Question for you computer geeks, please.

FYI: Ackley's internet business was purchased by Broadband VI. With Broadband VI my speed tests in the range of 1.2 - 1.8 mbs down and usually at over 1 mbs up. The speed is somewhat misleading in that Broadband VI allows a burst speed of up to 2 mbs for forty seconds. Their results show up as Ackley.

The rates are $49.95 for 500kbs service and $99 for 1 mbs service. The speeds listed above were with the cheaper service.

Jim

I just switched to Broadband VI last month after having used Choice wireless as my internet provider for the past 3 years. I finally gave up on Choice because it continued to get slower and slower over the years. I know that the problem was Choice because internet speed on my laptops was always much better whenever I was traveling off island and the speed on Choice seemed to vary greatly from hour to hour. The issue was not signal strength either as I always had 4 to 5 LEDs lit on the Choice receiver. The most noticeable indication of the increase in speed with Broadband VI is that when opening e-mail attachments the indicated download speed is around 200 KB/sec whereas with Choice it was in the 20 KB/sec range, so it only takes seconds as opposed to minutes to open large attachments now. I can also watch streaming video now where with Choice it was much too choppy to watch. However, when simply reading on-line newspapers or this forum, for example, the time to change between articles or subjects does not seem to be much faster. Although the monthly cost is the same ($49.99/month), there was a $200 installation fee for Broadband VI to cover the mounting of a small (1 sq foot) antenna.

We use broadband VI and are very happy with it.

Broadband VI ... It appears from their site that they offer two packages - $49.99/month and $99.99/month. Is the $49.99/month fast enough or should we go with the $99.99/month?

Since we're on the subject....does anyone that has Broadband VI know if that "$199" installation fee is necessary? My husband is a Computer Engineer, wondering if they would let us install it ourselves and save from having to pay that.

It also includes the cost of the radio and the mounting mast.

Jim

Ahhhh ok thanks...oh one more thing...is it covered if a hurricane blows it down or is that another $199?

Last year when there was the threat of a storm they sent out instructions on how to remove the radio from the mast so you could protect it. You in effect buy the radio so if it blows away you would need to purchase another one.

Jim

Good enough...thanks Jim...next week can't get here fast enough!!!!

I'll have to ask hubby if we pay the 49 or 99.

I have no explanation for this, but I seem to be back up to speed.
Sabrina, how's your service?

Hi Juanita, I just got back from Europe last night. My internet seems to be working fine, and I appreciate it even more now. I used my sister's computer when I was over there, and it was so slow I couldn't be bothered to check this website. She has "tiscalli" and pays a ridiculous amount of money for it, and it is almost as slow as dial up.

Welcome home, Sabrina. Maybe Choice finally got the equipment they were waiting for. I'm still at an acceptable speed. People had a lot of great ideas, and I tried most of them, but a few days ago, it just started being "normal". I'm humming the Twilight Zone theme.:)

Well, I thought (hoped) this thread was dead. Not to be....I'm slower than ever, again. I currently have 5 bars!!!! Sabrina, how's your speed these days? I also signed up for AVG as my anti-virus, etc. on the 15th, when my PC-cillin was about to expire. So far, I hate it. I have been almost in tears for 2 days. I have sent them 3 emails asking for help, and no response yet. I am now getting those most annoying flashing banners on hotmail, telling me that I've just won something. I never had that before. AVG is not for the computer novice. They speak a language I don't understand, but I've already given them my $90, so I will try to make it work. But if those flashing banners continue, I will have to do something. Just wanted to vent.:)

I apologize for any mis-spelled words. It won't let me use spell check.

Juanita, I've never had any problems with AVG...It updates on it's own every morning and it should never give you any issues. Sounds like you picked something up (virus/spyware/malware) since you are getting pop-ups. Don't spend anymore money...I pm'd you my number...I'll help you.

Hi Juanita, I got AVG for free and everything seems to be fine for now. I get those annoying flashing banners sometimes, and for a while I was getting some porn things flash up when I was trying to close down my computer (and I honestly have never looked at porn on the internet). I have no idea why, but suddenly one day it stopped. I think this thing has a mind of it's own!

I don't pay for AVG & haven't had any problems. In fact, I have a LOT less problems than I did with Norton. I, too think you've picked up something.

Lately we have had no problems at work but yesterday a tower in St. Thomas was down for the morning hours. On Sunday I was also called from our St. Thomas location that they were down completely by Choice. I called my contact at choice and they said a tower in the Red Hook area went off-line. It took the guys from Choice all day. On Monday at 8 a.m. they got back up.

Juanita, Sabrina...those pop ups are not normal, they are signs or viruses/adware/greyware/malware....usually easy fixes.

Get this program http://www.download.com/Trend-Micro-HijackThis/3000-8022_4-10227353.html
When you run the program it will generate a log.
DO NOT DELETE ANYTHING (unless you know what you're doing)
Save the log and send it to me (PM me for my email address)
I'll be able to tell from the log if you have a bug

Melissa has been chatting on here all the time....but this is Chris, we're here on islands for good, so I can help where needed.

Juanita,

I don't remember if you said if you had Vista or XP as your operating system. If it's Vista you MUST install it as the administrator and run it with the same. I've had AVG for several years and when Vista came along I went through a mini hell. I happen to use the free version ( you don't get support ) on all of our computers and am very happy. When I had the problem I downloaded the "Trial" version which has support and when the problem was resolved I went back to "Free".....worked for me! (I think I still have the link to their "support" that has the documention of my problem along with the solution) If you'd like to have it I'll PM it to you.

"Spybot" is a free program that does an excellent job which works fine along with AVG free. You need to be somewhat computer savvy to get the best results. If you want to give it a try just PM me and I'll walk you through the procedures. Again, if it's Vista, you'll need to be the administrator of the computer for it to work properly.

The code for this forum is not well written. It's rather inefficient. You can test it by scrolling while watching your processor (Task Manager). You will see that it shoots up to 100% if you have one processor. If you are still using IE 6.0, then I recommend you upgrade. I fix computers so I wonder what you mean by "BS". Some "BS" cannot be removed without reinstalling windows, hence Vista. (Assuming you are running XP.)

Bottom line, if your "BS" isn't what I think it might be, then your likely culprit is your processor is too slow. If it's older than 3-4 years, you're going to notice a lot of slowness when surfing the internet because new websites are both inefficient, as people have multiple processors which can handle all the excess code, and all new PCs for more than a year now have 2, 4, or more processors. If your processor is peaking at 100% when scrolling, this will be a trend for you moving forward.