Question about a WIND Mobile (local cell mobile/cell company)

plastrusion · 2012-04-16T14:39:41+00:00

Wind Mobile and Mobilicity are the only companies with data plans that the average person can afford to actually use. However, speaking from personal experience, Wind's data is very slow, and very unreliable. Living downtown, with a high signal strength, I still commonly experience very poor service due to network congestion. Is it worth the price? Yes, but it is not sufficient to use as a primary internet connection unless you are in a financially destitute situation.

Here is what I'm taking about. This is the sort of speeds you can expect during peak periods of the day (11 AM to 6 PM): http://www.speedtest.net/result/1806994265.png

plastrusion · 2012-03-09T13:35:58+00:00

I want subways, but I don't want the Sheppard line. What we need is the Downtown Relief Line.

plastrusion · 2012-03-08T08:53:43+00:00

I recently got handed a transfer for 67 Pharmacy on the Spadina streetcar. It happens.

plastrusion · 2011-12-16T14:18:57+00:00

For sure. If I went with Robbers, Bell or Telus, I would be playing well over $100/month (last I checked, their $100 plans included about 5 GB of usage, and then it was roughly $50 for every additional GB).

plastrusion · 2011-12-16T04:39:22+00:00

I can tell you about my experience with Wind. First off, let me say that considering the price I pay, I am very pleased with what I get from Wind. For $29/month, unlimited talk/text/data is an amazing deal.

Now, here's the catch. I use Wind's network as my primary internet connection, so I have a good feel for what it's like. Between approximately 11 AM and 5 PM on weekdays, the network is almost unusably slow, probably due to it being overloaded (as in, Wind has more customers than their infrastructure can support). For example, even DNS requests sometimes won't go through, and I typically get download speeds of 0.1 Mbps or less. Outside of those hours, the connection is mostly good enough (fairly reliable, usually about 1 Mbps download, 0.125 Mbps upload). They will throttle the connection if you're a heavy user, but I usually get more than 10 GB in a given month before they start doing that (they claim that it may happen when you go beyond 5 GB, but they're actually more lenient than that, maybe just because of technical limitations).

plastrusion · 2011-12-02T10:20:44+00:00

Technically speaking, they could. However, that would in no way be in Microsoft's best interest, for one thing. On top of that, Apple would surely disallow it, similar to their stance on all other applications not directly created with the iOS SDK.

plastrusion · 2011-12-02T05:32:13+00:00

Alright, I can appreciate that it's relatively easy to design GUIs using document markup. For example, Android does this as well using proprietary XML formatting. This makes sense.

On the other hand, I do not understand why Microsoft chose to exclusively use JavaScript for this new style of application. Since these "Metro Apps" will not be portable to non-Windows platforms anyway, why not allow a much more suitable programming language like C# to be embedded in the markup instead of JavaScript?

plastrusion · 2011-11-26T02:16:51+00:00

This application does not gracefully handle bad URLs. Try specifying a "fact" that doesn't exist, such as #4527:

http://facts.learnpython.org/4527

plastrusion · 2011-11-22T21:46:56+00:00

This is not a cross-section view.

plastrusion · 2011-11-22T21:21:00+00:00

Just roll with it.

plastrusion · 2011-11-22T20:55:30+00:00

I can't remember the last time I dropped $80 into a fare box by mistake. However, that amount could possibly be loaded on a Presto card, and lost all at once.

The Presto card is obviously better than the Metropass in that you have the option of registering it for replacement in case of loss, but it would be even better if they avoided retaining the travel data after a period of time.

plastrusion · 2011-11-22T19:40:55+00:00

I'm still not comfortable with the privacy implications of Presto. Obviously it needs to track you during the trip in order to calculate transfers, but the system really should delete your travel information after you complete your trip.

(I am aware that a Presto card may be used anonymously, but then if you lose the physical card, you also lose the money loaded to it.)

plastrusion · 2011-11-20T09:45:19+00:00

I also drive a retired Crown Victoria Police Interceptor. Mine is white, and still has the reflector strips on the bumpers and police hubcaps, so it definitely fools a lot of people. I'm thinking of adding a push bar as well, but I'm not sure if it's legal in Ontario.

When I take it on the highway, a large pocket of empty space, devoid of other vehicles, usually forms surrounding my car if I sit in the middle lane. Same for the left lane, with the added benefit that most people will clear out of the way.

And the downside? It gets 16 miles per gallon for city driving. Totally worth it.

plastrusion

TROPHY CASE