Internet access in rural America and StraightTalk Wireless WTF
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@TimeBandit said in Internet access in rural America and StraightTalk Wireless WTF:
@Polygeekery I love the fact that you still have to press the button to select your choice
That is a bit dumb. In these parts, there are different hoses for each quality, and you can select quality bu pushing buttons, but pulling the hose out of the holder will select that quality automagically. If there is just one quality, you usually don't get a button but sometimes. Pulling the hose still starts it anyway.
The dumb shit starts when you have to select which pump you wanna use, and there is just one pump. Still have to push the button labeled "Pump 1" in some places.
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@Carnage This could be fixed - FCC style. All you need to do is define a "button-free" standard that pumps can meet, and then declare the pumps that still require a button press to also meet it.
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@Cursorkeys said in Internet access in rural America and StraightTalk Wireless WTF:
They are giant assholes though.
A unicorn is just a horse with a built-in spear.
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@Polygeekery I calculated it and it would be mathematically impossible to download 8TB of data on my home internet connection per month.
It would be extremely mathematically iffy to download 5TB of data.
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@ben_lubar said in Internet access in rural America and StraightTalk Wireless WTF:
@Polygeekery I calculated it and it would be mathematically impossible to download 8TB of data on my home internet connection per month.
It would be extremely mathematically iffy to download 5TB of data in year on a MilwaukeePC internet connection.
FTFY
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@Polygeekery said in Internet access in rural America and StraightTalk Wireless WTF:
Remember when the InitiativeQ fellow said we would have plentiful wireless internet all over the world that would enable his Ponzi scheme? Well, my family and I are vacationing in East Bumfuck Ohio at a cabin on a working horse ranch. We are about an hour outside of Cincinnati. The place is gorgeous, we have our own private lake and last night I cooked three ribeyes that in total weighed 5.4lbs. It has been a great vacation so far, but the internet situation is pretty horrible.
Hmm. Let me try my best Ben from InitiativeQ impression:
"We agree with you! It is a challenge to engender widespread adoption of a new currency! In fact, our founder, Whaarf Raat, has written several whitepapers on the challenges."
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@Polygeekery said in Internet access in rural America and StraightTalk Wireless WTF:
on occasion an over-40, black, disabled, pregnant, lesbian will decide to lose their fucking mind and have to be terminated.
Doesn't sound all that occasional.
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I live in Paulding County, Georgia -- about an hour outside of Atlanta. I'm surrounded by several farms, and pretty close to a huge wildlife management area. I, however, do live in a subdivision. Not anything to fancy, homes are around $150,000 - $250,000, it's not gated or anything. Homes were built 2004-now (only 2 more homes left to finish).
We have 1000/1000 GPON based fiber internet.
Most people in the city don't have it. But, out here, in the boondocks, we have it.
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@Polygeekery said in Internet access in rural America and StraightTalk Wireless WTF:
Welcome to rural America. Oh, you need premium fuel? Good luck, plan ahead.
Sheesh, and I thought people who did E85 conversions were on a short leash.
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@swayde said in Internet access in rural America and StraightTalk Wireless WTF:
@Polygeekery doesn't your engine have a knock sensor?
Iirc most modern cars can use almost any octane, with reduced effiency.
Fake edit: seems I'm wrong: https://oppositelock.kinja.com/the-real-impact-of-using-wrong-fuel-octane-1785829176It can be really dangerous to use 87 if you're running boost, have a high compression ratio, or in my case, both.
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@groaner said in Internet access in rural America and StraightTalk Wireless WTF:
@Polygeekery said in Internet access in rural America and StraightTalk Wireless WTF:
Welcome to rural America. Oh, you need premium fuel? Good luck, plan ahead.
Sheesh, and I thought people who did E85 conversions were on a short leash.
Yeah, I run 87 octane no problem. I drive an SUV and it doesn't require anything else. But I noticed on my second fuel stop in the area that the only fuels available at 3 separate gas stations were 87 octane and diesel. Being the curious type, and needing a Red Bull to help me cope with a vacation hangover I ask the guy at the gas station why they don't sell the normal range of fuels. He said he didn't know but it was 27 miles to the nearest gas station with premium fuel.
