like this seems like a case where terrestrial towers might (once again) overtake satellites.

In late developing countries where the landline infrastructure was poor, they skipped adding hardwired phone lines and everything was built around cellular. So for some countries in eastern Europe and Africa, their cellular was much better and cheaper than the US for many years. My guess is that for most of the rural parts of the US, the government will work with cellular providers to make sure there is "ok" coverage in the rural areas to provide the minimum internet access levels. I remember when the first cell tower was put up in my tiny unincorporated town in NW Wisconsin when they just started getting phone coverage in the boonies. Or when cities had high speed internet, but outside was dial-up only. The coverage will come, but it will always lag the populated areas in speed and/or features.

I've had no issues with Sprint's coverage in cities or on major highways. But go out into rural areas (northern MN, NW Wisconsin, Iowa- almost nothing at my in-laws house) and it is pretty spotty for data coverage - normally covered, but at 2 bars and very slow access. I've not seen much change with the T-Mobile merger for coverage. FWIW, my work phone is AT&T and I've not seen any better coverage in those three locations I mentioned either. Typically my family and friends that live in those locations only get decent coverage with US Cellular. And my mom normally walks out on the deck to talk even with that.

The lease deal is good if you pay attention, but they hope you don't and it turns into a scam, IMO. At least the one time I did this (and currently doing it a second time), you make monthly payments towards the price of the phone for two years. Then they offer you a payoff to pay for the rest of the phone, return the phone and lease another, or payoff the balance of the phone to own it (though continued monthly payments will NOT reduce the payoff of the phone). - Example: If you pay $20/month for 2 years on a phone that costs $500, you will pay down $480 and have to pay off the remaining $20. But if you don't "buy it out" you can continue to pay $20/month from here to eternity and still owe $20. I believe (don't quote me) that anytime after the 2 years, you can pay off the balance to own the phone and stop the lease payments. But I'm not sure if they only offer that in a "window of time" and lock you into a lease after that. I put a calendar reminder on my phone to buy it out after 2 years and they did sent multiple email reminders when my 2 year period is up. Hope that helps.

Hell, I haven't even changed from my Sprint plan that costs 240 bucks a month for 4 phones. You can do this online once logged into Sprint. I just went from $40/month/phone to $30/month/phone. If you can't figure it out online, go into a store. They have made this REALLY easy to keep people. Last time I was in the store to add a line, the person alerted me to the new plans that were much cheaper. Years past, you had to leave to get a better deal. Also note that Sprint gives you a free subscription to Hulu (just the TV shows + movies, not live). Likewise with music streaming (Tidal). I've never heard of Tidal before, but a premium subscription is included with each phone line. So I dropped Amazon Prime music at $6/month while I was at it.

yeah, it seems like if there can't be fans in the seats, the blackout rule should be suspended. I suppose getting a VPN plus MLB.TV would be cheaper than paying for Hulu or YouTube.

I generally: - Buy MLB.TV, though I'm out of the Brewer's market - bootleg the Buck's games - though my Roku TV has a Buck's app that we watched a few games without announcers and just seeing 6 different cameras. It was both cool and annoying. - Pay for a month or so of Sling TV for the Buck's playoffs. - Pay for NFL Replay - I can watch all Packer Games moments after the game is played (generally Sunday night for me). It isn't live, but I got used to DVR-ing the game and hate watching the game live anyway.

Wait, is this the old vintage Perry Mason episodes, or did they reboot the series? If so, I might have to look into this. What network? MeTV has been showing the B&W Perry Mason shows every night at 10:30 CDT where I live. Not sure if all MeTV stations do the same or not.

LinkedIN Learning seems to have a good amount of training. So far, I've only done first level classes on a particular subject, so I'm not sure how "deep" they get.

Meanwhile, my wife and I have been enjoying cranking through old programs on Hulu... "Hey, they just added 'Better off Ted!'"

My kids loved Jaws, but we watched it at home. I think they've seen Jurassic Park, but its been a number of years.

Under the Hall of Very Good to See Movies, I'd add The Quiet Place. Very interesting thriller with very little dialog. Not a horror movie (not gory), but borderline thriller-horror. And as an added bonus...if you watch closely you realize that the "bad guys" appear in 2020...

Reticent? I thought about mentioning Pizza hut as a joke...

I miss Eduardo's downtown Milwaukee for the deep dish pizza. It was my college celebration spot (finals complete, engagements, graduations, etc..).

Plus this should be a conversation about Dubon, Pomeranz, and Black. It shouldn't have anything to do with Arcia or defense...

Pomeranz's career stats look a bit like Jimmy Nelson's. Similar WHIP, BB/9IP, K/9IP(Pomeranz is actually a bit better), ERA. Both of their better production years are closely tied to their BB/9 rate; things quickly go south when they exceed 3BB/9IP.

Ironically, I did this for consistency before I even saw your post.

Congrats GAME05. I took a step back 6 months ago. I got there and proved myself. A manager left and now I'm back up to where I was at my previous job. You never know what might happen when you work hard.

Garden State bored me to tears. But speaking of documentaries, Don't Stop Believin': Everyman's Journey is really worth seeing. Its the story of how they found Filipino Arnel Pineda to be their next lead singer. Very impressive and entertaining story.

I use the phrase "hidden gem" loosely in the films I'm mentioning Yes, I should've used "hidden gems" instead of must-see for the two I mentioned. I was thinking of rarely heard movies that were good based on the OP. And Night Shift was a good one too. Its been a long time...

Its hard to fathom Sylvester Stallone in a must see movie, but if you like corny comedy and haven't seen "Oscar" you are missing a hilarious movie. Or if you can stand a bit of Shakespeare, "Much Ado about Nothing" is a great date movie.

Wow. Hunter really imploded...

Just make sure whatever you put on LinkedIn matches your resume. I've double checked some candidates on LinkedIn just to see what they put on it.