This weekend I got the reply from Verizon - a “Telecommunications Proposal” for the office move. I had to really scrutinize it for a while before I was sure they planned out what I asked for. For one thing, the items and subtotals don’t group together visually - ignoring the headers and working furiously with my pencil, I found a way to draw boundaries that made some kind of sense. So it’s ten times more complicated than it has to be because of poor layout.
I had the thing printed out to show to the General Manager, but this afternoon was my earliest opportunity for us to meet and go over it. He balked - he couldn’t understand any of it. It was at that point that I decided I had better take a harder look at it: The two major sections have subtotals at the top, and the full totals are at the bottom. Line spacing is effectively random and background colors are deployed mid-item. I eventually discovered the rhythm of the line content… (From:, Speed:, Description, Channel Termination) I don’t remember covering this level of obfuscation in the Excel class I took. Sheesh.
But he’s right, 100% - he ought to be able to glance at the thing and see what is intended. Or what it actually costs us… I mean, for one thing, what is the fixed cost of outlet installation and main-office circuit switching, and what is the monthly bill. You know, for that matter, I couldn’t figure out what our bill is currently. And I was looking right at the bill, too!
So, I’m going to let it percolate in my head - thought I’d do a little author event module coding for the website. I’m way behind on that - and formulate my questions to ask the account rep tomorrow. The charges are all for one or both of “MRC” and “NRC”. Isn’t it customary to give a legend for such acronyms? I guess I won’t complain about “USOC” which is probably linked to the Office codes (which are clearly a DC, an Arlington, and an Alexandria) and Carrier companies (all Verizon… duh).
And just so you know…
Early Termination fees may apply. Prices quoted are tariff rates and subject to change. Prices are good for 30 days; taxes and surcharges not included in quoted price.
Posted in telecom, olssons | no comments | no trackbacksPosted by Evan Bittner
Mon, 08 Sep 2008 22:08:00 GMT
The office move at work is starting to feel serious. For now it feels like a fresh challenge. More to think about all at the same time. I still have plenty of moments when I want to zone out and float for a while on intuition - usually around 3pm.
Today was the first draft of a proposal for moving our telephone lines. It was a big mistake to call Verizon directly. The bill was complicated, but not any more than my home telephone bill - it’s just a lot of terminology that doesn’t make sense to me. I called the number on the bill, and nobody recognized the account number printed right there on it. I got tossed around a few times before somebody figured out that I had an “Account Representative” in Pennsylvania who knows all about us.
The account representative didn’t miss a beat when I spoke to him. He had that ring of familiarity that kicked in a little too early for database lookup to explain it. Lucky for all of us this is a shrinking and consolidation. No installations at brand new addresses, just a sort of reconfiguration. We have these leased lines - point to point 56k circuits with a coded ID number. Just like a web URL, they contain a code for the protocol - I have the old records for all out circuits from when we were in Georgetown. Some of those dated back to the mid-80’s, and had different protocols listed. Not that I know what they were, specifically.
Anyway, I see that we’re cutting it a bit close. The informal estimate was one month to do the job, but I suspect that the nature of the change will not require it. Still - It’d be a shame to get blacked-out for a while because we dragged our feet getting it started.
Posted in telecom, olssons | no comments | no trackbacksPosted by Evan Bittner
Fri, 29 Aug 2008 00:16:00 GMT
Tonight they’re showing “Moby Dick” with Gregory Peck on WETA.
Thar She Blows!
You know, the weird thing is that I notice the Family Guy rerun on at the same time is the absurd Moby Dick parody, with a fish called “Daggermouth”.
This might be completely unrelated, but today I took another crack at setting up a label printer at the store. We freed one up when the 7th Street store closed. It was just sitting around for a while before anybody realized it was unused. Dupont had some trouble with their big printer - it’s able to print labels. Suddenly everybody is talking about how great it would be for them to have a dedicated label printer.
So, once we figured out where it was, we had it sent over there.
It’s a Datamax DMX-E-4203. Their idea of a user interface is three buttons and three lights, all of them “multi-functional”. I don’t know what that means, exactly.
So far I haven’t got it working yet. It’s wired up right - when I send a label, the “pause” light blinks. That must be one of it’s “multi-functions”, I guess. So I must have the wrong serial port settings… I don’t understand how I could have gotten it wrong. I can’t exactly experiment with settings without crossing state lines: One end of it is in Maryland.
