don’t panic

In a recent CNN.com/Technology article, they talk about why it is that Verizon has boring phones compared to the other networks.  They chalk it up to Verizon’s choice not to go with things like the Apple iPhone, or the Palm Pre.  And sure, those are probably really astute observations.  But I think CNN has missed what is perhaps the greatest point of all…  That Verizon is fixated on being greedy, penny pinching bastards.

Yes, those are hard words, but the simple fact remains that nearly all of their higher end phones are crippled in some way.  Why, you ask?  Why would they intentionally hobble the Bluetooth, WiFi and messaging systems on their phones, even though the features were included by the manufacturers?  Simple, they want you to use, and pay for, their expensive “solutions.”

Take Bluetooth for example.  On the last three Verizon phones I have had, the Bluetooth was crippled in such a way that you could use a headset, but NOT transfer files or data to or from the phone without some serious hacking.  If I wanted to do something as simple as send a few music files to play over the phone, I was out of luck.  I was forced to sign-up for and pay to use Verizon’s crappy service.  Same with pictures, video and ringtones.  It was only with my current phone, which has a slot for a memory card, that I was able to get things onto or off of my phone with any kind of ease or without using both airtime and yet another paid for service.

This stinks.

Same thing with their Blackberry lineup.  I was ready to purchase one of those suckers… until I read that the of the specific versions they chose to offer, NONE had WiFi ability.  ARE THEY COMPLETELY STUPID??!  No, just greedy.  They WANT you to use their network and their VCAST video service, even if you happen to be sitting in your living room with no reception.  And they tout vigorously how cheap it is, while at the same time shafting people for .25 each just to receive 160 characters of text!  Oh sure, you CAN get an unlimited texting package… for another $10 a month on your bill.

Cellular giants like Verizon claim to be giving people what they want.  I say, BULL.  Apple gives people what they want, as proven by the fact that 25% of all iPhone customers were switchers from a network OTHER than AT&T.  Verizon may have the best coverage, but in an increasingly tech-savy market, bells and whistles DO matter.  If Verizon offered the iPhone, I’d ditch my LG enV and be in line tomorrow morning.  As it is… I’m not even going to upgrade my current phone, even though I could.  I’d rather wait and see what Apple does than tie myself to a looser for another two years.

Can you hear that?

It is a really sad day in our country, when the President of the country we live in is treated with complete disrespect for the office they hold.  I’ve said it before, but like him or not, Barack Obama is the chief representative for our nation.  You can protest his actions, or fight him in congress, but to disallow your children to hear him speak is not only mindlessly stupid, but about the most un-patriotic thing you could possible do.  How does it look to other nations that we are so polarized in our thinking that we refuse to let our president give a pep-talk to our kids for fear that they might somehow be brainwashed by a 20 minute speech?  What does it say about us as parents?

My daughter goes to school in a district that recently decided that they would not show Obama’s speech live, but rather record the speech and present it over a WEEK later, and then, parents were sent home notes stating that they could sign a paper that would exclude their child from viewing the message.  To those parents who would actually do this:

WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?!

You don’t like the politics of our leader, then EDUCATE your child!  Use your right to vote in 2012!  Teach them WHY you don’t like him, and do your duty to explain government and politics!  Simply trying to shield them from any and all exposure to a point of view you don’t agree with is going to be about as effective as keeping your child in the dark about sex until they come home pregnant.

…

But what absolutely floors me is that the people in my local community actually allowed the board of education to make this decision for us.  We, the parents who actually voted these idiots into office, have allowed the board to tell us it’s okay to be racist, and disrespectful.  We have shown our children quite clearly that being an American means that you can spit on the very framework our country was founded on, and that democracy means nothing.  We have shown them that we are only “civilized” because our numbers aren’t large enough to take what we want by force.

I will NEVER raise my child in ignorance. If I don’t like some point of view, I will do my honest best to explain why I feel the way I do, and then I will let them make up their own mind.  If they end up believing differently than I do, then I can be proud to know that I have at least given them a full perspective instead of a blind, one-sided view that’s forced down their throat in the name of religious faith or some warped idea of freedom.

As “geeky” as our family is, in one respect, we are still pretty backwards…   that of digital cable.  We don’t watch that much TV (more now than through most of our marriage – what does that mean?) so we’ve never felt the need for 300 channels of digital goodness and a 40 inch plasma TV.  We still have “analog” cable (whatever that is, considering that everything went digital recently), and our television is at least a decade old and can be hidden away in a cabinet simply by closing the doors, which is how we like it.

But the cable company is extracting about $111 out of us each month, and it really chaps my hide. Granted, $53 of that is internet, but still!  So I decided to check out what “upgrading” to digital cable would give us, and how much more it would cost.  I logged on to the Cox website, and started browsing around, looking for what I thought would be pretty easy to find.  Over an hour later, I can honestly say that I have no idea how much more digital cable would really cost us, and no idea what channels I would actually get for my money.

This is insane.  There are really only three questions almost anyone visiting Cox’s website will ever have, the first of which is, “how do I get customer service?”  There are oodles of links to help you get service started, and to be fair, a few links to help you resolve issues you might have.  Though how many of those links actually lead you to be able to talk to a human being is questionable.

The next question everyone has is, “how much is it going to cost?”  Followed by, “what do I get for my money?”  These last two questions are the ones that are going to give you trouble.  Why?  Because Cox Cable doesn’t really want you to know what you are going to pay, or what you are going to get.  That’s not “good marketing.”  They DO want you to see how amazingly cheap they are compared to their competitors (for 4 months, some restrictions apply…), and what a wide variety of channels they have to select from (carefully grouped into “packages” so that you have zero chance of getting everything you want in a single grouping).

All I really wanted to know today, was what channels were “included” with basic digital cable service so that I would know what I was giving up/getting by going digital.  Couldn’t do it.  There were a number of very frustratingly unclear mentions about “packages”, but no place that simply said, “with basic service you get…”

WTF??!

And when I tried to compare prices, everything was based on my package selection and made even more confusing by the constant practice of quoting you prices that are only good for the next 4 months. In short, without committing to a new contract and selecting my “bundle”, I had no chance of finding out this information.  So I did nothing.

They got no more blood out of me that day, even though I might have been willing to increase my bill slightly for better service.  But without knowing, CLEARLY, what I’m getting for my money… no way. So, here’s a note to the execs at Cox in charge of the website…  Tell your marketing guys to shove it, and produce something that doesn’t leave me feeling like I just walked into a Vegas casino, where every path takes me anywhere except to where I want to go… or an exit.