Things to think about – AT&T Acquisition of T-Mobile

Well we all know by now that AT&T Bought T-Mobile .

Me being a T-mobile user,I have a few questions for the AT&T users.

Do AT&T users expect their internet speeds to increase now that they have T-Mobile hardware providing their services ?

Do AT&T users expect AT&T to scrap all of T-Mobile’s existing Cell phone tech, like towers, phones and such ?

Do any of the AT&T users look forward to any of the T-Mobile phones making it their way?

 

I know that if AT&T keeps T-Mobile towers and equipment (since both companies use similar technology) , then I am looking at a pretty strong signal in my area. I know that I have 3 bars when my signal is really really bad. and that is very rare. That would lead to a decent signal in the areas that I sometimes have only three bars. Of course that’s if AT&T is strong in that area.

See this is good compared to the purchase of Primeco back in the late nineties in Houston area. I think they still exist elsewhere. AT&T being GSM and Primeco being CDMA, meant we all had to hand in our phones for scrapping. Primeco ran a big sale so I signed a contract with them and spent $139 on a phone that I got at a discount. The best phone signal I have ever had yet to- date. Back when no one had a signal at Fry’s Electronics store, I had signal. When the power was out for 4 days, and all cell towers were down, no one had a signal but me and the three other people in the area that had Primeco.not AT&T not T-Mobile, Not Sprint, Not Verizon. best thing was, that phone was one of the first cell phones to come out with no antenna. I had that dang phone for 2 months when AT&T sent me a notice saying they would give me a new phone to replace my existing CDMA phone. I was excited that the email said I would receive a fair value phone. I did not. I got the $29 Nokia phone that was the size of my shoe.  The replacement phone would not fit in my pocket. I had to wear a case with belt loop strap on it to carry that dang thing. I had an excellent signal, until I left the drive way of the AT&T store. I extended the big metal antenna. No help. Wrapped it in aluminum foil, no help. I called the store to see what they could, they suggested I move to another company if I didn’t like the signal, then they assured me they had the strongest signal with the most coverage. So I called the help number. Same thing. They actually told me to try another service if I was unhappy. So a few weeks later i called to cancel my number, they told me they just increased the signal in my area nd if I hang on a bit longer the new tower would be complete and my signal would be even stronger. So i waited almost 3 months. Nothing. I actually had to walk out to the end of the street and  extend the antenna out towards downtown Houston to see if I could get a stronger signal while on the complaint line.

After fighting months with AT&T about not having a signal anywhere, I canceled my service and moved on to Voice Stream. Who…… not even a year later got taken over by T-Mobile. Yeah I was mad. but. Voice Stream signal was bad where I was. Well it was ok. It was as bad as AT&T, but the people working there and the help desk was a whole lot more helpful during the switch over. Also the signal got better. and again, I got a new phone. No better than the one I just bought with voice stream, but it was a new phone. Again it was a Nokia.

Now here it is 2011, T-Mobile sold to AT&T. Full freaking circle. I am looking at going back to AT&T again. Because they bought T-mobile.

I am hoping that AT&T does not destroy the existing T-mobile Technology, I hope they implement the towers and the internet service that is currently available with T-Mobile. So that T-mobile users gain AT&T service along with existing service, and AT&T users gain Tmobile Services and signal and internet speed. I can’t imagine all of us using internet service that AT&T provides.

AT&T users, what do you think of the existing service ?

T-Mobile users what do you expect of the impending service?

 

Custom built computer (Jewel box Project)

Today I was Clicking around in the G4 forums. You know , Looking for game news.

Well I stumbled upon a thread that caught my eye . They guy seems to have built a

Complete custom pc case with the idea of it looking like a Jewel Box.  Look at the way he navigates the air through that thing. and the heatsinks he has all over everything. I mean the video card has the same heatsink as the processor. Amazing.

He has this thing designed to a T. Except two things. The second platform has no front support, and the build just looks kind of retro ugly. But the way it looks does not mean squat. I am 100% for the cooling it has.

here is the complete project

I have to say.

very good job man.

My son’s computer specs

We are building him a computer right now.

Well he is , I am just telling him how to do it easier. He spent his Christmas and birthday money  on this build.

We had to go to fry’s and to wal~mart . Wal~mart for the monitor because he had like $200 in Wal~mart gift cards.

He got dual 2.2 x2 Pentium processor , two gigs of of kingston pc2-5300 memory , nvidia 8500 gt pci-e with 512 memory.

He is right now in the middle of snapping the motherbaord in and cussing up a storm .. lol  that’s my midget!!!!

Should go good with the tower I bought him for Christmas  with the 500wt power supply and 3 ( I think it was 3) case fans. with the dvd/cdrw combo .

Right now the only thing on this machine that is old, is the 80 Maxtor hard drive.

Not bad for a 14 year old kid, but guess who his daddy is? :-P

Precautions For Building Computers

Use lots of overhead light. Once you have all the parts together, find a flat, smooth, clean, static-free surface. Make sure your clothes are not polyester or you stand a chance of building up buttloads of static and having a merciless discharge turning your junk into… well… junk.

I like using Gatorade lids to hold my screws and small parts in. Yeah Trailer Park Boys-ish, I know, but it works. Working above tile is good, also, so you can hear the small parts when they drop and kinda locate them easier by where the sound comes from. With the tower open and all parts scattered on the table, lower the motherboard in. Take small pin nails and set them through the mounting holes to mark your spot — should take like 6-9 of them depending on board size and tower abilities. Pull motherboard back out and try to not disturb the pin nails. Replace each nail with mounting studs, lower board in, and screw it down. Follow instructions in the manuals for motherboard and instructions from tower to set up power switches and USB connectors. you may sometimes need to split the end connector for the tower speaker so it fits the prongs. Tie back wires so they stay low and out of view.

Insert RAM, CPU, and heat sink. Simply put: Be gentle, be slow, bend no prongs, and scratch no boards

Set in all drives: CD-ROM / DVD / hard drive / floppy drive. Place the power supply in, and take the board connecting the wire strand and try and map the cleanest, least visible route. Then plug it in. Do not crack the motherboard (yes, it can happen)! Do the same with the drives. I tie them to the rack as I go down the line. Keep hard drives away from all magnets — even the case speaker magnet!

The Video card is done pretty much the same way as the RAM. The slit(s) in the card tells you which way it should face.

Get a good look at the inner case. All air paths need to be clear of anything — even wires. Now plan the path your air will flow and then look at your fans to see which direction the blades should face to achieve the airflow you planned.

Close the case, cross toes, plug in all devices for first boot, and press power button. Pray for BIOS/CMOS boot. Press delete and watch temperatures for about ten minutes or until you see that it is getting really hot.

More stuff to keep in mind.