I suppose you could call it my White Whale.
Posted in telecom, olssons | no comments | no trackbacksPosted by Evan Bittner
Sun, 17 Aug 2008 02:53:00 GMT
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…
Actually it was not that great of a time. I wasn’t even sure pay phones still existed anymore until I saw a guy talking on the one on the right in May. I got one photo of the guy with his back to me, and then I saw police nearby so I tried to act natural. When I was sure they weren’t interested in me, I took this shot of the phone by itself. I remembered a photo I took last year in Clarendon - the one on the left. The phone seemed so forlorn that day - the receiver off the hook, the abandoned storefronts all along the block, and the chilly wind ripping at my bare hands… Oh, sorry - I almost forgot that it was the middle of July. I better wrap this up before my laptop catches fire or something.
Posted in telecom, DC-roaming, photos | no comments | no trackbacksPosted by Evan Bittner
Thu, 10 Jul 2008 02:41:00 GMT
I got to work this morning to find a box on my desk with a new ink jet printer. I was vaguely aware of the catch-up work I needed to do with the email newsletter - I usually spend a couple hours working on it Wednesday afternoon and leave only polishing for Thursday morning. But I wasn’t at work Wednesday. Mercifully, there was hardly any new information compared to last week. On the other hand, the Marketing Director took a shot at building it while I was out, and she tends to cause more trouble than she solves.
So I - with all the hubris of the hero from a Greek Tragedy - said I’ll just install this ink jet printer really quick and everything will be fine. I hooked up my laptop for some serious multitasking… I mean, they’re not both going to be catatonic a the same time, right?
Well, the printer didn’t cause much trouble. It might have been nice if the CD drive didn’t try to chomp the CD every single time I inserted the driver software. It’s very sensitive to pushing the drawer, and it doesn’t open very wide.
If I were paying complete attention to the printer installation, it would have been quite boring. But I didn’t want to start any serious business until it was over - as I suspected, the computer wanted to reboot as soon as it was done. And, it wasn’t even really done - it kept on working after that. So naturally, I got trouble with the laptop, too.
The wi-fi connection was strong, the network name was right, but no pages would load. Clearly some weird DNS lookup problem. I had a command line window open, so I ran an “ipconfig /all”. What I found was disturbing: I had a slightly different gateway IP address, and my DHCP lease was for five minutes. Not the same settings as before. I reset the wi-fi switch, I reset the network switch, let them settle down for a few minutes, and tried it again. But I still had those weird settings.
At this point, nothing has my undivided attention. I’m still having the same old problems with Blogger. Only two of my five writers have submitted blog posts, but we’re having one devil of a time getting them to register as published. There is a tangle of several problems there: The Blogger dashboard tells you when you last published each blog. And, it lists them in reverse chronological order, most recently published at the top. That actually helps me - when the information is correct. If it doesn’t update the new publish time because it hasn’t registered that blog as published, but I can look at the blog and see the most recent post, my brain starts to liquefy and drip out of my ear. Clearly, blogger is not doing much to ensure that all steps are completed together - It certainly isn’t complaining to me that anything went wrong.
Hey, but who’s complaining? I got that printer installed, and eventually I remembered to align the cartridges and share it out on the network. I turned off my laptop’s wi-fi card for half an hour, and when I turned it back on, it found the right gateway and got a two-day DHCP lease. (It’s still a bit disturbing that I don’t know why it didn’t work, though…) Surely, the answer has something to do with this network card’s uncanny ability to connect to the wrong wi-fi network, and tell me that everything is okay. If it would stop lying to me in these cases, we could get one step closer to the truth.
And, now I’m even putting the polish on the blog posts and the newsletter. All that blog posting trouble is the same old trouble, so it’s not unexpected - but when I learn at the last minute that I need to host some images for the blogs that (surprise, surprise!) wouldn’t post when that writer tried to add them, that makes my morning a little more frantic.
The best part is being able to say it out loud:
“For some reason I’ve got a weird gateway address that doesn’t match the other machines, and… I’m getting five minute DHCP leases!”
