I had the opportunity to chat with two Motorola phone engineers in November 2014, a hardware lead and a developer. Here are some of their paraphrased replies to my questions as I understood them.
Me: What are the advantages of a Motorola phone?
Them: 1. Because the user experience is very close to pure Android, it takes us much less time to get Android release updates to Motorola users than competitors that use skins and have to update the skin to fit the new release.
2. Some of the devices are made of Kevlar/ ballistic nylon and are very durable. We do extensive drop tests for normal use, from about 5/6 feet as if people are putting the phone in their upper jacket front pocket, (the highest place someone would store their device).
3. The new Droid Maxx Turbo can give you 8 hours of battery life in 15 minutes of charge.
ME: Does the phone have to be off to charge that quickly?
Them: No. You can charge it while it is on.
ME:
Now this could mean that it charges it up to 10% in 15 minutes and the 8 hours comes from that much charge and depends on use, but hey...
in (CNET reports that it takes 2 hours to fully charge the 3,900 mAh battery on the Turbo charger, which is due to the Qualcomm Quick Charge 2.0 which will be showing up in other devices.)
Thursday, December 4, 2014
RCN Chicago ISP-Things you should know
In summary, 1. RCN has hidden cheaper intro prices than advertised, but you have to call and ask.
2. You can transfer an account to someone to get cheaper service with the intro pricing (which is less expensive than exiting customers), but both people may need to be on the phone at the same time.
3. The RCN plan I have allows them to increase the price of the plan by $5 every 12 months, for 3 years, after which, it can balloon.
Best practice, as I see it, is to call RCN for intro pricing and use $30/mo to $40/mo for 50 MBPS as your guide in Chicago as of Dec 2014. (That is cheap compared to the competition's advertised prices, which also may be inflated for people who don't call and ask for intro pricing.) Keep the plan for 3 years, and transfer to another person. Or, just make new roommates take the cable bill.
in Chicago, RCN is currently (Dec 2014) the ISP with the lowest advertised price for 50 MBPS Internet. (I have not heard a nice thing about a competitor, Comcast, from anyone. Poor customer service. Unreliable and slow service. Poor internet speeds at times. Hardware pickup is at a place without a phone line and isn't open during the hours posted.)
14 months ago, I took over the RCN account, which he had been the sole person on for 3-4 years, which had ballooned up to $150 with Internet as well as TiVo, HD channels, etc. and did an account transfer (possibly with both me and the old account holder on the phone at the same time) and got new customer pricing of $39.99 for 50 MBPS service +$5 modem rental, which was, and is, an incredible deal.
We did have issues with the rented modem and had to reset it regularly. I decided to save the $5 and bought a recommended Motorola Surfboard SB6121 modem (Docis 3.0) and while it did take 30 minutes of initial troubleshooting ot get it working, and it had to be cycled (unplogged, powered down, and plugged in again) twice that first month, we haven't had any issues with it since. So i saved $5 a month and my bill was $39.99 (They list $0 for tax, which i am cool with)
13 months later, my bill went up to $44.99. I called today (Dec 2014) and asked why. They said that there is a 3 year price lock, that the bill will not go up by more than $5 a month per 12 month period for 3 years. I heard that, and compared to the competition, that seems fair.
I then asked what would new customer pricing be. She said $30 for the plan I currently have. I said I didn't see that listed anywhere. She said that only they (workers) can see it and that it's the pricing for the 25 Mbps plan (I didn't see that plan on their site).
I asked how I could get my roommate on the account. She said it was along drawn out process. The equipment has to be returned for 30 days and the account has to have been closed for 30 days before a new account can be put on. "So we would be without internet for 30 days if we switched account holders?"
"Yes."
"When I picked up the account from my former roommate, we didn't loose a month of Internet service"
"You can transfer the account to someone but both people have to be on the phone at the same time."
"So I can transfer the account ot my roommate and save $15 a month?"
"looks like it."
"What's stopping me and him from switching back and forth every 12 months?"
"We can see who has been on the account for the address and they watch for that."
2. You can transfer an account to someone to get cheaper service with the intro pricing (which is less expensive than exiting customers), but both people may need to be on the phone at the same time.
3. The RCN plan I have allows them to increase the price of the plan by $5 every 12 months, for 3 years, after which, it can balloon.
Best practice, as I see it, is to call RCN for intro pricing and use $30/mo to $40/mo for 50 MBPS as your guide in Chicago as of Dec 2014. (That is cheap compared to the competition's advertised prices, which also may be inflated for people who don't call and ask for intro pricing.) Keep the plan for 3 years, and transfer to another person. Or, just make new roommates take the cable bill.
in Chicago, RCN is currently (Dec 2014) the ISP with the lowest advertised price for 50 MBPS Internet. (I have not heard a nice thing about a competitor, Comcast, from anyone. Poor customer service. Unreliable and slow service. Poor internet speeds at times. Hardware pickup is at a place without a phone line and isn't open during the hours posted.)
14 months ago, I took over the RCN account, which he had been the sole person on for 3-4 years, which had ballooned up to $150 with Internet as well as TiVo, HD channels, etc. and did an account transfer (possibly with both me and the old account holder on the phone at the same time) and got new customer pricing of $39.99 for 50 MBPS service +$5 modem rental, which was, and is, an incredible deal.
We did have issues with the rented modem and had to reset it regularly. I decided to save the $5 and bought a recommended Motorola Surfboard SB6121 modem (Docis 3.0) and while it did take 30 minutes of initial troubleshooting ot get it working, and it had to be cycled (unplogged, powered down, and plugged in again) twice that first month, we haven't had any issues with it since. So i saved $5 a month and my bill was $39.99 (They list $0 for tax, which i am cool with)
13 months later, my bill went up to $44.99. I called today (Dec 2014) and asked why. They said that there is a 3 year price lock, that the bill will not go up by more than $5 a month per 12 month period for 3 years. I heard that, and compared to the competition, that seems fair.
I then asked what would new customer pricing be. She said $30 for the plan I currently have. I said I didn't see that listed anywhere. She said that only they (workers) can see it and that it's the pricing for the 25 Mbps plan (I didn't see that plan on their site).
I asked how I could get my roommate on the account. She said it was along drawn out process. The equipment has to be returned for 30 days and the account has to have been closed for 30 days before a new account can be put on. "So we would be without internet for 30 days if we switched account holders?"
"Yes."
"When I picked up the account from my former roommate, we didn't loose a month of Internet service"
"You can transfer the account to someone but both people have to be on the phone at the same time."
"So I can transfer the account ot my roommate and save $15 a month?"
"looks like it."
"What's stopping me and him from switching back and forth every 12 months?"
"We can see who has been on the account for the address and they watch for that."
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