Deck again - county screwed me.

[Frank]

They did increase the assessed value of my property by $600 and tax
about $15. Assessed value here is about a third of the market value.
I called them about it and they said I would have to go through a
protest procedure which might take up to a year. I'll pay the extra tax
but am pissed. That nice New Castle County assessor that came out and
looked at the replacement deck lied when he said the tax would not go up.

[Wade Garrett]

How did the county know you replaced your deck?

Hidden observation posts outside Home Depot; microphones concealed in
street lamps to pick up repeated hammer blows?

--
If we desire respect for the law, we must first make the law respectable.
- Louis D. Brandeis

[rbowman]

On 12/18/2017 04:29 PM, Wade Garrett wrote:
> On 12/18/17 6:21 PM, Frank wrote:
>> They did increase the assessed value of my property by $600 and tax
>> about $15. Assessed value here is about a third of the market value.
>> I called them about it and they said I would have to go through a
>> protest procedure which might take up to a year. I'll pay the extra
>> tax but am pissed. That nice New Castle County assessor that came out
>> and looked at the replacement deck lied when he said the tax would not
>> go up.
>
> How did the county know you replaced your deck?
>
> Hidden observation posts outside Home Depot; microphones concealed in
> street lamps to pick up repeated hammer blows?
>

Building permit?

[Ed Pawlowski]

On 12/18/2017 6:29 PM, Wade Garrett wrote:
> On 12/18/17 6:21 PM, Frank wrote:
>> They did increase the assessed value of my property by $600 and tax
>> about $15.  Assessed value here is about a third of the market value.
>> I called them about it and they said I would have to go through a
>> protest procedure which might take up to a year.  I'll pay the extra
>> tax but am pissed.  That nice New Castle County assessor that came out
>> and looked at the replacement deck lied when he said the tax would not
>> go up.
>
> How did the county know you replaced your deck?
>
> Hidden observation posts outside Home Depot; microphones concealed in
> street lamps to pick up repeated hammer blows?
>

My town has a photo from Google Earth on file. When it was time for
regular reassessment they took photos of the outside.

[hub...@ccanoemail.ca]

$ 15. per year ? Really ?

What does that bring the total to ?

John T.

[Frank]

Yes, permits were needed to tear down the old one and for the new one.
The builder took pictures of the tear down and emailed them in, then the
builder took pictures of the poured footers and sent them in. When new
Trex deck was installed the county came out and inspected it then a
while later the tax assessor came out. The latter is who I am pissed at
for lying to me.

My old deck did not meet the current county code and even though old
footers were just the concrete slab patio below the contractor needed to
drill down through the concrete and nearly solid rock below to put new
concrete footers a yard down. Old deck was attached to the house but
new is essentially freestanding.

I had one bid where the contractor would have skirted the county permit
but built to code but we did not want the risk or bother. His was the
lowest bid but the one I took was only $500 more and I think footer
design was better. New Trex deck does look terrific and adds to the
value of the house.

Even in this small state with only 3 counties, code varies from county
to county and permits may not be required in the other two counties.

We've been in this house 45 years and hope to stay but this experience
has taught me a lot about rule changes and construction. Hope my
experience will help caution others in this ng.

[gfre...@aol.com]

On Mon, 18 Dec 2017 18:29:51 -0500, Wade Garrett <wa...@cooler.net>
wrote:

>How did the county know you replaced your deck?

Aerial photos is the most common way. Our tax man has far better
photos than Google and they shoot them every year. They shoot 4
obliques from the compass points so they can even see under trees and
a ways under a car port. I suspect computers look for changes but I
know they are right on top of it and I am not a fanatic about permits.
I never hear from the building department but my tax bill seems to
show everything I do.

[Terry Coombs]

On 12/18/2017 5:29 PM, Wade Garrett wrote:
> On 12/18/17 6:21 PM, Frank wrote:
>> They did increase the assessed value of my property by $600 and tax
>> about $15.  Assessed value here is about a third of the market value.
>> I called them about it and they said I would have to go through a
>> protest procedure which might take up to a year.  I'll pay the extra
>> tax but am pissed.  That nice New Castle County assessor that came
>> out and looked at the replacement deck lied when he said the tax
>> would not go up.
>
> How did the county know you replaced your deck?
>
> Hidden observation posts outside Home Depot; microphones concealed in
> street lamps to pick up repeated hammer blows?
>

  He pulled permits .

