Just to make a general point, not directed specifically to you SC, but a company doesn't care if you've been a customer for 10 years or 10 days, nor should they. 

 

That's not really true.  Some do and some don't.  As far as cable/satellite/Uverse etc. they kind of care right now.  It's more-or-less a monopoly so "the price" is pretty much fixed no matter the provider.  The two big companies in the Jacksonville market (Comcast and AT&T) are implementing data restrictions right now.  It's pretty much aimed at the "cord cutters" since video content is being streamed over data lines rather than the traditional way.

 

IF and when Google Fiber does come to Jacksonville, I'll bet that prices from Comcast, AT&T, DISH Network, DirectTV, etc. drop like a rock.  The reality is that what consumers want to watch is available from means other than the traditional cable/satellite system in place right now.  Consumers also want to watch media not only on their televisions, but also on their tablet, smart phone, laptop, etc.

 

I suspect that traditional "cable" is going to pretty much vanish.  Satellite television/internet access won't go away as fast since there is a market in rural areas, but it's only a matter of time.  Pretty soon the competition between copper wires and fiber lines is going to be decided with fiber winning.

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There are 10 kinds of people in this world.  Those who understand binary and those who don't.

That's not really true.  Some do and some don't.  As far as cable/satellite/Uverse etc. they kind of care right now.  It's more-or-less a monopoly so "the price" is pretty much fixed no matter the provider.  The two big companies in the Jacksonville market (Comcast and AT&T) are implementing data restrictions right now.  It's pretty much aimed at the "cord cutters" since video content is being streamed over data lines rather than the traditional way.

 

IF and when Google Fiber does come to Jacksonville, I'll bet that prices from Comcast, AT&T, DISH Network, DirectTV, etc. drop like a rock.  The reality is that what consumers want to watch is available from means other than the traditional cable/satellite system in place right now.  Consumers also want to watch media not only on their televisions, but also on their tablet, smart phone, laptop, etc.

 

I suspect that traditional "cable" is going to pretty much vanish.  Satellite television/internet access won't go away as fast since there is a market in rural areas, but it's only a matter of time.  Pretty soon the competition between copper wires and fiber lines is going to be decided with fiber winning.

 

Google and Facebook are already working on wireless broadband technology.  The mobile companies are working on 5g.   I think in the long run that wins out.   If any of them succeed, you'll have a situation where wireless broadband is cheaper, faster, and more reliable than the wired alternatives.  If this happens, disgruntled customers will flock to wireless in droves.   At the very least, the current monopoly providers will be forced to improve their service.

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Google and Facebook are already working on wireless broadband technology.  The mobile companies are working on 5g.   I think in the long run that wins out.   If any of them succeed, you'll have a situation where wireless broadband is cheaper, faster, and more reliable than the wired alternatives.  If this happens, disgruntled customers will flock to wireless in droves.   At the very least, the current monopoly providers will be forced to improve their service.

 

I wouldn't be so quick to embrace wireless technology.  That's the easiest and most vulnerable to getting hacked.

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There are 10 kinds of people in this world.  Those who understand binary and those who don't.

I wouldn't be so quick to embrace wireless technology.  That's the easiest and most vulnerable to getting hacked.

 

We'll just disagree on this.

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We'll just disagree on this.

 

We might disagree, but why would you say that?  Current WiFi technology is pretty much the easiest to exploit.  That "free WiFi" wherever you are is not really safe.  I know that I personally wouldn't log in to any website or try to access anything important to me using a public WiFi connection.  If residential WiFi ever becomes a reality (at this point) it could be disastrous.

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There are 10 kinds of people in this world.  Those who understand binary and those who don't.

Well, an update for those who are interested. I know you are on the edge of your seat!

 

DirecTV chose not to bend and lost a 15+ year customer. The representative understood my frustration with the fees but said there was nothing she could do outside of changing my package and changing my equipment. I told her I am not looking for my quality of service to suffer to save $10 a month. She didn't get it and I don't have the energy to talk to someone who does. She also ensured me that they have among the lowest fees of any of the big carriers, lol.

 

Cord cutting, here I come!

 

 

You'll be just fine and will save probably $1,000 or more per year.

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I got rid of DirecTv years ago. I was a customer for about 10 years. I made the switch to Comcast and never going back. I love my cable. No loss of reception during football games is a major win for me and all I really care about.. I swear, one day back when I had Directv, I passed some major wind and my satellite went out.. Just got tired of it. I have Tv, internet and a landline (which I don't use) and I have no problems paying $130 a month for those services with no interruptions.

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We might disagree, but why would you say that?  Current WiFi technology is pretty much the easiest to exploit.  That "free WiFi" wherever you are is not really safe.  I know that I personally wouldn't log in to any website or try to access anything important to me using a public WiFi connection.  If residential WiFi ever becomes a reality (at this point) it could be disastrous.

 

The easiest way to get hacked is by some phishing attack, or downloading/clicking on some infected file.  This is how most ransomware gets distributed.  That is easy. Hacking wifi is difficult.  For home wifi, you only have to do two things to protect yourself.  Set the encryption to WPA2 with a good password, and change the router's default password.  Wifi passwords can be cracked offline with a deauth attack, but the hacker would literally have to have a list of passwords that just so happens to have yours in it to crack it.  Brute forcing would likely take forever even for a bad password and probably isn't even worth it.

 

As for public wifi, I only use a handful of reputable companies (Starbucks, Target, B&N ...).  I wouldn't just randomly use any wifi hotspot.  Really, if it's not Starbucks most of the time I use my phone's hotspot.

