New Data Infrastructure - Don't Care

First a little history lesson of traditional telephone service in Kommiecticut:

Southern New England Telephone Co. (SNETCO): Started as District Telephone Company of New Haven in 1878. It was the very first telephone exchange and first printed telephone book. It became the only phone company in Kommiecticut under the old Bell System. With the breakup of Ma Bell in 1984, SNETCO became a "Baby Bell" with AT&T having a minority share in the company. In 1996 they offered their DSL internet service. I was one of their early customers. Wow! 784kb download and 384kb upload. No more 56k dialup modems. They were a really good company. In the early `90's when I worked for Nortel, I was assigned to Northeast Utilities (now Eversource) as the lead on-site technician. How good was SNET? We had a monthly meeting with the SNET team assigned to N.U. to discuss any service issues or upcoming projects. The SNETCO representatives would bend over backwards to keep N.U. happy. Whenever I had a line trouble, I would call SNET Business Repair and open a ticket. As soon as I had my ticket number, I would call the staff at the central office where the line trouble originated or passed through. The C.O. guys (older experienced techs too old to go up on poles any more marking time to retirement) would ALWAYS answer the phone, take the ticket and circuit number, and get right on it. When the trouble was resolved, they would call right back and ensure the trouble was fixed to my satisfaction. They remained a great company until 1998, when sold to SBC Global.

SBC Global: SNET was purchased for $4.4 billion in 1998 by SBC Communications, which subsequently purchased the old AT&T, taking its name as the "new" AT&T. Under AT&T, SNET was known as AT&T Connecticut. 

In August of 1998, I was no longer working for the company that serviced N.U., so I can't speak to how N.U. was treated going forward. Minor system upgrades brought DSL speeds up to 1 MB download, with promises of major system upgrades and speed increases. 

AT&T: In 2006, AT&T merged the operations of SNET into AT&T Teleholdings, formerly Ameritech, making it a subsidiary of the latter. 

AT&T rolled out it's high speed internet and U-Verse TV on an all fiber network. But the fiber roll out was not on every mile of their footprint. It was only available in urban and suburban areas, and very limited in rural areas like along state roads. It was not available down my back country road, I was stuck with DSL. My speeds were limited because I was at the farthest distance from the remote fiber control box to still get service.

Frontier Communications: On October 24, 2014, Frontier Communications completed its purchase of AT&T's Connecticut operations, including Southern New England Telephone and SNET America, for $2 billion. The company began doing business as Frontier Communications of Connecticut. It is the second former unit of the Bell System to be acquired by Frontier, the first being Frontier West Virginia (originally C&P Telephone of West Virginia) which was purchased from Verizon in 2010. Frontier is still the main "telephone company" in the state today. Since then, there were basically no upgrades of anything, and they can barely keep things in working order. I have witnessed first hand how bad they are having worked 35 years in the industry in another life. Their wires and cables hang too low after tree damage and remain in physical disrepair. Under SNETCo, that would have NEVER been allowed to be. When a pole is replaced after an accident or weather event, the 2-3 foot long piece of the old pole where their cables are attached remains suspended in the air by ropes. and it sometimes takes over a year to have the cables moved onto the new pole. All the other utilities are on site for the pole replacement and move their cables to the new pole. The DSL was upgraded to "up to 3 MB" download speeds at some point, but I never even got 2 MB, and near the end of my time with them it was constantly down. I got fed up with their customer service Guptas in India telling me to reboot my computer AGAIN, and moved to cable internet only with Charter. They offered 100 MB download for a 2 year introductory rate of $49.99 per month. By dropping my landline and all services from Frontier I was actually saving money. My wife and I moved all our telephone service to our cell phones since we only used the landline to order pizza. Until recently, I never speed tested below 115 MB download and 12 MB upload. Now it tests to 200 MB download. I watch streaming services and videos with no buffering. Since the 2 year promotion ended long ago, my current price is $74.99 per month. But... since my wife and I watch so much streaming content, it is definitely worth it.

In recent years, state utility regulators have been coming down hard on Frontier for their legacy of not upgrading or repairing their infrastructure and networks. Everywhere in my area every day, there are multiple contractor cable crews out stringing brand new fiber optic cabling until after dark, and at night are the vans parked on the side of the road splicing the fiber strands. Right now they are going great guns along the major state roads, and they are now going down some of the side roads. I will be interested to see whether they actually come down my rural side road at some point.