Posted in telecom, web-craft, olssons | no comments | no trackbacksPosted by Evan Bittner
Thu, 22 May 2008 15:32:00 GMT
I don’t see the value in having a mobile phone yet. The two people who call me at odd times and expect me to pick up would prefer it if I had one, but they both eventually reach me. My sister (one of those two) seemed visibly agitated when she came to town and couldn’t talk to me any time she wanted to. A couple other people know to rely on email or call me at work. My last girlfriend (not sure I want another one after that experience…) seemed to have trouble communicating over email, and just had to talk to me over the phone - even though it was clear to me that it didn’t improve the communication any. So, in my limited experience, you can see that I have encountered several different attitudes.
Then there is my attitude: Telephone calls are an interruption. There is never a good time for you to call me. Answering the phone has a tendency to wipe my mind clean. I can’t remember what I was working on or thinking about, and I resent that. And since I’m talking to you, I resent you too. It’s going to take me some time to recover. Okay… I overdramatized that, but that’s basically what happens.
Here’s the formula: When having a phone becomes a valuable opportunity that can outweigh the distraction, then it will make sense for me to have one. I can’t square my memories of housewives getting phones to carry in case they get a flat tire on some West Texas highway with rattlesnakes, hillbillies, and UFOs with teenage girls texting their classmates from the Metro bus. I’m not looking forward to becoming a slave to my pocket phone. Maybe when I get one, I’ll only put the number on resumes - not tell anyone else. That way I’ll know what to expect when it rings. But it hardly matters, because…
If my phone rings when I’m on the bus, or as I’m walking on a rainy day, I won’t be prepared to talk to anybody. This is in itself a pretty good argument for never leaving the house - where I already have a land-line. If I need to be prepared to talk business with people at all hours of the day, then how can I ever leave my desk?
Consider, if you will, my PC: It’s a heavy sucker with good computing muscle. I didn’t choose this model for portability. I wasn’t planning to work sitting in the park or riding on the bus. A PC with my whole life loaded on it takes several minutes to start up and shut down anyway. I wanted “transportability” more than “portability”. I don’t mind carrying the weight. My vision of this computer was exactly how I’m using it today - and pretty much every day: For multi-hour sessions sitting next to a wall plug. At my apartment, in the office, or at a coffeeshop. It doesn’t seem worth it to switch it on if I’m not going to go longer than a fresh battery would last. Working on a park bench would be nice, but I can’t focus on the task if I do that. Sunlight makes the screen unviewable anyway. I prefer to work in a darkened room, where I will not be too distracted by the stuff in the room with me.
All of this complaining would be a serious waste of time if I didn’t have some suggestions:
I occasionally need to walk around with a phone, just as on occasion it might be nice to have a car. Can I just rent a phone when I need one? Aren’t there disposable phones with prepaid minutes? I’m not too excited about committing to an expensive phone and calling plan only to find out that I hate it. Where can somebody test drive these services? How simple is it to have my home number temporarily forward to a rented or throwaway mobile? Is this something that other countries have (I’m thinking of the islands: UK and Japan), but we do not? If I travel somewhere (especially if I were traveling to a job interview) it would be very valuable to have a phone. But day to day? No way.
One of the things that bug me about other people and their phones is: People become stupid when they rely on the phone. Being out on a limb used to encourage people to get the facts straight, but now you can blindly wander toward your destination and call when you get close. “Hi, I didn’t bother to figure out where you are!”… Sounds like an idiot to me.
Phones are the only handy device sometimes when they are not the best device: And texting might be nice if it were not more expensive than calling.
I am engaged in an endless struggle over how to deploy my attention among a range of different pressing needs. But, I also worry that you are engaged in the same struggle, so I am unlikely to ring your phone out of some primal Golden Rule. This explains a lot about why that girlfriend I mentioned was frustrated with me and left - she thought I didn’t call enough. But if you’re anything like me, sitting around gabbing on the phone is not your idea of togetherness. It so often substituted for real planning and communication.
Posted in ontology, relationship-angst, telecom | 3 comments | no trackbacksPosted by Evan Bittner
Mon, 28 Apr 2008 15:35:00 GMT
As you can see right here, my Anti-virus software hasn’t seen Internet Explorer running for a while. I thought I might have to follow the modem installation instructions to the letter, but as it turns out that wasn’t my decision: The installer software invoked IE anyway, which set off a flurry of warnings such as this one.