  --

  Snag

[Muggles]

We built a free standing deck near our garden and didn't get a permit to
build it. Also built a pool deck, and then dismantled it when we sold
the pool and never got a permit.

Didn't seem to matter. Our property taxes keep going up every couple of
years, anyway.

--
Maggie

[ChairMan]

Did you really believe the man from the govnmt?
Shame on you : )

[Terry Coombs]

   I'm not sure where we stand tax-wise , a lot depends on the finished
value of the house we're building . I do know there is a provision about
age 65 and no tax increases . Permit-wise , we don't need 'em out here
in the woods . No building codes out here either . Doesn't mean I'm
going to cut corners ...

  --

  Snag

[Clare Snyder]

The old deck likely wasn't done with a permit and was therefore not on
the assessment.. Either that or you enlarged it

[rbowman]

On 12/18/2017 05:17 PM, Frank wrote:
> We've been in this house 45 years and hope to stay but this experience
> has taught me a lot about rule changes and construction. Hope my
> experience will help caution others in this ng.

I grew up in a location where externally visible improvements were
approached very, very carefully. There were houses with peeling paint
and loose shutters that were quite stylish inside -- and the county
assessor never got an invitation to dinner.

[customer]

On 12/18/2017 06:21 PM, Frank wrote:
> They did increase the assessed value of my property by $600 and tax about $15.

That ain't nuthin'.  My Comcast bill went up over $25/mo or $300/yr...and I'm not as wealthy as you.

[gfre...@aol.com]

On Mon, 18 Dec 2017 18:52:36 -0700, rbowman <bow...@montana.com>
wrote:

Legally they really can't even come on your property but that is
generally ignored by the people walking around with the cameras and
lap tops. The lady who walked into my back yard acknowledged that I
could ask her to leave but she pointed out she already knew about
everything she saw including a new 128 sq/ft bump out on my screen
cage (no permit) that was only a few months old and she showed me an
updated plat on her laptop.
She just said "everything looks right to me" and left.

[Muggles]

Do you have pictures of the progress of your building? You've been
working on it as long as I can remember, anyway.

--
Maggie

[Terry Coombs]

  Construction started in the summer/fall of 2013 , I have a few
pictures but haven't been taking many lately . We're building this place
totally out of pocket , which slows things down a bit . Right now we're
saving up for hardwood flooring and I'm holding out for the good stuff ,
3/4" prefinished solid oak . Looking at around 1200 sf , that's a pretty
big chunk of money but it needs to be bought at one time so it all
matches . It might move along faster if I didn't have other
responsibilities - cutting firewood , gardening , maintaining our cars ,
etc .

  --

  Snag

[Frank]

No, it was on the plan with the county. Dimensions were not there but
it is in same place. I enlarged it from 18 to 20 ft length because Trex
came in 20 ft lengths and would have been cut so cost was the same.

We had slight mix up with county clerks not finding plot and telling us
we needed a survey but we had an old copy of it from a septic guy and
they accepted it. I went into county records on line and it was there.
County clerk was either lazy, sloppy or did not know how to access.

[Frank]

One of my points is that county rules vary considerably and you must
investigate yours. Had I replaced the deck without access to the house
or without stairs but having access to the house, a permit would not
have been needed.

[Frank]

We're paying a little over $4,000 now and that is with a senior discount
of $500. The split is 18% to the county and 82% to the school district.
Compared to surrounding states we are low and down state Delaware
property taxes are half. Lot of retirees from New Jersey are going
there. One lady told me of a Jersey friend looking at houses there and
hearing the tax asked if that were the tax per month.

I'm only 3 miles from PA and we have developments straddling the states.
The guy on the PA side may pay twice the tax as neighbor with the same
house on the DE side of the street. Income taxes are lower in PA but
they have a sales tax except on food and clothing. Gas is nearly 40
cents a gallon higher so PA residents take advantage by shopping here.

