Communication

I write this quickly since my Internet connection has been spotty. I have a broadband service with Comcast. I am not a computer scientist in a formal sense, but I have grown into computers from early DOS systems to the current horrors of Windows 8.1. I have been able to do much of my own technical adjustments and installations. My mind tends to think in the logical, step-wise way that computers respond well to. 

As Comcast has grown into a national mega-corporation, I have found their services better in some respects and worse in others. That is the way life works with most things. Like my beloved Netflix, Comcast has become less reliable in terms of download speeds. This means that my Netflix videos have farts and belches with a common "Loading" bar appearing or a sudden pink screen with sound only, which requires a reboot of my selection. My Comcast download speeds in the last 24 hours have ranged from 55 Mbps (what I have contracted to receive) to 8 Mbps, according to an independent speed test program. That's quite a range. It can turn surfing the Internet to being hung up on the rocks of clocking time.

I spoke with a tech support person last night. He said he was in a time zone two hours away. He told me that there was a service problem for streaming video on the lines in my area. That was in process of repair. I was not surprised by his distance or his ability to see a map of function in the Comcast system. I was surprised at his assertion that the problem was isolated to streaming video. All the video now is relevant to the Internet in some way. The modem and the DVR  are dipping into the same stream, the cable wires. The upload speeds are just as spotty today. 

None of this electronic communication comes cheap. Bandwidth is money. It is a limited commodity, subject to supply and demand in this corporate capitalism. As a consumer, I must evaluate if the communication is worth its cost. Meanwhile, Comcast has taken to nagging me about buying a security system, tied to my Internet service. It strikes me as ironic that Comcast, the source of my insecurity about the quality of my electronic communication, now wants to sell me yet another product which is intended to make me feel secure about my property. These can be very confusing times.