If you stopped in there while on fumes you would be fucked. Get a couple of gallons of 87 octane and buy a $10 bottle of STP octane booster (snake oil) and hope for the best I guess?
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@Polygeekery said in Internet access in rural America and StraightTalk Wireless WTF:
Yeah, I run 87 octane no problem. I drive an SUV and it doesn't require anything else. But I noticed on my second fuel stop in the area that the only fuels available at 3 separate gas stations were 87 octane and diesel. Being the curious type, and needing a Red Bull to help me cope with a vacation hangover I ask the guy at the gas station why they don't sell the normal range of fuels. He said he didn't know but it was 27 miles to the nearest gas station with premium fuel.
Seems like reason enough to stay out of rural Ohio, at least with the current ride. I didn't have any problems in Cleveland, Columbus, or along the interstates to and from the last time I was out there, though.
If you stopped in there while on fumes you would be fucked. Get a couple of gallons of 87 octane and buy a $10 bottle of STP octane booster (snake oil) and hope for the best I guess?
And avoid high load in low RPM or revving high. Almost every station I've seen in a decade of living in this part of the world has 93, with a few oddballs in distant lands that are a measly 92. My car's currently tuned for 91, and I'm considering filling the tank with 93 for when it's tuned with the next batch of mods, depending on what my tuner advises.
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And here I am wondering why you got so many different octane levels. We have one in common use: 95. That's it. In some places you can also still find 98 but that is becoming increasingly rare. There's nothing below 95.
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95 is standard in the UK as it's required by law, but 97 and 99 are in plenty of places too.
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@Atazhaia There are multiple ways of denoting octane levels. The US uses a different one than continental Europe (because why wouldn't they). See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octane_rating.
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@swayde said in Internet access in rural America and StraightTalk Wireless WTF:
@Polygeekery doesn't your engine have a knock sensor?
Iirc most modern cars can use almost any octane, with reduced effiency.
Fake edit: seems I'm wrong: https://oppositelock.kinja.com/the-real-impact-of-using-wrong-fuel-octane-1785829176Within reason. The manual will state the minimum octane rating. It should also state the maximum octane rating it can take advantage of. There is absolutely no reason to go any higher, despite what a lot of people think so. No, your 15 year old Camry isn't going to get any faster/get better fuel economy if you put 98 in it.
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@PleegWat Oh, right, US in action again. Seems the EU 95 would be US 91. I still dunno why the US needs so many different types when a couple should be enough, though.
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@Atazhaia That pump with 5 in the article is unusual. Most US pumps have three: 87, 89, and 93.
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@Unperverted-Vixen said in Internet access in rural America and StraightTalk Wireless WTF:
@Atazhaia That pump with 5 in the article is unusual. Most US pumps have three: 87, 89, and 93.
I've also seen some Sunoco(?) stations that have four ratings - those three plus 86. If there's a competing station nearby, the fuckers will sometimes price the 86 the same as the competitor's 87.
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@lolwhat It’s probably been at least a decade since the Sunocos around here stopped carrying 86. It used to be more common in the early 90s (though they usually priced it a penny below neighboring stations’ 87), but once new cars stopped supporting it I guess they got the message a bit quicker than in your area!
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@lolwhat We have some pumps that also have (with separate nozzles) diesel and ethanol-free gas (for boats and other things that don't play nice with E90), but yeah, usually I've only seen 3 for regular gas.
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@hornet30064 Welcome to the forum!
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@PleegWat said in Internet access in rural America and StraightTalk Wireless WTF:
There are multiple ways of denoting octane levels.
Of course there are. (That WP page explains just how complicated it all is too; it's not a US vs EU thing. This time…)
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@Polygeekery said in Internet access in rural America and StraightTalk Wireless WTF:
Welcome to rural America. Oh, you need premium fuel? Good luck, plan ahead.
That's weird. Most rural pumps around here have two grades of gasoline, highway diesel, and tax-free diesel. (For a good time, put tax-free in your car and let the DOT find out.)