[Frank]

That's a whole other story. Our Comcast offer expires this month and
increase would be similar so we go back to bargaining.
If you want to get your bill down the best thing to do is ask to talk to
customer solutions there. They are the last resort but easiest to
bargain with.

[Colonel Edmund J. Burke]

On 12/18/2017 3:21 PM, Frank wrote:
> They did increase the assessed value of my property by $600 and tax about $15.  Assessed value here is about a third of the market value.
> I called them about it and they said I would have to go through a protest procedure which might take up to a year.  I'll pay the extra tax but am pissed.  That nice New Castle County assessor that came out and looked at the replacement deck lied when he said the tax would not go up.

Tough shit for you, and merry xmas, asswipe.
LOL

[Wade Garrett]

Waaaay too much intrusive government meddling and control of private
property. It's a deck for Pete's sake! Vote the bums out of office next
election...

[Frank]

A previous head of the New Castle County council, Chris Coons, in two
terms increased county tax over 60%. To reward him, we made him a US
senator.

When I asked a friend in lower Delaware why his property taxes were half
mine in a larger house, he asked, "What party is in charge in your
county?" He's right.

People are incredibly stupid. Politicians in office never raise taxes
in an election year and a nutty old woman I knew who complained loudly
about tax increases voted for Coons. She said he did not increase
taxes. I told her you better go home and look at your past taxes. Talk
about short term memory. It inflicts many.

[Muggles]

Just take time to take care of yourself along the way.

--
Maggie

[Muggles]

hmm This desk isn't attached to the house. It's just sitting near the
house, but no entrance.

--
Maggie

[Frank]

Went back and looked at county requirements.

https://www.nccde.org/DocumentCenter/Home/View/344

I was wrong about no access for mine as it is elevated 10 feet but
freestanding less than 30 inches and 200 sq. ft. no permit required.

[Muggles]

Ours is a 12x10 foot free-standing deck. We built it ourselves, so
didn't hire anyone, either.

--
Maggie

[Frank]

I had been nursing mine for the 45 years that we have been here. It was
built of framing lumber stained like redwood. There were a few redwood
boards. Over the years I replaced all with pressure treated lumber
adding addition support columns but now at my age I could no longer keep
it up and wanted one maintenance free. Last time I tried to stain it I
needed to get therapy for my neck. Now having all the tools and
experience I physically cannot do all the work.

I was going to have a neighbor do it as he had done others decks but
when he saw the shape mine was in and knew the current building code he
said it needed replacement. I might have had him do it without the
rigamarole but preferred to have him as a good neighbor and not a
contractor that I might have a problem with. Plus, it might have taken
him a couple of months as it did when he resurfaced a friend of mine's deck.

[Terry Coombs]

  Ours is 52 feet long , 12' wide for 22 feet and 10' the remaining 30
. One side is attached to the house , the other side is supported by 6x6
treated posts every 7 feet . One end is near ground level , the other is
5' off due to the ground slope - just right for a set of 8 steps . Two
sets of French doors open onto the deck , one in the bedroom and one in
the dining room . And I built it myself with my little hammer and saw
and screwdriver and post hole digger and cement mixer and and and ...

  --

  Snag

[Tekkie®]

Frank posted for all of us...

> New Trex deck does look terrific and adds to the
> value of the house.
>
>

This sums it up doesn't it?

--
Tekkie

[Muggles]

I think you win for size. That's one big deck! I would love one that
big that wrapped around my house.


--
Maggie

[Frank]

Next door neighbor has one as big as this. It was just rebuilt for the
third time - all wood. Owner had died last year and guy bought it and
is flipping it. Not rebuilt to current code as he just resurfaced old.
I would consider it one huge headache having to replace every 10 years
and stain every couple of years.

[Ed Pawlowski]

On 12/21/2017 9:26 AM, Frank wrote:

>>
> Next door neighbor has one as big as this.  It was just rebuilt for the
> third time - all wood.  Owner had died last year and guy bought it and
> is flipping it.  Not rebuilt to current code as he just resurfaced old.
> I would consider it one huge headache having to replace every 10 years
> and stain every couple of years.

