On 6/25/15 5:37 PM, wrote:
On Thu, 25 Jun 2015 17:11:47 -0400, Keyser Söze
wrote:



Really. Gee, I paid $0.00 out of pocket for my big new iPhone, thanks to
a generous trade-in offer from Verizon. Of course, I had to renew my
contract, but I would have done that anyway. My wife has two iPhones,
neither of which required a cash outlay.

It makes you wonder how much Verison makes on those contracts doesn't
it?

It is the same theory as the ink jet printer. You get the phone for
free and they make their money when you actually want to use it.

My landline is virtually free too .. with the full boat option package
(free long distance, all the dialing options, voice mail and a bunch
of stuff I don't use). I just needed to buy the data and TV package
;-)


No, I don't wonder. Verizon makes a lot. I know what some of the service
rates in other countries are, and they are a lot lower. Same with other
countries having faster and cheaper internet. Hey, we're 'Mericans,
sheep to be sheared by the corporationists.

On 6/25/2015 5:11 PM, Keyser Söze wrote:
On 6/25/15 4:59 PM, Califbill wrote:
Keyser Söze wrote:
On 6/25/15 12:29 PM, amdx wrote:
On 6/25/2015 11:23 AM, Wayne.B wrote:
For those who'd like to be able to trace their car or boat, I just got
this promotional offer in the mail.

http://findmespot.com/downloads/SPOT2015_FreeTraceJunePush_rebate.pdf?utm_source=B enchmarkEmail&utm_campaign=04_Taken__Get_It_Back_W ith_a_FREE_Trace&utm_medium=email



Caveat emptor: Even though the device is being offered free I'm sure
you'll be required to buy a subscription plan to activate it.


You won't get your rebate unless you have "Activate(d) your SPOT
device(s) at FindMeSPOT.com"
That's the second item under, "To be eligible for this rebate, you
must:"
Mikek




Apple and others offer no extra cost software with their computers and
devices that provide location services. It's not a biggy.

You also pay 2x or ore for the apple device.



Really. Gee, I paid $0.00 out of pocket for my big new iPhone, thanks to
a generous trade-in offer from Verizon. Of course, I had to renew my
contract, but I would have done that anyway. My wife has two iPhones,
neither of which required a cash outlay.

free junk for a $2000+ contract not a bad deal................for Verizon

--

Respectfully submitted by Justan

Laugh of the day from Krause

"I'm not to blame anymore for the atmosphere in here.
I've been "born again" as a nice guy."

Keyser Söze wrote:
On 6/25/15 3:37 PM, wrote:
On Thu, 25 Jun 2015 15:28:33 -0400, Wayne.B
wrote:

On Thu, 25 Jun 2015 12:13:36 -0700 (PDT), Tim
wrote:

Greg, that's also true with Diabetic readers, they'll practically
give you the tester then hold you up on the strips!

===

Gilette Razors practically wrote the book on that business model.

I saw an article in the WSJ the other day saying the internet is
taking a bite out of that business.


I spent a pre-college summer working as a truck loader at the Shick
razor company in Milford, Connecticut. We used forklifts and our arms,
legs and backs to pack 40 and 35-foot trailers with goods made in the
factory (blades), made elsewhere and assembled in the factory, et
cetera. The pay was good and the factory was properly and safely
operated. Unusual benefit: a daily 15-20 minute "shave break" to test
product. I don't recall whether the women who worked in the factory
got a similar break to shave their legs. We could also buy packs of
injector blades for 5 cents a pack, a price that probably eliminated
pilfering. I think they were selling for $2 a pack at the stores. I
bought at least several dollars worth of packs a week to take back to
college, where I resold them for a $1 a pack.

The next summer, I got a job loading trucks at Hulls Export Beer in
New Haven. Much harder work, paid better, outdoor loading dock,
and...freebie beer...significant for an underaged college student.

Also had a job one summer at Bigelow Boiler in New Haven, at a factory
whose skeleton remains. Learned how to weld, and spent my days inside
used boilers, stripping out their parts and making repairs to the
tubes. I kept up with apprenticeship classes after that summer when I
could and eventually passed a journeyman welder's exam.

My last summer of college before graduation, I got a white collar job
at The Kansas City Star.



Wow. All of that over a new razor blade business model! How did that
evolve into your resume?

On 6/25/15 7:56 PM, wrote:
On Thu, 25 Jun 2015 18:53:54 -0400, Keyser Söze
wrote:

On 6/25/15 5:37 PM, wrote:
On Thu, 25 Jun 2015 17:11:47 -0400, Keyser Söze
wrote:



Really. Gee, I paid $0.00 out of pocket for my big new iPhone, thanks to
a generous trade-in offer from Verizon. Of course, I had to renew my
contract, but I would have done that anyway. My wife has two iPhones,
neither of which required a cash outlay.

It makes you wonder how much Verison makes on those contracts doesn't
it?

It is the same theory as the ink jet printer. You get the phone for
free and they make their money when you actually want to use it.