As the title says, "New Data Infrastructure - Don't Care" because as far as I am concerned, that ship has sailed long ago. I am very happy with my service and speed, and don't need to pay $155 a month for 5 GB of speed. My wife and I are not gamers and only have our two devices and a home computer, Even if we had a house full of guests our present speed would be plenty of bandwidth.

I believe Frontier is going to experience a poor ROI on this big fiber roll out. Customers like myself were promised upgrades for years, only to see nothing happen and receive piss poor service for what was available are not going back. The only ones that will want this is the gamer types living in their parent's basement eating Hot Pockets that don't pay for a fucking thing anyway, and will convince Mommy and Daddy to get it.

Space Stuff

I got to see the latest 55 Starlink satellites traverse the sky right over my house tonight. I happened to be outside locking up the chicken coop when I remembered the news story from earlier, and noticed the time was near. I ran into the house and killed all the lights, came back out and started scanning the skies. Woo Hoo! there they were going southwest to northeast almost straight up overhead. It only took a couple of minutes until they passed into the Earth's shadow and winked out one at a time. I didn't expect that, I figured they would fly past where I could see them.

The only other space type thing I ever saw was the ISS passing overhead one time.

Years ago on a Florida vacation we all went to Cocoa Beach on the day of a shuttle launch to watch it go up. Unfortunately, a mechanical issue scrubbed the launch until well after we returned home to Kommiecticut. So tonight was pretty exciting.

Not Shocked - Another Shooting In A GFDZ

Active shooter incident at Michigan State University.

 

Call for more gun control. Hearts and prayers. Lower the flags for the murder victims, blah blah blah blah BLAH!

How about we eliminate every single *GFDZ!!??

No more Run-Hide-Fight....

we go full on "CONFRONT-SHOOT AND KILL-STOP"

*GFDZ = Gun Free Death Zone

Next!

I finished loading the last 100 rounds of .357 Magnum this evening. After I cleared the press of powder and primers, I converted everything over to 9mm in preparation for a 200 round production run. I will probably get at least 100 done this coming Wednesday night. My current 9mm recipe is Winchester Brass, Berry's 115 gr copper plated round nose bullets, 4.3 grains of Bullseye powder, and Winchester Magnum Small Pistol primers. This load took a little experimentation to operate the action reliably without making it screaming hot. It chronographs out to an average of 1096 fps muzzle velocity. I will try to get over to Cabela's to see if I can get another 100 round cartridge case to house some more .38 Special and then load another 100.

Hopefully "the winter that never was" continues, meaning a range outing will be forthcoming soon.

A Coupla Items

I have been working on this post since Friday afternoon, but have been interrupted by emergency calls and a busy schedule all today. I just restarted writing and plugging in photos at 9:15 PM this evening.

Loading ammo

I am in the process of loading some .357 Magnum target ammo that runs just under 1100 fps. I use either Federal or Remington brass. My recipe is Berry's 158 grain copper plated flat point bullets, 9.3 grains of Hogdgon HS-6 powder (.66 on the Lee Disk Powder Measure), and Winchester Magnum Small Pistol primers. Since these are for my six-guns or my Marlin 1894CB lever gun, I am not as picky with my brass as I am for my semi-autos. With semi-autos, conventional reloading wisdom is to separate brass by manufacturer for better consistency of the action, which at the level I shoot at is more about satisfying my OCD than anything else. Thursday night I did a run of 100 rounds of .357 Magnum. I plan on doing another 100 rounds when I have another block of uninterrupted time.

I run a Lee PRO-1000 3-die progressive press for my handgun ammo. When I finished for the night, I removed the primer tray and cleared the chute, then removed and emptied the powder hopper. I keep the press dust and dirt free by covering it with a dreaded (and banned in Kommiecticut) plastic shopping bag.

