Humor Random Comments Thread

[Urwumpe]

The equipment is included in the price in Slovenia and to my knowledge, you can't even replace the modem with your own.

This practice was banned by law in Germany last year. You can choose any hardware you want, because in Germany, Routers have to be certified to be compatible to the phone lines anyway. Also only a few weeks after this practice was banned, the first suspected DDOS using standard modem/routers took place, as feared assisted by the monoculture.

 

[Quick_Nick]

Derp :|

How much does it cost to rent the modem / router from your ISP? The equipment is included in the price in Slovenia and to my knowledge, you can't even replace the modem with your own. I also cannot imagine it being financially viable to actually buy your own modem and have it pay off...

Also, the modems on loan to us act as routers, including wifi. It's been like that for ~10 years...

The rental is $10/mo, which is pretty standard. If you can get a modem and router (or two-in-one) for just over $100, then you break even after a year. Plus, you then have exactly the hardware you want and you can be sure that certain features/settings won't be locked down or tampered with.
ISPs, for whatever reason, typically have a list of compatible modems that you can replace theirs with. And yes, the one I was renting is both a modem and a router in the same device.

 

[Artlav]

renting from my ISP

Renting a router from ISP?
WTF?

you can't even replace the modem with your own

Needing a modem for non-dialup internet?
Modem costing more than a bit of spare change?
WTF?

Routers have to be certified to be compatible to the phone lines anyway

What do routers have to do with phone lines? You mean modems?

Also, certified to be compatible?
WTF?

The rental is $10/mo, which is pretty standard.

Standard?!
That's the monthly price of 100Mbps symmetric unlimited internet on it's own, over a regular ethernet cable!
Or 10Mbps unlimited mobile data!
WTF?

...i'm afraid to ask how much does the actual internet costs if that's the "rental" price of the hardware...

 

[Urwumpe]

What do routers have to do with phone lines? You mean modems?

They are one hardware unit usually here. AVM Fritzbox for example. Despite performing multiple tasks on multiple layers of the OSI model, the German language term for them is "Router", and the German term for providers prescribing their custom hardware is called "Routerzwang".

---------- Post added at 14:29 ---------- Previous post was at 14:22 ----------

That's the monthly price of 100Mbps symmetric unlimited internet on it's own, over a regular ethernet cable!
Or 10Mbps unlimited mobile data!
WTF?

And yes. That's pretty expensive. Even for German standards, where you pay already about 40€/mo for an asymmetric 100 Mbps connection.

 

[Notebook]

Paternoster: The rare lift that went over the top

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-42363360/paternoster-the-rare-lift-that-went-over-the-top

You wouldn't get me in one of those!

N.

 

[Quick_Nick]

Standard?!
That's the monthly price of 100Mbps symmetric unlimited internet on it's own, over a regular ethernet cable!
Or 10Mbps unlimited mobile data!
WTF?

...i'm afraid to ask how much does the actual internet costs if that's the "rental" price of the hardware...

For Internet alone, without having cable TV bundled in, my ISP charges something like $95/mo for 100Mbps down, not including the equipment rental.
Small ISPs don't have the capital to build new copper or fiber lines, so there is usually only either 1 or 2 choices for broadband ISP and they all have very similar pricing and policies.

 

[jedidia]

You wouldn't get me in one of those!

Well, if I can't get all of you into one, half of you will have to do... :shifty:

 

[RisingFury]

Needing a modem for non-dialup internet?
Modem costing more than a bit of spare change?
WTF?

Unfortunately there's no fiberoptic cable where I live
We have an ADSL line, with a 40 / 5 Mbps speed, fastest offered over ADSL.

The "modem" is the device that hooks into the phone line or the fiberoptic line. The name just stuck from the dial-up days.

Standard?!
That's the monthly price of 100Mbps symmetric unlimited internet on it's own, over a regular ethernet cable!
Or 10Mbps unlimited mobile data!
WTF?

...i'm afraid to ask how much does the actual internet costs if that's the "rental" price of the hardware...

Yea, US has TERRIBLE internet, both in service and in price. US companies agree to divide the US up into regional monopolies, so they don't compete and it allows them to keep the prices high. Offering service to half the country at high prices is better for profit than offering service at competitive prices across the entire country. Capitalism in action!