My landline is virtually free too .. with the full boat option package
(free long distance, all the dialing options, voice mail and a bunch
of stuff I don't use). I just needed to buy the data and TV package
;-)


No, I don't wonder. Verizon makes a lot. I know what some of the service
rates in other countries are, and they are a lot lower. Same with other
countries having faster and cheaper internet. Hey, we're 'Mericans,
sheep to be sheared by the corporationists.

We are too quick to believe anything is "free". They bury a lot in the
price of these things. I think the biggest problem is the internet, as
consumers have to access it is a monopoly virtually everywhere in the
US. When you talk about a monster like Comcast, they not only own the
last mile, they own the last 100 miles, a lot of the content and they
are only getting bigger.
I would break up Comcast into at least 5 companies, just like we did
Ma Bell. That created an environment that allowed the internet as we
know it.
For that matter, forcing IBM to unbundle software from hardware
created Microsoft and made the PC marketplace big enough for Dell,
Gateway, HP/Compaq and Apple.

.
BTW the internet in New Zealand sucks, so it isn't everywhere.
Access is slow and expensive.


I'd like to see Comcast unbundle its offerings. We don't watch very many
of the periphery channels, especially the "included" sports channels.

We use our cell phones a *lot* and Verizon's coverage seems the best
where we go. I know that because I have friends and colleagues with
service from other providers, and several of them are always whining
about coverage lapses.

On Thu, 25 Jun 2015 19:56:54 -0400, wrote:

BTW the internet in New Zealand sucks, so it isn't everywhere.
Access is slow and expensive.

===

The same is true in a lot of places. I honestly believe that we have
faster and cheaper internet than most other countries. In the Bahamas
last month I paid $35 for two Gig of data. That seems like a lot but
in most of the Caribbean islands it would have been 5x or 10x more,
and you have to purchase a new device when you change from the British
islands to the French.

On Thu, 25 Jun 2015 21:35:43 -0400, Keyser Söze
wrote:

We use our cell phones a *lot* and Verizon's coverage seems the best
where we go. I know that because I have friends and colleagues with
service from other providers, and several of them are always whining
about coverage lapses.

===

Verizon has good coverage in the US but their CDMA technology is
obsolete every where else in the world which is mostly GSM. In the US
AT&T and T-Mobile are already GSM and I predict that Verizon will
eventually be forced to follow.

As far as unbundling tv channels...they have been doing that here for a few years.
At one time you had to pay six to eight dollars a month on top of the basic bill for each bundle when maybe you only wanted one channel. Now you can pay three dollars for each individual channel....or as my sister just found out moving to a new provider... Ten cherry picked channels for twenty bucks..
Bugs me that local providers still charge a premium for HD channels.

On 6/26/15 7:22 AM, True North wrote:
As far as unbundling tv channels...they have been doing that here for a few years.
At one time you had to pay six to eight dollars a month on top of the basic bill for each bundle when maybe you only wanted one channel. Now you can pay three dollars for each individual channel....or as my sister just found out moving to a new provider... Ten cherry picked channels for twenty bucks.
Bugs me that local providers still charge a premium for HD channels.


Cable is grossly overpriced in the USA.

In article ,
says...

I have not jumped on the SSD bandwagon with Harry yet. I just don't
like the fact that they tell you these things have a finite life
(10,000 writes). On a system drive, that might happen pretty fast.
(something like the page files)

I've been running a SSD as my system disk for about a year and a half
without issue. Also have a 512 GB SSD for my games. No issues.
They're much faster, cooler, and use very little power.
Spinners will fail too.
For the average user who's happy to just chug along, they're pointless,
but for a so-called "power user" they're the cat's meow.
It gets down to expense.
So if you don't want to pay up, it's fine to do without.
I expect prices to keep coming down until they match spinners.

On 6/26/15 10:02 AM, Boating All Out wrote:
In article ,
says...

I have not jumped on the SSD bandwagon with Harry yet. I just don't
like the fact that they tell you these things have a finite life
(10,000 writes). On a system drive, that might happen pretty fast.
(something like the page files)

I've been running a SSD as my system disk for about a year and a half
without issue. Also have a 512 GB SSD for my games. No issues.
They're much faster, cooler, and use very little power.
Spinners will fail too.
For the average user who's happy to just chug along, they're pointless,
but for a so-called "power user" they're the cat's meow.
It gets down to expense.
So if you don't want to pay up, it's fine to do without.
I expect prices to keep coming down until they match spinners.



When I set up my Synology server, I bought four "premium" two terabyte
hard drives to put in it. I don't know why they were considered premium,
but they were "highly recommended" for servers. They weren't that much
more expensive than "ordinary" drives. So far, they've been running
without a hitch, knock on plastic.

I sell my desktop iMac every three years, when the AppleCare expires. My
current iMac has an SSD drive...so far, no problems. My laptop also has
an SSD that has operated so far without a hitch. Spinning drives are
pretty much obsolete for personal computers.