The press in full operation from a recent load of .45 ACP

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Lee Pro-1000 cleared after use

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Covered with a verbotten plastic shopping bag. REUSE!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lee makes changing caliber easy by offering turret plates that lock into place, allowing the dies to stay seated and adjusted. All of my handgun dies are permanently mounted on turret plates. This one that I am currently using is for both .38 Special and .357 Magnum. The dies simply get backed out two full turns to accommodate the longer .357 Magnum rounds. I then fine tune the bullet seating die and measure with a caliper for an over all length (OAL) of 1.585". When I set up the press for a new caliber, I run several "dummy" test rounds with bullets but no powder or primers and measure the OAL. The bullets are then taken apart with a kinetic bullet puller and the components reused. I mark this particular turret with some gray electrical tape and a Sharpie for how it was last setup and used.

Close up of turret plate with mounted dies

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The top of the press where the turret goes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Locked in place and ready for loading

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The other thing that needs to be changed for caliber is either just the shell plate or the whole shell plate carrier. I have two shell plate carriers; one is setup for large pistol primers, the one pictured below is set for small pistol primers. The shell plate needs to be changed to accommodate the particular caliber. The #1 shell plate in place is for .38 Special/.357 Magnum.

Small primer shell plate carrier installed on the press

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The large primer shell plate carrier. #2 plate for .45 ACP

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you look closely at the #2 shell plate, you will see dimples all over it. That was caused by the moron that originally owned my press slapping the operating lever up and down, which throws off the rotational timing of the shell plate. Movement of the operating lever is supposed to be smooth up and down. Those dimples were caused by the primer decapping pin slamming into the surface of the plate. It should never make such contact, but come down over one of the three holes in the shell plate where a shell would be sitting.

My current plan is to load 200 rounds of 9mm after I complete the .357 Magnum. Once I get another 100 round ammo box I can load an additional 100 rounds of .38 Special. Right now I would have no place to put them.

 

My sportsman's club 

I have been a probationary member since December 2020. Probationary status is reviewed annually with the probie standing up in front of the membership to talk about their activities and work for the club. Then other members have the opportunity to get up and speak about the member if they have something to say. The member is excused from the room and a secret paper ballot is held whether to allow the probation to continue. In January, the membership voted unanimously to renew my membership status for being an active member in good standing. At our recent February monthly meeting, the three probationary members that were ahead of me got moved up by membership vote to full regular membership, leaving me the most senior probie next in line.

I found out Thursday that another regular member slot has opened up. When I asked the membership chairman about it, he confirmed that fact and said he would be presenting me to the Executive Committee for preliminary approval at their February meeting. The following week at the March monthly meeting, I will be presented to the membership as a candidate to become a regular member. I refer to it like the Mafia, becoming a "made" guy because that's what it feels like. After becoming a regular member, I plan on becoming an official committee member for both the Range and Kitchen Committees.

 

Kommiecticut DOT train and bus commercials

I wish there were videos to plug in here but there aren't yet. Searches came up blank for those commercials. I'll do my best to describe them.

In the past week or so, I have been seeing commercials on TV and hearing them on local radio for riding the trains and buses instead of driving your own car. In the spots, they "interview" riders (that are obviously actors) about why they ride mass transit. They babble about all kinds of reasons; read a book, listen to music on headphones while watching the scenery go by (really?), watch a movie, catch up on their latest streaming series, save the planet (HA!), etc. Everything except being aware of your surroundings and situationally aware. In another life when I worked in technology, I would have to go Boston quite often. 

MBTA full map of Boston Lines

 

Most of the time I did not need my company vehicle full of tools and materials, just a small tool bag and my laptop. On those trips, I would park at the "T" Riverside Station in West Newton, MA and take the Green Line "D Train" into the city. From Park Street Station I could switch train lines to anywhere else in the city I needed to go. I was always armed with a tactical folder and stood in the stations or outdoor platforms with my back to the wall, giving me a 180 degree view of the platform. On the train I would position myself to watch the car entry doors for who got on, the ability for a quick exit, as well as the ends of the car for people moving between cars. I never slept or occupied myself with anything other than observing my surroundings. Everyone around me would be totally oblivious to everything around them. Think Col. Cooper's "Condition White." More than once, I bailed off the train at a stop because of who or what got on, and just got on the next train by in a couple of minutes. I remember riding the train a couple of times when they were crowded, and being the only person aboard not being a mesmerized zombie. I thought how easy it would be to walk down the center aisle with an ice pick in each hand and simply and silently kill an entire train car of people.