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GeekNights Special 015 - Verizon

AprecheApreche
edited December 2007 in GeekNights
Tonight on a special episode of GeekNights we discuss the crazy news coming out of Verizon lately.

Comments

  • VigaViga
    It's the same as the outtake episode. Same mp3.
  • thaneofcawdorthaneofcawdor
    Here is the link to the correct file, provided for the technically impaired (or for those who can't tell the difference between a 2 and a 3).
  • TyashkiTyashki
    The technically impaired or those using rss...
  • DaikunDaikun
    Holy crap! The ending theme is actually on a special!

    The universe will collapse in 3... 2...
  • AprecheApreche
    Ok, that one was my bad. It's fixed now.
  • am_dragonam_dragon
    I work for the other "big iron" Telco in the USA. I worked for MCI until they were bought by Worldcom, then I moved to AT&T. As an MCI employee I learned all the history behind the fight to break up AT&T and the eventual divestiture. When I moved to AT&T, Southwestern Bell at the time, and learned the other side of the story. I still believe divestiture was necessary, however much of the legislation created to foster competition has created the the "evilness" you see emanating from the big telco's today.

    I'm glad to be part of this industry. It is fascinating to learn about how the largest network in the word works from day to day. The future is as interesting as the past, and I learn about new things every day. AT&T does bad things, and they are constantly ridiculed for choices made, and I'll agree in the last few years have seen ugly choices. The telecommunications industry has been hurting for a while now. It is a very competitive business with low margins, and lots of customers. When the MCI/Worldcom fiasco hit, Wall Street lost confidence in telecommunications companies, so that hasn't helped matters much either. I think this would also apply to much of Verison's anti-consumer behavior as well. With AT&T talking to Google, and Verison talking about opening it's wireless devices I think some things might be turning around for the industry. We can only hope.

    Anyway when you want to do a show on "Ma Bell" or the divestiture I would be glad to add some insight, or interesting tidbits. Anybody know who invented the transistor? How about the C programming Language? Oh, and check this out, this is amazing Daytona to me anyway.
  • ChrisChris
    The way the phone companies limit what phones you can use on their service is an unneeded pain in the ass. For several years i had T-Mobile and their big phones that you could get free/cheap are razors and sidekicks, both of which I dislike. I had friends on Cingular/AT&T; and Verizon that had decent phones though that were free, which I couldn't get. It was frustrating.
    Anybody know who invented the transistor? How about the C programming Language?
    Yes.
  • HMTKSteveHMTKSteve
    Ma Bell used to also block you from sticking ANYTHING on your phone. Even rubber devices that were stuck on the phone to make it easier to hold were not allowed.

    The MCI collapse was weird in many ways. One of the scariest was the prospect of them being allowed to rise from the dead with no debts remaining. Lucky for the telco world that was not allowed to happen.

    In regards to cell phones, Americans get screwed. As far as I am concerned if you buy your phone you should not be charged for any use that does not require network access. Yes, I'm talking about charging you money to move a photo from your camera phone to your computer! (Sprint does that). I do not like most phones because the tools you need to pull your data off of the phone are either illegal or not available to consumers.

    The break-up of the Bell System in the early 80's was good and bad. My wife was working for AT&T then and a lot of things changed for the bad for employees. No longer did you belong to a company with offices all over the country (to which you could transfer) but instead you belonged to a regional company.

    The economy of scale was also gone. Many rural areas were supported by the few huge urban areas. Running a line to a cabin in Maine is far costlier than running 100 lines to a condo complex in New York. Is it any wonder that the big players now (after mergers) are companies that owned big urban cities after the break-up?
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