Wednesday, March 30, 2011

AT&T caps Internet useage for dsl and Uverse: Buried in an email received from AT&T is the following:

As of May 2, 2011, AT&T's residential DSL High Speed Internet plans will have a usage allowance of 150 Gigabytes ("GB") per month, and its residential U-verse High Speed Internet plans will have a usage allowance of 250 Gigabytes ("GB") per month. The usage allowance is the amount of data you can send and receive each month

and

What will happen if I exceed my monthly usage allowance?
You will receive a notice the first time your usage exceeds the applicable monthly allowance.

In the following months, we will send you additional notices each month when your usage exceeds 65%, 90% and 100% of your monthly usage allowance. If you exceed your monthly allowance a second time, AT&T will send you a notice advising you that the next time you exceed your allowance - the third time - you will be billed $10 for each 50 GB of data over your allowance.

We will continue to send you courtesy notifications when your usage exceeds 65%, 90% and 100% of your monthly usage allowance to keep you informed about your usage patterns. All of these notices will remind you of what your monthly usage allowance is, provide you with information to help you understand broadband data usage, offer you tips on how to effectively control your usage to stay below your monthly allowance, and explain what your options are if you exceed your allowance in future billing periods. For example, you can modify your usage patterns to stay below your monthly usage allowance; continue your normal usage patterns and pay $10 for each additional 50 GB of data over your monthly allowance; or terminate your service, consistent with the terms of any special pricing offer that you previously accepted.

Importantly, if you do not receive a notice from AT&T, it means that you have not exceeded your monthly usage allowance. In some cases, it may mean that we cannot measure your usage yet. Either way, you should not be concerned about your usage patterns for billing purposes.



Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Amazon.com : Get free 5 Gigs of "Cloud" storage for music or data files.

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

FIREFOX 4.0 Just go to http://www.mozilla.com to download the new Firefox 4.0. And I'm pleased my favorite add-in for my favorite Browser is compatible with the new version. Ghostery can block all spyware.

Ghostery is now available in versions for Safari and Internet Explorer. Ghostery is a free download at http://www.ghostery.com

Thursday, March 17, 2011

In contrast is a poor employer that still thinks it's a monopoly:

If you write to AT&T, what ever lame boilerplate they respond to you with is followed up with:

This e-mail and any files transmitted with it are the property of AT&T, are confidential, and are intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to which this e-mail is addressed. If you are not one of the named recipient(s) or otherwise have reason to believe that you have received this message in error, please notify the sender and delete this message immediately from your computer. Any other use, retention, dissemination, forwarding, printing, or copying of t
his e-mail is strictly prohibited.
Apple proves what a good employer it is to its employees: I still think they practice age discrimination, but if you're employed, they treat you better than any employer I ever had, witness this letter to their employees in Japan (as found on MacRumors.com today)

To Our Team in Japan,

We have all been following the unfolding disaster in Japan. Our hearts go out to you and your families, as well as all of your countrymen who have been touched by this tragedy.

If you need time or resources to visit or care for your families, please see HR and we will help you. If you are aware of any supplies that are needed, please also tell HR and we will do what we can to arrange delivery.

Again, our hearts go out to you during this unimaginable crisis.
Please stay safe.
Steve and the entire Executive Team:

and then more on the EdibleApple.com website:


Kevin Rose relayed a story from an Apple employee in Japan who detailed Apple’s efforts at one of their retail stores to provide the masses with free wifi and unfettered use of Apple products so that folks could keep up with the news and contact loved ones and relatives.

You know how in disaster movies, people on the street gather around electronic shops that have TVs in the display windows so they can stay informed with what is going on? In this digital age, that’s what the Tokyo Apple stores became. Staff brought out surge protectors and extension cords with 10s of iOS device adapters so people could charge their phones & pads and contact their loved ones. Even after we finally had to close 10pm, crowds of people huddled in front of our stores to use the wifi into the night, as it was still the only way to get access to the outside world.

Apple also let employees and executives sleep in the Apple Store in addition to offering to cover any incurred expenses employees generated staying at hotels and paying for taxis in order to get where they needed to go.

“We want to help our customers connect with loved ones in Japan in anyway we can,” senior AT&T Vice President Mark Collins explained. “Connecting with family and friends is most important at times like this- we want to make it as easy and worry free as possible for our customers.”

Wednesday, March 09, 2011

AT&T comes Through: As stated in my February 14 posting; my AT&T Mobility account is now reflecting an extra 1000 rollover minutes. I had thought it'd appear with a new billing cycle, but no, it just appeared 3 weeks after submitting for them. In 5 years with Cingular, and now AT&T Mobility, I've never used one rollover minute, but it's nice never to have to worry about going over my allotted minutes and paying 45 cents a minute for each extra minute.

Sunday, March 06, 2011

More on my Ooma: I love being able to block any telemarketer even those who use loopholes in DO NOT CALL law, i.e. Huckabee. I just split the output for phones on the Ooma, and ran a line to my legacy phone wiring. Now I can put a phone in any of my old outlets, and by running a line to my DirecTv I have Caller ID showing up on TV when phone rings. GREAT.