Thursday, July 23, 2009

Atlantic Broadband Starter Service - 320 Kbps - It's Too Slow

A client of mine recently recently re-located to a new location complained that their Atlantic Broadband Service was very, very slow. When I went to diagnose the issue, I discovered that Atlantic Broadband provided them with a High Speed Internet Service of 320Kbps for $34.95 + $25.00 installation.

First of all, I was insulted to think that any "broadband provider" would have the audacity to charge $34.95 for such a service. It was President Obama in his election campaign who said, "It is "unacceptable" that the U.S. ranks 15th in the world in broadband adoption (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OEC)" and "Here, in the country that invented the Internet, every child should have the chance to get online, and they'll get that chance when I'm president -- because that's how we'll strengthen America's competitiveness in the world."

I seriously doubt that President Obama with his $8B Broadband Stimulus Package was envisioning our children and students in America surfing the Internet at 320Kbps with services like Atlantic Broadband High Speed 320Kbs Internet Starter Service allegedly targeted at low usage Internet users and students (according to the Broadband Tech Rep I spoke), it's no wonder our country is in its current state.

First of all, I allege Atlantic Broadband's Internet Starter Service is a deceptive marketing practice and should be either taken off the market or upgraded to a higher speed. Yes, it's faster than dial-up, but at only 320Kbps it is 25 times slower than their next 8MB $50.95 package. Even AT&T High-Speed Internet packages are sold at 1.5MB, 3MB and 6MB package. It really seems like a classic bait and switch.

Also, when I called Broadband Customer Service about this, they told me that's what the customer ordered. My reply was, would you buy this service for your mom or dad? They also said, Comcast their competitor offered a 1MB package. My reply, THAT DOESN'T MAKE IT RIGHT!

In any regard, NO ONE SHOULD buy the Atlantic Broadband Internet Starter Service Package, it's way too slow. The Atlantic Broadband's Preferred Service is $50.95 +tax in my client's area and if that's not within your budget, there are competitive services offering better alternatives. My client's Internet service was enabled over the phone in a few seconds and the service was downloading at well over 7MB, even on wi-fi. The Atlantic Broadband Rep offered no discount for my client's lost productivity.

If you have the Atlantic Broadband Stater Service or some other High Speed Internet Service and it is running slow, here are some sites to test the speed of your Internet connection.

http://speedtest.atlanticbb.net/
http://speakeasy.net/
http://www.speedtest.net

Upgrading my iPhone 3G S to iTunes 8.2.1

With each iTunes upgrade you are probably not alone in wondering if this update will break cause a problem with the data on your iPhone or your computer. So several weeks after its release, I finally installed iTunes 8.2.1 on both my Macs and PCs.

First of all, this upgrade took several minutes to download and install because it also included Safari and Quicktime. In general, it went smoothly. However, here is a list of potential issues you can review after installing this release and synching for the first time.
  • iTunes Setup Assistant -This works similar to setting your browser as Internet Explorer or Firefox, provides and option to allow Apple to organize your music for you (no thank you) and to download Album Artwork automatically (nice feature).
  • Info -> Contacts -- Ensure that your contacts are being synchronized and that they are not being doubled up. You might want to add a contact to both your Contact Manager and your iPhone to ensure it is working correctly.
  • Info -> Calendar -- Add an item on your iPhone and using your Calendar Applicationtion to ensure it is working.
  • Info - review other settings on this page since after a new install of iTunes, Apple sometimes doesn't save your settings.
  • Photos -Ensure your photos are being synched.
  • Photos - Make sure you backup your Camera Roll photos using iPhoto or Picasa.
  • Applications - You might take the time to Upgrade your Applications from your desktop.