Jodey Smith, a long-time personal friend, was there to assist event attendees with technical problems or if our pace was a little challenging, but after internet issues from the venue (that’s another post in itself!), Jodey brought in several Clear WiMAX modems, a Clear Spot, and a few wireless routers. We were easily able to get every conference attendee online without problem. I promised to pimp his service if it went well, and sure enough, here i am…

Jodey Smith
design@gopublicdesign.com
404-538-2637

Thanks Jodey!

i’ve heard about the clear/clearwire technology for a couple years, how great it would be, etc. and a few months ago, on the recommendation of a friend (who just happened to be a reseller with clear wimax), i signed up for clear service. i set out to find faster download speed. after all, who couldn’t use 10Mbps download speed, right? the wimax is technically 4G technology (4G simply means 4th generation — it’s no reflection on speed improvements from 3G. more in this nerdy yet somehow cool video explanation from craig matthias). product showed up at my door the next day and i couldn’t wait to get started. dreams of streaming video from the highway, or conference calling beside the pool, like the tv commercials tell us.

fyi, clear is using atlanta as one of its flagship cities. signal coverage everywhere in atlanta. in fact, they back that up with media coverage everywhere in atlanta, and salespeople coverage everywhere in atlanta. i live in atlanta. and not like the outskirts, like people in alpharetta say they live in atlanta. i live in midtown. i travel atlanta extensively.

long story short… i have the clear home modem, which sits stationary. signal meter says it’s good, but more often than not, page loads take longer than when i’m on my sprint card. if they load at all. i have the clear mobile modem. but sitting in a client’s office in the middle of buckhead (again, very much atlanta), i get zero bars. and when clear gets zero bars, guess how internet performs? it doesn’t.

quick synopsis: clear 4G service runs on sprint towers. where sprint offers 4G service, clear offers 4G service. where sprint offers only 3G service, clear offers jack.

if they had told me that up front, i never would have bought. i tried to cancel service and return equipment within 14 days of signing up, only to have customer service show me the fine print that voided any chance of cancellation after 7 days. marketing brilliance: misrepresent your product, lock people into a contract, and charge astronomical fees to get out of it.

so here’s my recommendation: use sprint. sprint offers the 4G technology. heck, sprint built the towers. they’re just letting clear leech. get the sprint 3G/4G card. this card downgrades where 4G signal is not available.

my hope is to spread the warning to souls in search of faster download speeds. stick with the proven product on this one. and for the love of pete, read fine print.

so within the past couple of weeks, i’ve seen star trek technology demonstrated right in front of me. i’m not talking about flying cars, jetpacks or microwave ovens that will hydrate my dinner in nanoseconds, but this is nice. first, #1 – a video phone. yeah, those have been out for a while. but the handheld, wifi device i saw last week will hit mainstream within a year or two. #2 – security cameras that, upon sensing motion, will hit you with an sms (text message) and a link to watch the video stream. impressive.

but today, my technological brook bubbleth over. check out this new technology that will change the face of reading as we know it: http://vook.com/vook.php

pretty cool, huh? it brings potential excitement to my bathroom reading. looking forward to it.

today was different.

i remembered seeing a lube shop on ponce. it was a texaco, so i figured it must be reputable. i lined up the jeep in front of an open bay and was met at my door by a smiling technician. pricing was posted just over her shoulder, and she explained their maintenance packages to me. after i had made my selection, she mentioned a man by name, and told me that he “had the door for me”. as if i were walking into the ritz. odd, i thought, but i walked toward a smiling gentleman who, indeed, was holding open the door to the waiting area. nice touch.

the waiting area was clean. not immaculate — i wouldn’t have performed surgery in there, or eaten off the floor, but care had obviously been taken to provide a clean and comfortable environment. i sat in a chair and watched the last few minutes of a recently released dvd.

i hadn’t been seated long — it certainly couldn’t have been more than fifteen minutes — when a service tech came and sat beside me, clipboard in hand. i wondered what he’d tell me they found, that needed to be replaced. classic upsell. it didn’t happen. he deftly explained the service performed on my vehicle. the oil. belts checked. tire pressure corrected. he made me aware of services that would be due soon. and he directed me to the counter.