That is usually the result of going cheap. I got 30 years out of
pressure treated and replaced it with Tiger Wood (goncalo alves) and it
should go 50 years with a little oil. Definitely will outlast me.
https://www.advantagelumber.com/tigerwood_decking.htm

[Muggles]

I think if I had the money, I'd rebuild a deck with composite.

--
Maggie

[gfre...@aol.com]

On Thu, 21 Dec 2017 22:34:35 -0600, Muggles <cou...@wn2-newyears.day>
wrote:

>I think if I had the money, I'd rebuild a deck with composite.
>
>--
>Maggie

If you had the money you should use Ipe.
http://gfretwell.com/ftp/Deck%20going%20down.jpg

[My 2 Cents]

I cut the cord. 40 channels over the air... and I've been watching
more and more youtubes. Just hook an old computer to ur big screen and
get a wireless mouse. Watch what you want, when you want. It's
criminal what big business does with our minds and bodies. Junk
entertainment, junk information and junk food.

[Terry Coombs]

On 12/21/2017 1:40 AM, Emorej Swet wrote:
> On Wed, 20 Dec 2017 22:40:54 -0600, Muggles <cou...@wn2-newyears.day>
> wrote:
>
>> I think you win for size. That's one big dick! I would love one that

>> big that wrapped around my house.

> How big is his dick?
>
  On our wedding night she said "You're going to put that WHERE?" Then
she fainted . Nuff said .

  --

  Snag

[Terry Coombs]

  This is all treated wood , guaranteed for 30 years in ground contact
- and none of it actually touches the ground . The 6x6's were coated
with asphalt emulsion on the bottom 30" and set in concrete - the
concrete is "domed" above ground level so water runs off instead of
soaking in . The two things left to finish are the railings and the L
flashing where the framing is bolted to the house . Don't want water
running between the framing and the house .

  --

  Snag

[Terry Coombs]

  Ipe may last nearly twice as long as forever but it's a bitch to work
with . A cabinet shop I worked at got a contract for a bunch of benches
to place out on a golf course . I got the job of doing all the machining
and most of the assembly .

  --

  Snag

[Frank]

Living on the side of a hill away from the largest city, Philadelphia,
gives us poor TV reception. Even cell phones with a tower only a mile
away are iffy. I have a neighbor lower down from me and he has to go
outside to talk on his cell. Our services are underground and we now
have choice of Comcast cable or FIOS. I have a neighbor across the
street that switches between the two when initial offer expires and cost
goes way up.

[Terry Coombs]

  We're down in The Holler and a hundred miles from the nearest
broadcaster ... we used to get a couple of TV channels before it went
digital , now nothing . No cell service here either . Our only options
for TV are satellite or internet TV . Since both sat providers have lied
to us we now get all our TV over the 'net . Oh , and Sling is NOT a la
cart TV ...

  --

  Snag

[BurfordTJustice]

what requires you to watch junk entertainment, get junk information and
eat junk food?


I submit only the weak and snowflakes do those things.



"My 2 Cents" <Lo...@My.Hat> wrote in message
news:p1iaqe$1r5t$1...@gioia.aioe.org...

[A. John]

On 12/22/2017 02:04 AM, My 2 Cents wrote:
> I cut the cord.  40 channels over the air... and I've been watching more and more youtubes.  Just hook an old computer to ur big screen and get a wireless mouse.  Watch what you want, when you want.  It's criminal what big business does with our minds
> and bodies.   Junk entertainment, junk information and junk food.

I strongly suspect that the sales rep was being dishonest but...

when I tried to cut the Comcast umbilical tv cord he stated it is cheaper to bundle basic standard def tv with internet.

[Chuckie]

On 12/22/2017 8:10 AM, Terry Coombs wrote:
> Oh , and Sling is NOT a la cart TV ...
>
>   --
>
>   Snag

Yah, Sling *claims* to be à la carte but it looks like the typical bloated cable/satellite TV package to me too...but I'll admit I'm totally confused by their advertising.  And there's NO way I'd give them a credit card # just to try it out.