 

When you log into hotspots like Starbucks, you are completely isolated, internet access only.  So you can't really get hacked through the network because you're not really on a network.  The only issue is that unencrypted wifi packets can be sniffed.  But most web sites default to https, meaning it's encrypted automatically before anything leaves your computer. So the data would be useless (as it's encrypted anyway). Then there's any number of things you can do like VPN to protect sensitive information.

 

The biggest issue is the man in the middle attack.  Which probably isn't even an issue for encrypted home wifi.   But as for public wifi, even though a MITM attack is extremely unlikely, yea I don't do any banking or anything like that.  I usually avoid credit card transactions too, even though the worse that could happen there is I have to get a new credit card.  

 

As for residential wi-fi.  That already is a reality.  Most people are already using wi-fi (really pretty much everyone). Not sure what you mean by that.  

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I got rid of DirecTv years ago. I was a customer for about 10 years. I made the switch to Comcast and never going back. I love my cable. No loss of reception during football games is a major win for me and all I really care about.. I swear, one day back when I had Directv, I passed some major wind and my satellite went out.. Just got tired of it. I have Tv, internet and a landline (which I don't use) and I have no problems paying $130 a month for those services with no interruptions.

 

If you're looking to ditch the landline you can always buy one of the products from obihai and set up a google voice account and get unlimited local and long distance calls for free (international calls you have to pay for) and you will still be able to use your current landline phones. 

 

I use it at home, keeps me from thinking about if my cell needs to be charged, or finding my bluetooth so on and so fourth. 

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If you're looking to ditch the landline you can always buy one of the products from obihai and set up a google voice account and get unlimited local and long distance calls for free (international calls you have to pay for) and you will still be able to use your current landline phones.


I use it at home, keeps me from thinking about if my cell needs to be charged, or finding my bluetooth so on and so fourth.

Naa.. 'preciate it though. I barely use it. I use my cell for everything

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Got a call from a manager at DirecTV today. They are giving me a $45 bill credit, NFL Sunday Ticket Max free next year, and 6 months free of all movie channels.

 

I am still a DirecTV customer.

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The easiest way to get hacked is by some phishing attack, or downloading/clicking on some infected file.  This is how most ransomware gets distributed.  That is easy. Hacking wifi is difficult.  For home wifi, you only have to do two things to protect yourself.  Set the encryption to WPA2 with a good password, and change the router's default password.  Wifi passwords can be cracked offline with a deauth attack, but the hacker would literally have to have a list of passwords that just so happens to have yours in it to crack it.  Brute forcing would likely take forever even for a bad password and probably isn't even worth it.

 

As for public wifi, I only use a handful of reputable companies (Starbucks, Target, B&N ...).  I wouldn't just randomly use any wifi hotspot.  Really, if it's not Starbucks most of the time I use my phone's hotspot.

 

When you log into hotspots like Starbucks, you are completely isolated, internet access only.  So you can't really get hacked through the network because you're not really on a network.  The only issue is that unencrypted wifi packets can be sniffed.  But most web sites default to https, meaning it's encrypted automatically before anything leaves your computer. So the data would be useless (as it's encrypted anyway). Then there's any number of things you can do like VPN to protect sensitive information.

 

The biggest issue is the man in the middle attack.  Which probably isn't even an issue for encrypted home wifi.   But as for public wifi, even though a MITM attack is extremely unlikely, yea I don't do any banking or anything like that.  I usually avoid credit card transactions too, even though the worse that could happen there is I have to get a new credit card.  

 

As for residential wi-fi.  That already is a reality.  Most people are already using wi-fi (really pretty much everyone). Not sure what you mean by that.  

 

Regarding the part in bold, I was referring to what you said regarding wireless broadband technology.  I guess I shouldn't have used the term WiFi since it is different.

 

I do agree with most of your point, however MITM attacks still happen more than you might think.  Also, the average user whether it's a business or a residential user does not change the default password on their router and does not use a strong password.  I'm willing to bet that on this very forum more passwords can be defeated using brute force and a decent dictionary.

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There are 10 kinds of people in this world.  Those who understand binary and those who don't.

Got a call from a manager at DirecTV today. They are giving me a $45 bill credit, NFL Sunday Ticket Max free next year, and 6 months free of all movie channels.

 

I am still a DirecTV customer.

 

Win.

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If something can corrupt you, you're corrupted already.
- Bob Marley


 

Win.

 

Yep. I had to pretend I didn't care about the NFL Sunday Ticket to get a larger credit. They went for it.

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Yep. I had to pretend I didn't care about the NFL Sunday Ticket to get a larger credit. They went for it.

They were playing chicken with you...you won! Lol

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What in the Wide Wide World of Sports is agoin' on here???

They were playing chicken with you...you won! Lol

 

 

Some serious chicken. They let me quit and waited 24 hours to call me back, lol.

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Some serious chicken. They let me quit and waited 24 hours to call me back, lol.

That's because every Tom, Richard, and Harry has heard about the "I'm quitting" bluff to get a better deal thing

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What in the Wide Wide World of Sports is agoin' on here???

When you were playing with said chicken, did you choke it?

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There are 10 kinds of people in this world.  Those who understand binary and those who don't.

When you were playing with said chicken, did you choke it?

 

Always

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Regarding the part in bold, I was referring to what you said regarding wireless broadband technology.  I guess I shouldn't have used the term WiFi since it is different.

 

I do agree with most of your point, however MITM attacks still happen more than you might think.  Also, the average user whether it's a business or a residential user does not change the default password on their router and does not use a strong password.  I'm willing to bet that on this very forum more passwords can be defeated using brute force and a decent dictionary.

 

The strange thing is that with 4g LTE the weakness is actually usually seen as the wired portion of the transmission, because that's the only portion that has a chance of being transmitted unencrypted.  

 

You're probably right about the forums passwords though.  So if you notice an abrupt improvement in my post quality, you know I got hacked.

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