the cashier logged me into the system, got my contact information, and informed me that they would keep a record of every service they perform on my vehicle, as a courtesy to me. nice. in case i lose the envelope in my glove compartment stuffed with every piece of paper a mechanic has ever handed me since i bought the vehicle. she then told me that JJ had the door for me. i turned and, sure enough, the service tech was holding the front door open, my jeep five feet from the door, with my driver’s door open. he wished me well, and i went on my way, but was enamored with the level of service i had just been provided.

from my first encounter until i was buckled in again, i never questioned my next step. never wondered what was taking so long. i’ve paid other people to maintain my vehicles since i could drive. this was by far the most unique vehicle service experience i’ve had. the crew operated in such a coordinated effort to make my experience a positive one, and performed, a little like my jeep, pardon the pun, like a well-oiled machine.

great job to the crew at texaco xpress lube, 566 ponce de leon in atlanta. i’ll see you in another few thousand miles, and i’m actually looking forward to it.

Multiple Minds

If you’re interested, here’s some information from Mike Ventura on how social media played a rolein raising $9 million for Haiti.
http://mikeventura.wordpress.com/2010/01/15/social-media-breakthrough-for-red-cross-and-haiti/

Text “HAITI to 90999″ campaign stuns Red Cross with effectiveness.

Things have picked up, I suppose, in the past couple of weeks. But I just heard an interesting quote: “The economy hasn’t turned around for any of us, until it has turned around for all of us.” At first glance, I disagreed. But after a couple minutes of thought, I’ll bet there’s a little more truth, a little more depth, than I first suspected.

darin@deru.net wrote:
Hi Rob,

Yes, we are reading the emails, but frankly every aspect of working
with you is such a pain that I don’t feel like coddling you any more!

How you can represent yourself as a professional web master, yet complain about every aspect of a vendor of yours is beyond me.  If it’s not the backup, it’s the billing, if it’s not the billing, it’s the domains renewals, if it’s not the renewals, it’s the price of the renewals.

In this case, a simple – hey, I followed the process below but did not
receive an email in a timely manner would suffice – but instead you
write days later (it has been 10 days) and insinuate how critical of a
nature the backup is sort of silly.  The process is automated and you
should be well aware that it doesn’t take 10 days to backup an
account.  If it was critical this could have been addressed the same
day.

So, yes, we all read your email, and you are getting the same sort of
short shrift from me that you have been giving my team.  You won’t get it from my team, but frankly I’m tired of my company being your
doormat.

Happy Holidays!

Darin

rob@yourdesignonline.com wrote:
Is anyone actually reading these support tickets before responding? I had already submitted my email address but never received the email. Knowing when the backup is complete is crucial so that we do not miss any emails in the transfer.

Rob Riggs
yourdesignonline
www.yourdesignonline.com

On Dec 21, 2009, at 3:03 PM, darin@deru.net wrote:

Hi Rob,

Please follow the instructions in the response below – you can make your own backup at any time by following those instructions.

Darin

rob@yourdesignonline.com wrote:

Hello, I never received an email that advised that the account was backed up. Can someone let me know what is going on? I need to finish this.

Rob Riggs
yourdesignonline
www.yourdesignonline.com

Reghu Raj wrote:

Hello Rob,

Please follow the steps given below to take a full backup of your account.
1. Login to your cPanel interface (Use your cPanel login details)
2. Click on the ‘backups’ icon.
3. Click on ‘Generate/Download full Backup’ link.
4 Provide your email address in the ‘Email Address’ field leaving the Backup destination as ‘Home Directory’. (Leave all the other fields blank)

You will receive an email when the backup process is completed.

The new backup created will be listed in the same page where you initiated the backup process. You can click on the file name received in your mail and the backup file will be downloaded.

Let us know if you need any further assistance.

*******
Regards,
Reghu Raj
Deru Communications