[gfre...@aol.com]

On Fri, 22 Dec 2017 08:17:18 -0500, "A. John" <a.j...@sexfinity.com>
wrote:

>I strongly suspect that the sales rep was being dishonest but...
>
>when I tried to cut the Comcast umbilical tv cord he stated it is cheaper to bundle basic standard def tv with internet.

That is one thing DSL has going for it. They don't have a joined at
the hip relationship with an entertainment company so you are not
bound to TV. Comcast really sucks around here anyway, running on 30+
year old infrastructure that they are slow to upgrade. Reliability is
nonexistent. Sprint rebuilt all of the Telco infrastructure,
underground, here since then. It is very resistant to storm damage,

[notbob]

On 2017-12-22, gfre...@aol.com <gfre...@aol.com> wrote:
>
> That is one thing DSL has going for it. They don't have a joined at
> the hip relationship with an entertainment company so you are not
> bound to TV.

No ....but their pricing sucks.

I am now paying Centurylink roughly $110 mo fer ADSL internet (10M
dwn/1M up) and a single land-line. This up from $84, last Aug. I'm
about to drop 'em. 8|

nb

[Terry Coombs]

  I have an account just for internet transactions . It seldom has more
than a couple hundred bucks in it . Sling implies that you can select
your channels in the basic package , but it just ain't so - fully half
are sports , and I don't watch sports . Just like all the rest the a la
carte part is only for the premium additions .

  --

  Snag

[gfre...@aol.com]

On Fri, 22 Dec 2017 06:33:05 -0600, Terry Coombs <snag...@msn.com>
wrote:

I had no problem using carbide tools.

[Ed Pawlowski]

I pay Frontier $80 for 18M down. I'd go cable but the cable company
sucks. I have DirecTv for the tube. They are going up $5 a month in
January.

[Clare Snyder]

On Fri, 22 Dec 2017 06:27:47 -0600, Terry Coombs <snag...@msn.com>
wrote:

I've seen a lot of talk about using spacers between the deck framing
and the houseso if water gets between it will dry quickly. My front
porch doesn't even touch the house, and it is roofed. My back deck
also is not fastened to the house. I used "blue-seal" over beams made
of multiple 2X screwed tofether to prevent water from getting in and
over all joints in the framing. The PT SYP decking on the year deck
was installed in 1996 and it's still solid, but is getting pretty
rough - with a few bad cracks staring to get rot. Time to replace next
summer - likely go with Trex like the front porch - or possibly the
new "thermalwood" product.

[Clare Snyder]

On Fri, 22 Dec 2017 08:17:18 -0500, "A. John" <a.j...@sexfinity.com>
wrote:

In MANY cases standard cable withcable internet IS cheaper than cable
internet alone. Is with Rogers here in Ontario.

[Clare Snyder]

Here our underground Telcoc cable is 45 years oild and Ma Bell
couldn't give me a clean audio channel for my phone - muchless a
reliable internet connection. They talk Fibe - but the fibe is just to
the interface 2 blocks away - the bad copper still has to connect
fromthere. I went OOMA over my cable internet.

[notbob]

On 2017-12-22, Ed Pawlowski <e...@snet.net> wrote:

> I pay Frontier $80 for 18M down. I'd go cable but the cable company
> sucks. I have DirecTv for the tube. They are going up $5 a month in
> January.

Yeah. The recent debacle over 'net neutrality' is far reaching.
Prepare to see yer rates continue to increase. 8|

nb

[gfre...@aol.com]

I just looked and $85 of my bill is phone and DSL. I bet Comcast won't
do any better if you are not buying any TV. Buying the "lifeline"
package that gets me what I get with a coat hanger is throwing money
in the trash.
I am going to start with a blank slate in January and look at all of
my internet/phone/TV bills to see what I can do.
I also have 2 web sites I need to renegotiate. No matter what, I doubt
I will end up with any cable/satellite service. I find myself
scrolling through hundreds of channels and not finding anything I want
to watch that I can't get from a net provider.

