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2009/06/17 Fucking Insurance Companies And Regulators
π 2009-06-17 01:01 in Public
So, I got 2 slightly bent rims on my car due to having had to drive over some bad potholes, one was on a 270 degree turn single lane onramp, where I had nowhere to go.
When I called the insurance company for a comprehensive claim, it first sounded like they'd cover it minus the $1000 deductible, and then just told me that it would actually be a collision claim, because I "collided with the pothole on the road". One hour later of trying to go through that bullshit and talking to a supervisor, I got nowhere further. Having to drive over an unavoidable pothole is considered a "collision" for which you are fully responsible, which means a collision point on your record and increased rates.

This just pissed me off, they actually said it was mandated by california, they had no say or leeway in it, and that the state I'm paying tax to, to make sure roads are in driveable condition then leaves huge potholes in some of them, causing damage to my rims due to low profile tires and lightweight aluminum rims, and then they mandate that such claims must be the driver's fault.
The other thing is that a point is a point, whether you rolled a $200,000 car, hit 3 more, one of them drove off a cliff and another one caught fire, whether you slightly damaged someone's bumper in a parking lot and the damage is $800, or whether you "collided with a pothole on the road".

Grr...

For now I told them to stuff it and I'll pay for the damage myself, but that's just wrong.

2009/06/10 Switched To Comcast Business
π 2009-06-10 01:01 in Public
Ok, those of you who know me, you're going to ask who is writing this, and what I did with the real Marc :)
So yes, I switched from our dual DSL setup (12Mbit/s down / 1.5Mbit/s up) to comcast business internet for their 25Mbit / 5Mbit offer.

Now, because I had close to zero trust in comcast, I looked at their customer agreement, and got it amended where it was unclear and changed a few things I didn't like. In the end, this is what I got in the contract I signed:

  • comcast business is mostly a different company
  • I'll never have to call the dreaded 800-comcast number ever
  • $95/month for 25Mbit/s down 5Mbit/s up (real sustained, and 50Mbit/s |
  • 10Mbit/s with powerboost) and I can drop my second phone line that I otherwise don't need (another $20/month savings)
  • No bandwidth cap
  • Got the install fees waived
  • Waived early termination fee
  • First month free was offered
  • Now, my SLA actually says I'm getting 22Mbit / 5Mbit (without powerboost), but I seem to be getting a bit more right now (of real sustained speed after protocol overheads).

    The downsides:

  • latency is now 100ms instead of 10ms, although I can live with that
  • even if it's comcast business, I have slightly lower trust in them, but we'll see.
  • Now, you have to be careful with speed tests and general speeds from comcast due to speedboost that temporarily gives you fake speeds.


    Here are real speeds that I measured with sustained TCP speeds over an ssh connection:

  • download: 3.2MB/s | 25Mbit/s
  • upload: 640KB/s | 5Mbit/s

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