T-Mobile Finds Some Customers Unprofitable

This video based on an actual event depicts a T-Mobile customer on a national calling plan being having their service terminated because they spend too much time roaming on a partner network. So much for national calling plans.

I used to be a T-Mobile customer and like the character in this video was very happy and enthusiastic. My reasons for leaving was different. (Caught in an endless loop of phone replacements instead of admitting that I simply exceeded the limitations of their network/devices).

Seeing this just makes me feel better about being a happy Sprint customer now!

If you follow Sever Purkiss you’ll know he’s not a fan of Virgin Media at all, often linking to this well done video opposing Virgins “Ballocks” attitude toward new neutrality. As a result I’ve been linking to the video as well from several of my sites.

For the vast majority of my readers I know you don’t have Virgin as one of your broadband options, but this is about a bigger picture. Net neutrality. Essentially we are looking to keep the internet as an open access venue. A place where we all have an equal opportunity to have our message heard. As stated in the video, the internet could easily turn into another Television channel, much like how cable TV / Satellite simply turned into a monetized version of over-the-air broadcasting.

I’m very concerned because I see a pattern over and over where people, specifically net citizens.. get all excited for a cause and if it doesn’t immediately effect them or if another cause comes their way that they think everyone else is supporting they simply forget and move on. I’ve recently seen this on my ea-land.com fan website. Everyone was up in arms, then they learned to live with the consequences.

It would be a true shame to see this happen to our Internet.

As our follow list grows on the Twitter network, it becomes increasingly difficult to spot the hot and not-so-hot links. Often by the time you discover the latest buzz it’s been cross-posted to death and if you’re a blogger, well you missed the boat on the story.

Here’s where AlphaTwitter.com comes to the rescue! By monitoring the Twitter stream, it keeps track of what links are being shared and re-tweeted across the channel. A lightning fast all-business interface gives you a quick top down over view of which links are being shared the most, how many people are sharing it and who!

Even if you’re not a blogger, you’ll love the little gems that AlphaTwitter will give you.

I’ve been spending a lot of time on Seesmic lately and from time to time someone crossposts a YouTube video.  This one by Kroperx got me thinking.

Back in the days of Dos, I remember as a handful of folks started playing with Windows.  Of course 3.1 is the version that most  sticks in my head, the version that I first was exposed to but in those days Windows or not it was still DOS for most of us and Windows was little more then a click program launcher.

Once Windows 95 came about seems to be when the mid-geeks started playing around with Linux.  Of course in those days the school of thought was that it’s most DOS-like (compared to Win95) .

Ironically now that DOS and the comand line is all but gone from Windows Vista, more and more people are going to Linux (Ubunto) for it’s Windows-like (but free) feel.

Now.. here’s what I’ve been seeing.  Many people (usually triggered by a Windows frustration) jump on to the Linux bandwagon.  For weeks, sometimes months they rant and rave about how wonderful it is.  But almost always, little by little they quietly migrate back.

My question to you is… Is there any “joe average” user out there that has converted to a non mainstream operating system and has stuck with it for a significant length of time?  Now I don’t want to hear from the die-hard Linux fans, we know you’re out there and you live and breath Linux.  I’m talking about joe 6-pack who knows enough to maybe burn a CD but essentially uses his computer as an appliance.