[gfre...@aol.com]

On Fri, 22 Dec 2017 11:54:51 -0500, Clare Snyder <cl...@snyder.on.ca>
wrote:

>The PT SYP decking on the year deck
>was installed in 1996 and it's still solid, but is getting pretty
>rough - with a few bad cracks staring to get rot. Time to replace next
>summer - likely go with Trex like the front porch - or possibly the
>new "thermalwood" product.

My dock is .40 CCA 2x, installed in 1999 and it is still solid but the
surface is pretty rough. The stringers are .80 CCA and look pretty
much new. This thing goes under water occasionally.

[gfre...@aol.com]

On Fri, 22 Dec 2017 12:01:47 -0500, Clare Snyder <cl...@snyder.on.ca>

We are fiber up at the end of the street and they went through a year
or so ago and cleaned up the copper so they could get me 10 meg. It is
a solid 10 meg every time I test it and that is plenty for what I do.
We can stream 2 TV feeds and I am still able to surf.

[notbob]

On 2017-12-22, gfre...@aol.com <gfre...@aol.com> wrote:

> I am going to start with a blank slate in January and look at all of
> my internet/phone/TV bills to see what I can do.

Likewise. What with the recent 'net neutrality' debacle, expect to
see rates increase.

> I also have 2 web sites I need to renegotiate. No matter what, I doubt
> I will end up with any cable/satellite service. I find myself
> scrolling through hundreds of channels and not finding anything I want
> to watch that I can't get from a net provider.

I have no TV service. I pay for Netflix and have no cell phone (that
may change). Streaming is a crapshoot. Most 'streaming' channels
either charge $$ or expect the user to have satellite/cable or watch
painful commercials. If they provide free TV/movies, they WILL have
commercials.

They all also provide almost the exact same movies. Netflix told me,
long ago, it's the studios that determine which movies will be
'streamed'. The different streaming channels seem to bear this out.
You will probably NEVER see the first 3 Star Wars movies streamed, If
you can see it on Amazon Prime, you can probably watch it on Netflix.

Now, there is, allegedly, a "war" between Amazon and Google. Don't
ask! ;)

nb

[Clare Snyder]

Mine goes under snow for a few months every year - - -

[Clare Snyder]

Prepare for your internet and cell phone costs to equal Canadian
costs before long - and not because Canadian costs are dropping - - -

[Frank]

I let Verizon replace the old copper with fiber a few years ago when I
had 2 land lines. Since switched one to Comcast triple play but
maintain the other for business and bill it out entirely to my main
consulting client. What is annoying is that they bill the phone like
the old land line charging extra for caller id, etc and need for long
distance carrier. Having done battle with old AT&T years ago I use MCI
long distance and whole thing costs $37/month which is outrageous with
modern technology. The little calling I do could be handled by my
Tracfone which costs me $150 for 2 years.

Cable on our street is underground as are all services. It was totally
replaced a couple of years ago. FIOS and Comcast cut each others lines
accidentally a few times. Comical at times with FIOS as all their
diggers were obviously illegal subs and made numerous mistakes putting
fiber to wrong side of the house, then when installers arrived,
meandering a trench across my front yard maybe 6 inches deep. Good
thing I don't need to do any more planting there ;)

[Cindy Hamilton]

Actually, Comcast is more reliable than DSL around here.
DSL went out every thunderstorm and we had to call the
telco to reboot it. Sometimes they'd have to come out
to the house and fiddle around with the NID. It could
be days without Internet for us.

Cindy Hamilton

[gfre...@aol.com]

I understand there is no free lunch but when I am looking at a $160
satellite bill, there is a lot of cash in there to buy HBO, Sho and
maybe some other services. We already have Netflix and Prime. With the
different packages available I should be able to fine tune what I pay
for to be closer than the shotgun bundles the Cable/Sat companies
throw at us.
I suspect more content producers will be taking money straight from
the consumer and cutting these bundlers out completely. That will be
where the lack of net neutrality will raise it's ugly head if you get
your internet from a company that also sells content. A "slow" DSL may
end up being a lot faster than the 100mb cable service on things they
don't sell.

