Good Stuff Electronical

Just thought I’d share a few electronic tips while they’re on my mind.

Verizon iPhone

My AT&T iPhone 3GS just died. The battery went kaflooeey, and it was cheaper to pay the termination fee than to get the battery replaced. (Apple goes out their way to make this difficult.)

And that’s okay because I’ve developed a deep and abiding distain for AT&T’s cell phone service. I mean, it works everywhere except my office (downtown Tuscaloosa), my house, the football stadium (AT&T is the official wireless provider of the Alabama Crimson Tide), the basketball colisseum, and the major roads between my house and downtown. And it doesn’t work during rush hour in Tuscaloosa if you’re close to Highway 82 — and everywhere in Tuscaloosa is close to Highway 82.

Just the other day, following an Alabama basketball game, several people had parked illegally and their cars had been towed. Fortunately, they had cell phones to call the city to get their cars back. Unfortunately, they had AT&T service (official provider of wireless service for the Alabama Crimson Tide) — and they couldn’t make a call — 9:00 at night on the University campus. A friend of theirs had a Verizon phone and rescued them by letting them take turns with his phone.

But Verizon’s 3G has been proven to be slower than AT&T’s 3G service (maybe half as slow with 5 AT&T bars, which may be found in West Alabama anywhere within 6 inches of a cell tower)  — when you can get a good signal from AT&T. When you can’t get a good AT&T signal, Verizon’s service is infinitely better.

So now, at my house, I can receive calls, understand what the other person says, and have no drops! I’ve not had a dropped call since I got my new phone — versus nearly every AT&T call for the last few months.

I can’t speak for anywhere else in the country, but AT&T service here is terrible. Get a Verizon iPhone. Get a Verizon any-kind-of-phone. Drop AT&T just like they drop your calls.

iolo System Mechanic

My wife’s computer used to crash all the time. This doesn’t happen to my computer or the computers my four sons have, but it happens to my wife and to my daughter-in-law. And I’m fairly computer literate and have never been able to find a cause. In desperation, I bought my wife a new Dell Windows 7 computer, loading only name-brand software, and only if she really needs it. I updated everything. I installed state-of-the-art anti-virus and anti-malware software. And the crashes came back. Silicon must be allergic to estrogen, I figure.

But I’ve fixed it! After YEARS of late night emergency computer repair sessions, the crashes have stopped. The solution? iolo System Mechanic.

I’ve tried similar utilities before, and they were all far more trouble than they were worth — and often replaced one problem with another. But this program runs in the background, monitors the registry and other OS operations, and fixes things. I’ve not had to fix her computer since I installed it! (I just HAD to share the good news.)

Be sure to get the latest version, and just buy one copy, because the license extends to 3 computers.

Now if I can just get the wireless printer to work consistently …

Linksys WRT310N

When the N-speed routers came out, I tried out a few. I wasn’t happy until I tried out the Cisco-Linksys WRT310N Wireless-N Gigabit Router.

It works (after I updated the BIOS). It never breaks. My kids have LAN parties, and they can have several kids all connected and play their games with no problem. It’s FAST. More important, it keeps on running. I’ve not had to reboot it in months.