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@mott555 said in Internet access in rural America and StraightTalk Wireless WTF:
For a good time, put tax-free in your car and let the DOT find out.
Meh. I burned red fuel for years and never got busted for it. I think that is a myth, like a flat Earth or the female orgasm
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@Polygeekery said in Internet access in rural America and StraightTalk Wireless WTF:
I think that is a myth, like a flat Earth or the female orgasm
You're
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@Polygeekery Well, at least maybe someday you might into space.
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@Gribnit said in Internet access in rural America and StraightTalk Wireless WTF:
@Polygeekery Well, at least maybe someday you might into space.
Space is pretty empty. But filling it? WTDWTFers are up to the challenge!
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@Tsaukpaetra Huh? Some TDWTFers can't even manage to fill the space between their own ears.
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@HardwareGeek said in Internet access in rural America and StraightTalk Wireless WTF:
@Tsaukpaetra Huh? Some TDWTFers can't even manage to fill the space between their own ears.
Oh it's filled alright. With what is what's up for the next garage topic...
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@swayde said in Internet access in rural America and StraightTalk Wireless WTF:
This is roughly 20 usd, about one hour of minumum wage work before taxes
That's about two hours and forty-five minutes in the US.
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@loopback0 said in Internet access in rural America and StraightTalk Wireless WTF:
95 is standard in the UK as it's required by law, but 97 and 99 are in plenty of places too.
I run gas in my old Range Rover, which is effectively 115 RON ;-)
What's annoying is most supermarket filling stations only have two gas pumps and there's always someone filling up off them with petrol or diesel and no-one on any of the other pumps - and then they take an age deciding exactly which packet of crisps to buy when they go to pay.
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@Onyx said in Internet access in rural America and StraightTalk Wireless WTF:
@Gribnit said in Internet access in rural America and StraightTalk Wireless WTF:
@Polygeekery That's how I learned to swim!
On the other hand, that's the way I got pretty much the only real fear I have, which is deep water. The fact that the person who threw me in was not a family member or something but a random asshole might've also been a factor.
I am a scuba diver. Normally I dive in water where the bottom is visible, but far far below the safe dive depth. If I go into an uncontrolled sink, I will (almost) certainly die, but they will (likely) find the body...
A few time I have dove where the bottom was completely out of reach (say 1000M). A sink here would surely mean they would never find my body.
For some strange reason that made me nervous, despite there being no meaningful difference in the odds of having such an event. The human mind is strange....
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@Deadfast said in Internet access in rural America and StraightTalk Wireless WTF:
@swayde said in Internet access in rural America and StraightTalk Wireless WTF:
@Polygeekery doesn't your engine have a knock sensor?
Iirc most modern cars can use almost any octane, with reduced effiency.
Fake edit: seems I'm wrong: https://oppositelock.kinja.com/the-real-impact-of-using-wrong-fuel-octane-1785829176Within reason. The manual will state the minimum octane rating. It should also state the maximum octane rating it can take advantage of. There is absolutely no reason to go any higher, despite what a lot of people think so. No, your 15 year old Camry isn't going to get any faster/get better fuel economy if you put 98 in it.
True, but it will almost certainly burn hotter which can have an impact [positive or negative]
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@Parody Here in Scotland it's pretty much the opposite situation. You can get 4G broadband pretty much anywhere, even hundreds of miles from the nearest sign of civilisation, but good luck getting ADSL more than 1km outside a major town.
I live twenty minutes from the centre of Scotland's largest city, Glasgow, and can get 2Mbps ADSL for £40 per monther or 45Mbps 4G for £25 per month. Bit of a no-brainer really.
I haven't had a landline for years, and don't see a need for one.
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@gordonjcp said in Internet access in rural America and StraightTalk Wireless WTF:
the nearest sign of civilisation
England?
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@loopback0 said in Internet access in rural America and StraightTalk Wireless WTF:
@gordonjcp said in Internet access in rural America and StraightTalk Wireless WTF:
the nearest sign of civilisation
England?
:-p They're not particularly civilised. They don't even have free prescriptions!