[speedgibson] Speed Gibson: Dear Radio Shack

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Posted by Speed Gibson:
Dear Radio Shack
http://speedgibson.powerblogs.com/posts/1202496342.shtml


   I have an idea for a new product, some sort of meter or monitoring
   device for cable communications. I'd like an independent means of
   verifying I'm getting what I'm paying for. A basic meter would monitor
   signal to noise ratios. A fancier model would check transmission
   integrity, i.e., check the digital carrier as well.
   I thought Digital Cable would be a golden age when we upgraded from
   Analog. It was at first, what with the good quality and no ghosts on
   local channels. I got more channels, and HD channels for the future.
   It had music channels, dual channel DVR recording, and On Demand. And,
   I also got truly high speed internet, where I've clocked download
   speeds over 10 MBits per second; that alone puts satellite/DSL in
   second place.
   But like Analog, it's still a physical medium, and still subject to
   poor quality connections, device malfunctions and distribution
   miscalculations. Instead of fuzzy pictures and audio distortion, you
   get "tiling" and often sound dropouts as well.
   We had been seeing a little tiling of late here and there, but
   suddenly it was massive Tuesday night while trying to watch the Super
   Tuesday coverage (while listening to King on The Patriot of course).
   It was still bad Wednesday morning, so I called and was told that
   Friday at 11 am was the soonest available.
   I checked again this morning - still very bad, unwatchable, very
   little audio. I come home at 10:40 to await Comcast, and of course,
   now it's working perfectly, not a tile in sight. I called Comcast
   asking what happened, but of course they didn't see any nearby
   repairs. I cancelled the appointment but warned that if the problem
   returns, I will demand immediate service. (Yeah, I know...)
   So anyway, Radio Shack, I think there's a market for this, since
   professional units are several hundred dollars minimum.