Jace Cole (dot) com

So today you can get all sorts of Internet from various providers. There is Internet delivered via phone lines, satellite providers, cable companies, wireless companies, fiber.. Then each of those offer various flavors, for example:

Phone lines deliver DSL. You have ADSL, SDSL, HDSL, T1. Some services are delivered over the ILEC loop by a CLEC. The most common type of DSL is deliverd by the ILEC (ATT, Verizon, Bell South, Qwest, the big Bell companies) and they also deliver the internet services, like AT&T Yahoo! DSL. Cable companies deliver Internet services over traditional cable lines. They also deliver Internet Services so you can get cable modem service from your cable company or from an ISP like Earthlink.

So many options, some better than the other. Since moving to my home in the West Loop I’ve had problems finding a good Internet Service Provider. I started with AT&T, which could only offer a basic 768k DSL line. It was often bouncing up and down, and service was unreliable at best. I had it out with ATT who blamed the distance from the Central Office (CO) to my home. I blamed it on a fault copper loop delivered to the home… regardless, it was poor so I moved on to cable.

I procured service through Comcast, service was delivered, and running OK … however the 2 things I use my service for are VPN access to corporate network, and Torrent downloading to catch up TV (cause I’m too cheap to pay for cable) Comcast has recently been using Sandvine technology to shape Torrent traffic which significantly inhibits the speed of torrent traffic. No good for me since I need to get my TV shows quick and easy off Torrents.

Today I decided good Internet is worth the cost. DSL is best choice as it has very restrictions but you have to pay better money for it. Enter Speakeasy.net … Good Internet is worth the cost. Especially if that is the only medium for all your entertainment needs, for me its my TV services and my network services. I decided to go with a $89 package for 3.0mb download, 768k upload service. This will provide the necessary means with unrestricted access to support my telecommuting and day extension work life, as well as provide the bandwidth needed to quickly download the TV I need to relax to after a hard day at work.

So goodbye bad Internet … and hello good Internet! I guess I should also say goodbye to the $90 coming out of my pocket each month

I’ll keep you updated on Speakeasy and their trying to solve my inner peace with

Good Internet.

1973 Sprint 150 … no comments from the peanut gallery about me on a Vespa

SO sorry its been so long , the major update is I couldn’t last and had to buy a car. So I broke down and bought a Scion xB. Main driver for needing a vehicle … my J O B. Metra (the regional suburban trains) were working nice with the combination of using my bike, however, Tuesday and Thursday I have very early meetings and couldn’t get there on time… the outbound train schedule doesn’t offer an early enough train. So need to stay employed ($$ is good) and do that I need to make meetings on time, so vehicle had to be purchased.

Just rolled back in from another great RAGBRAI , Mike James and I are in our second year of owning the bus for our team Fat Tire Army. Check out the Flickr pool of pics. This years ride was amazing, we had a great crew of 20+ people … and also were graced with 3 fine folks from New Belgium Brewery for the first 3 days of ride. I love those crazy guys from Ft Collins and there fine brews.

I also moved at the beginning of July over to the West Town are of Chicago , for those of you familiar with Chitown, its close to Bucktown and Wicker Park. I’m living with my old roommate Damian that I lived with Wrigley a couple years ago. The space is amazing, its a 4 floor townhouse, with a garage for my sweet new ride.

I’m still keeping it green, taking Metra to work at least 3 days a week or riding my bike the 20 miles out to Northbrook.

Check out my Flickr feed, I’m going to be posting lots of new stuff over the next couple of days.