I Moved To Fiber Internet

Scrolling through photos on my iPad last weekend I ran onto this photo of Stella just after we had moved to Arizona in June 2019. I can tell it was soon after because there was no coffee table in the photo and the new rug had not totally flattened out yet. I miss that big old bloodhound.

I admit there has not been many changes since my last blog post, not many photos taken and many of them are the same as before. The hounds, the dog and I live a pretty simple lifestyle with normal daily routines with some excitement sprinkled in occasionally. They can tell winter is either here or right around the corner because their sleeping places have changed, more blankets are scattered for them to sleep on.

With cold temps and light rain these past few days, Watson never likes that he cannot go outside. 

After much thought and analysis I finally made the change to AT&T Fiber internet and unexpectedly changed my wireless service from Spectrum Mobile to AT&T Wireless. I had no idea that AT&T would bring fiber into my house from the lines on the telephone pole in back, I thought everything was underground from a hub by the street that I could never see on my street. 

If you look closer up to the left where that thin wire comes into other wire on the house, there use to be an old AT&T Landline box there. He asked me if he could take it down. I think it looks much better plus the new Firber box is over with all the others. I think that top box might be from an old cable company. 

Various reasons for switching from Spectrum Internet. I had no complaints with them, had great service and very few interruptions ... but fiber is better than cable, although I am paying for the same download speed of 500mbps. The difference is when I use SpeedTest that download speed is over 600mbps and the upload speed is just as fast compared to the previous 19mbps. 

As usual, after a job is done around the house, Henry likes to come out, inspect the work and give it his okay.  The AT&T technician told me he could put the connection that goes inside the house anywhere I wanted. My computer room is opposite than this location and he would still have to wire it from a long distance, plus possible work in the tight, not very high crawlspace. 

I told him to run the wires on this side where it was convenient plus the router now would be by the tv giving it a stronger signal than I had before when streaming Apple TV or reading my iPads while watching ballgames. When we were talking about Directv and the reasons I liked the satellite dish, he said the tv streaming on fiber would be just as crystal clear and a sharp picture as I get with the satellite.

I tried it and he was right ... but I have not moved to full streaming yet with Directv. I have to read a little more on where and how I can save movies and ballgames that I currently save on a DVR. I am guessing they will give me a certain amount of cloud space for storage.

We had a few days of really cold weather and the hounds and dog did not do much besides camp out inside and sleep the day away.

Once the days returned to normal with night temps in the 30s and daytime highs in the 50's, even Walter would spend more time than normal outside. The squirrel still torments Watson, making him hop up and down at the fence baying at him. Henry never barks at anything or anybody. He will just sit and observe Watson going crazy. Walter??? He will step to this area of the yard and start barking at me knowing I am on this side of the house in the computer room, telling me all the dogs want to come back inside.

 

One good thing with hounds and dogs getting along, they are always grooming each other. They will clean each other's ears, their jowls, or their face after eating. Here is Watson waking Henry up to do just that.

If I move to the computer room, they all get up and follow me, then resume their naps. If I move to the living room, they all get up and follow me, then resume their naps. If I move to the great room to watch a movie or ballgame, they all get up and follow me, then resume their naps.

I need to rake the yard one last time before winter. Get the rest of the leaves up plus raking gets out all the old grass that might be laying around from the weekly mowings. I have tried to let the backyard grass grow longer this year with hopes that will help with the standing water this winter and spring after a snow melt and spring rains. As I walk around to clean the yard twice per day, I can now feel when I am in a low spot in the yard.

Oh, I forgot about the AT&T Wireless change. With me changing internet service Spectrum would raise my wireless bill $20 per month because it would no longer be bundled with my internet service. Their "good deal" on the internet would also increase in price because I would have to pay their "normal" price for 500mbps speed. I had signed up when I moved in, they quoted me a lower price that I never got.

When I brought it to their attention they still did not give me a discount they told me when I installed it but would honor the higher speed with my current charges for two years from the date I called them to complain. That "good deal" was about to expire.

Just like in Arizona when I had Cox Cable installed, the AT&T rep shows up a little later than the installer to "check out the job their internet tech is doing. Their real motive is not really that but to sell me their wireless service. Out there the Verizon signal was better but here the AT&T wireless signal is much better than I had with Spectrum which uses Verizon towers for their signal.

Another factor for changing wireless, a free iPhone of my choice, and I could keep my old iPhone that I was using. Strange that I have gone back to the smaller size and the wider bezel that I had before I bought my iPhone 11 Pro Max back in 2018?? I like the smaller size. The larger bezel gives the phone a strong signal they found out. So far so good.

It was a seamless transfer of internet and wireless services. So far I am happy with the new service and can tell the different in performance and features. 30 days from installation AT&T will send me emails to activate my two AT&T debit cards that total $350 and maybe $200 more for the Directv that they never sent me but said they would this time.

The customer service rep could see on my account that had been part of my Directv deal but the card was never issued.

So what now?? More of the same. College basketball is in full swing, College football had a conference championship games last night, and will today and tonight. Bowl games are right around the corner with the NFL Playoffs to mingle in later.

I have a new Bud Shumway kindle book to read. It is #18 in a series of books written by Chinle Miller. Put her name in your Amazon search bar and see all the books she has written, even outside of the Shumway series. Most, if not all of her books are based out in the BLM lands in Utah. Her Shumway series is a good mystery to read.  

I also have books that I have bought in the past on my bookshelf that need to be read this winter. I do almost all my book reading in the winter but the Bud Shumway books are so good that I will read them the day they are released. I cannot remember which book it was but Winston, Stella, Sadie and Heidi all had parts in her mystery along with this "crazy guy from Indiana".  LOL

I will not go into the stories I have had since November 14 with two major banks and one delivery service. I will say though today's customer service simply sucks in all areas of business and I never got the same answer twice. I am still waiting on resolution for two out of the three issues. All three were based on mistakes they had made. 

Does an increase pulse rate communicating with these idiots on the phone the same as an increased pulse rate riding a bike?

I don't think so.

Still .. things are good, the hounds and dog are good here in "the tropics" of Southern Indiana.