I’m taking it as a point of pride that I got this warning.
On a related note, my wi-fi worries are over. Something in the network setup wizard did the trick. Something that is not available in the manual settings. It was infuriating, but I eventually got it. Doing things my way often comes with a cost. 90% is not good enough for these things.
My next little modem project is paranoid security settings: I’m getting the hang of the gateway’s web interface. The “Maximum Security” setting sounds great, but it did not in fact allow me to log in to FTP as it promised, and SSH didn’t work until I set it to “Low Security”. So it looks like I’ll be writing a custom firewall configuration.
You thought I was being technical before? I don’t even recognize the language yet. Some special Router Language. I clearly need to know the port numbers for all the stuff I care about.
Write it wrong, and you’ll be sending out packets but not receiving the corresponding replies. Since I’m not running anything here as a server, I don’t have to allow much to come in.
My bottom line here is: Sure, it’s hard. But, it would not be quite so hard if there was some guidance included. Name the language, and I can go research it.
title [ Security Level Low IN rules ]
begin
RulesDropFrom192
drop from addr %LANADDR%:%LANMASK% >> done, alert 0 [WAN Traffic from LAN IP]
RulesPass
pass all
RulesDropAddress
drop from addr 0.0.0.0 >> done, alert 4 [ 0.0.0.0 Source IP Address]
RulesPassUDP
pass protocol udp, to port 53 >> done
pass protocol udp, from port 53 >> done
RulesDropICMP
drop protocol icmp >> alert 4 [ICMP Message To WAN IP]
RulesDropWANUDP
drop protocol udp, to addr %WANADDR%:32 >> done, alert 4 [UDP WAN Traffic to WAN IP]
RulesDropWANTCP
drop protocol tcp, to addr %WANADDR%:32 >> done, alert 4 [TCP WAN Traffic to WAN IP]
RulesPassGoodICMP
pass protocol icmp, to addr %WANADDR%:32 >> done, alert 0 [Responding to WAN Ping]
RulesPassGoodICMP
pass protocol icmp, to addr %LANADDR%:%LANMASK% >> done, alert 0 [Nat'ed LOCAL PING]
end
====================================
title [ Security Level Low OUT rules ]
begin
RulesDropNETBIOS
drop to port >= 135, to port <= 139 >> done, alert 4 [Dropping NETBIOS Traffic]
RulesPass
pass all
end
Posted in telecom, computer-interface | no comments | no trackbacksPosted by Evan Bittner
Sat, 12 Apr 2008 20:50:00 GMT
I haven’t quite figured out my Wi-fi problem. I took my laptop back to the bedroom and it was working for a while. There is a mixture of working, claiming to work, not working and claiming not to work. In every combination. Now it’s possible that some of that time I was connecting to other networks in range, but when the laptop thought it was connected, it showed the proper network ID. I’m sitting within three feet of the modem, right now, and the little icon in the system tray in the corner of my screen clearly indicates a broken connection. Which made sense for a few minutes when I couldn’t connect to anything, but just now I started getting replies from Typo - it likes to chat back and forth while I type to create a preview and save my work on the server - and it says there is a broken connection. If I were connected to another network, it would show a connected icon.
Well, if I don’t mind leaving my kitchen, I can just jack in on the Ethernet port, which I just did to continue writing this. I read a thing about hardening your home network over at Internet Storm Center, and I got to work on their suggestions. I dug up a little information - it’s a Westell model that was designed specifically for Verizon. This means that the Westell site does not offer help on this equipment - they say “Contact Verizon”. That didn’t stop me. I managed to find a manual. It’s a 127 page PDF file though, so I haven’t read it yet.
It is always very frustrating to work with computers. Or, I should say: accomplish anything difficult with a User-Friendly Interface. In my experience, Windows gets in the way of doing anything complicated. The network settings dialog boxes are a good example. They could make it easy, but they don’t. What’s the difference between “Shared” and “Open”? I have no other documentation to suggest such a distinction. The WEP key I have must be correct, otherwise it would never have worked, right? Is this even a safe assumption?