 

[Quick_Nick]

Fatal passenger train derailment in Washington state this morning.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-42401707

 

[Urwumpe]

Fatal passenger train derailment in Washington state this morning.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-42401707

Just had seen it on my smartphone. The scene looks really terrible.

I hope it just looks worse than it is, not many news about it here so far.

 

[Linguofreak]

Just had seen it on my smartphone. The scene looks really terrible.

I hope it just looks worse than it is, not many news about it here so far.

Well, it's probably the worst train wreck I've seen on the news (as opposed to in the history books), as far as disruption of the train and surrounding environment goes (i.e, the highway incursion).

As far as actual human cost, six fatalities and 77 injuries (in other words, all the survivors) have been reported on the train, with no word on the number of highway casualties, despite several vehicles on the highway having been struck.

---------- Post added at 21:14 ---------- Previous post was at 21:07 ----------

OK, so CNN says five cars and two semis hit on the highway, but no fatalities in those vehicles.

 

[Urwumpe]

Well, it's probably the worst train wreck I've seen on the news (as opposed to in the history books), as far as disruption of the train and surrounding environment goes (i.e, the highway incursion).

Well, I live nearby Eschede and know a handful people who had the damn fate to be first responders that day.

http://www.ndr.de/kultur/geschichte/eschededossier2.html

Thats my definition of looking bad.

 

[Andy44]

This is my own candidate for worst train wreck in recent memory, and it happened in my area on a system I frequently ride: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/June_2009_Washington_Metro_train_collision

The DC Metro's unofficial motto is "Metro: We Dare You to Ride"

 

[Artlav]

Not counting terrorists, the worst accident along my commute route was the derailment a few years ago - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Moscow_Metro_derailment

24 dead, hundreds injured, all because a construction worker "secured" a newly installed switch with a bit of wire instead of a proper restraint.

 

[RisingFury]

Well, it's probably the worst train wreck I've seen on the news

Train wrecks always look horrible. Hence the phrase "train wreck".

 

[MaverickSawyer]

Commanding locomotive was pretty much brand spanking new. The locomotive was built in Siemens' Sacramento, CA facility within the last year, and the type has been in revenue service for only about 4 months. It's heavily computerized, so that's going to provide an immense amount of data for the investigation.

 

[Urwumpe]

Commanding locomotive was pretty much brand spanking new. The locomotive was built in Siemens' Sacramento, CA facility within the last year, and the type has been in revenue service for only about 4 months. It's heavily computerized, so that's going to provide an immense amount of data for the investigation.

The track was also new, but passengers already compained about it. The trains exceeded the speed limit pretty often, this time the train was about 80 km/h faster than the speed limit of 48 km/h (30 mph).

Likely no big investigation needed, just the question why nobody noticed this habit.

 

[jedidia]

this time the train was about 80 km/h faster than the speed limit

Say whaaaaaat? That's outright insane for a train. As in I don't think it's even hyperbole to say that. There's got to be something wrong with your brain if you're driving a train that much over the speed limit! :blink:

 

[Urwumpe]

Say whaaaaaat? That's outright insane for a train. As in I don't think it's even hyperbole to say that. There's got to be something wrong with your brain if you're driving a train that much over the speed limit! :blink:

It could also have technical causes. But yes. Its insane if this happened a few times in the few years of operation already.

 

[Quick_Nick]

The track was also new, but passengers already compained about it. The trains exceeded the speed limit pretty often, this time the train was about 80 km/h faster than the speed limit of 48 km/h (30 mph).

Likely no big investigation needed, just the question why nobody noticed this habit.

The Amtrak train that derailed Monday in Washington state was traveling 80 mph in a 30 mph zone, National Transportation Safety Board board member T. Bella Dinh-Zarr said.

Uhhhhh wow.

2.67 times the speed limit, or 7.1 times the kinetic energy.

At 30mph, even a crash into a wall might not be fatal. At 80mph, how could this *not* happen?!

The reports say that most of the track allows up to 79mph. So did they forget to slow down? Or did they just not want to bother? If this speeding has occurred before, I'm not sure e.g. brake failure is likely.