[gfre...@aol.com]

On Fri, 22 Dec 2017 13:44:02 -0500, Clare Snyder <cl...@snyder.on.ca>

wrote:

>On Fri, 22 Dec 2017 12:31:28 -0500, gfre...@aol.com wrote:
>
>>On Fri, 22 Dec 2017 11:54:51 -0500, Clare Snyder <cl...@snyder.on.ca>
>>wrote:
>>
>>>The PT SYP decking on the year deck
>>>was installed in 1996 and it's still solid, but is getting pretty
>>>rough - with a few bad cracks staring to get rot. Time to replace next
>>>summer - likely go with Trex like the front porch - or possibly the
>>>new "thermalwood" product.
>>
>>My dock is .40 CCA 2x, installed in 1999 and it is still solid but the
>>surface is pretty rough. The stringers are .80 CCA and look pretty
>>much new. This thing goes under water occasionally.
> Mine goes under snow for a few months every year - - -

Salty snow?

[gfre...@aol.com]

That is always going to be a local thing. My neighbor is a Comcast guy
and he says they just will not fork over the money to upgrade the
physical plant that was here when this was "South Florida Cable", 3
companies ago. They say it is "good enough" and with no competition
that really means "as good as it is going to get".

[Tekkie®]

gfre...@aol.com posted for all of us...

Comblast sucks EVERYWHERE. I would sure like to get a bonus for the year...

--
Tekkie

[notbob]

On 2017-12-22, gfre...@aol.com <gfre...@aol.com> wrote:

> I suspect more content producers will be taking money straight from
> the consumer and cutting these bundlers out completely.

Yep. Ferget 'free'.

I heard, awhile back, that providers that once gave free airtime (NBC,
CBS, ABC) cannot charge fer the same services, but they do. For
instance, you get NBC news free (well, w/ commercials), but other
programming (sitcomes, sports, etc) costs actual $$$$! Like I sed,
even PBS is now charging $$. 8|

nb

[Clare Snyder]

No, it is far enough from the road to avoid the salt from the roads,
and I don't generally salt my deck or porch

[Terry Coombs]

  I guess we're among the fortunate few . Our phone and internet is
through a local/regional monopoly and their rates are competitive and
their service is great . We're 12 miles from town with a 6Mb/756k
connection and basic telephone for under a hundred a month . Very seldom
have an interruption - I know at least the service coming into town is
fiber optic , not sure about the distribution network .

  Just tested (Ookla), got 6.79Mb down and .82 up - while streaming a
TV program over the Roku too .

  --

  Snag

[Ed Pawlowski]

On 12/22/2017 1:57 PM, Cindy Hamilton wrote:
>
> Actually, Comcast is more reliable than DSL around here.
> DSL went out every thunderstorm and we had to call the
> telco to reboot it. Sometimes they'd have to come out
> to the house and fiddle around with the NID. It could
> be days without Internet for us.
>
> Cindy Hamilton
>

We have the opposite. The DSL never went out but cable would go out if
the temperature is below 68 or over 72 degrees or humidity above 50%.

[Ron]

Both AT&T U-Verse and Comcast HSI are reliable but Comcast's service is 20x faster.

The fastest U-Verse speed offered in my neighborhood was 6Mb down and 1 Mb up while my Comcast line clocked in at 124Mb down and 24Mb up.

[gfre...@aol.com]

At a certain point that is just gee whiz info because the content
prover may not be anywhere close to that fast. I know when I am
getting stuff from my news server it is nowhere near the rate my DSL
will run and I can load 2 streams at the same time on different
instances of agent and it does not slow down either of them.

[Ron]

IIRC, the 6Mb/1Mb plan from AT&T is $51/month.

For $47 I can get the 60Mb/5Mb plan from Comcast.

Why would I want reward AT&T for installing crappy slow internet in my area?

[gfre...@aol.com]

I can't speak for ATT, I have Century link but when Comcast is down,
the data rate is ZERO and it is down a lot here. I was online and
sending my family updates when the eye of Irma went over my house.
Comcast still had their hard line laying in a pile by the side of the
road 10 days later.