I am getting very upset that my rational thought process is not yielding the desired results. I have logged on to the Modem, I have checked all the settings, and it even says it sees my wireless card. Windows doesn’t offer many options for my card. Internet flows through the Modem and onto my network cable, and I sometimes have a wi-fi connection. What changes when the card can’t connect to the network? Why would it drop me while I’m sitting right next to it? Why would I still be able to load pages when it says I’m not connected?
I have to start thinking about stuff I don’t usually worry about. Wi-fi operates on 11 channels. Maybe I’m getting too much interference on this default setting. Windows shouldn’t be fooled by the change - it will just have to scan all 11 channels like it usually does. But I’ve just about run out of options.
Posted in telecom | no comments | no trackbacksPosted by Evan Bittner
Sat, 12 Apr 2008 14:10:00 GMT
I was wrong when I said somebody would have to run a wire. They could have just said I was ordering ADSL - piggybacking the POTS (plain old telephone service) wire. This mystified me once at Olsson’s when we set up the Crystal City store. It’s that learning curve at work again: I didn’t know why I couldn’t find the DSL line. I also didn’t understand why the modem was plugged into a regular phone line. Our ‘expert’ couldn’t explain the “filter dongle”, she just knew it had to be there. Sorry lady, but you haven’t passed the Turing Test yet. Damned robots.
Where was I? Oh yeah…
I ran the account activation with Verizon this afternoon. And it’s up and running. I just tested the connection and got about 2Mbps - not what was advertised, but then they also said I might not get the advertised speed. I’m amazed you can transfer that much over a telephone line at all. Didn’t think the crappy copper between here and the trunk office would hold it. And yet, it does.
Wi-fi is proving to be a little more mysterious. It worked right away, I entered the WEP key and we were happy. But within minutes, it was flaking out. I cut the cord and my wireless driver started in with that nonsense about “Not Connected” with a button offering “Disonnect”. Absurd. I don’t understand why it worked if it isn’t going to work. Sounds like I need to reboot or something. Wish me luck.
Posted in telecom, ontology, olssons | no comments | no trackbacksPosted by Evan Bittner
Sat, 12 Apr 2008 01:17:00 GMT
I finally broke down and ordered a DSL line for the apartment. A few days ago, I arrived home to find Phil in the kitchen and the first thing he asked me was “Can we get REAL Internet?”. The various unsecured wi-fi signals entering our apartment have been somewhat flaky recently. I had a solid year of uninterrupted 24-7 wi-fi in the kitchen, at least. It was nice while it lasted. Verizon tryin’ ta get paid, yo!
They’re shipping me the router, and at some point a tech is going to have to run the wire inside. It wasn’t clear to me how that was going to happen. Or when. But they promised I would be up and running on Monday or Tuesday. I would feel a lot better if somebody came and talked to me about the situation. I can’t figure out how they charge the same amount to everybody for installation. Or how they think they can handle everything based on a phone number and address. I still think it makes more sense to put wi-fi on lamposts. Don’t they already do that somewhere?
Now I’ve been (the wording isn’t really ‘considering getting’… more like: ‘expecting to get’) DSL for a while now. It is one more inevitable thing I didn’t mind putting off. So when my roommate starts asking about it, I figure it is finally time. Phil is heavily reliant on Internet access. I see him sitting around using his laptop at all hours. But I don’t understand his attitude about wi-fi: It’s as if he thinks wi-fi *is* the Internet. I have a lot of scorn and contempt for people who use something so much but don’t act like they understand what is involved. He has led a nomadic existence over the years, and I’m frankly surprised that he has not come up with a portable solution to his problem. My sister, for example, has a wireless card for AT&T. That’s not wi-fi at all. But my point is: He knows his lifestyle and his needs - hasn’t he even researched the possibility of self-sufficiency? Perhaps it’s just too expensive. Open wi-fi really is the way of the couch-surfer if you ask me. The DSL I’ve ordered is faster than wi-fi, so it will make sense for me to jack in whenever I can to ‘take a drink from the firehose’.
You’re supposed to read the 15 page legal document and agree to the terms. I printed it out to look at later and just clicked “agree”. I should get more practice scrutinizing legal documents. At a quick glance, I noticed some humorous passages. There is a lot of language that educates you if you don’t know what to expect from the Internet.
Posted in telecom | no comments | no trackbacksPosted by Evan Bittner
Thu, 10 Apr 2008 14:33:00 GMT
