Monday, July 30, 2012

Proof of concept

An interesting thing happened on the way to a system build..........

I had some solo time with my boy, so I brought him out for some man stuff.  You know, burgers, auto parts stores, peeing standing up, boy stuff.  I've decided that I should resurrect my old Windows 2000 box, with Lubuntu, a lightweight Linux distribution.  Aside from the install cd, all I should need is a wireless device.

I brought the boy to Staples, to see about getting one for a reasonable price.  Stacked within the wireless routers, were a couple of options for over $30.  About to pass, I was asked by a sales associate if I needed help.

The young man brought me over to the clearance section, where there was a low profile 802.11n device for $15.  I bought it, knowing I could bring it back, no questions asked in a couple of weeks if I found a better price.

In talking to the young man, he informed me that TWC was providing him with a 300Mbps bandwidth pipe. Despite trying to correct him, he assured me that TWC was indeed providing him with 300Mbps, for the low price of $50 a month.

Go ahead and go to speedtest.net, right now and test your connection.  Depending on your broadband connection, you should probably see between 3Mbps, and <10Mbps.  3Mbps is enough to stream video, and 10Mbps is considered pretty snappy.  My DSL download speed comes in at 7Mbps, and is usually right around there.  Even South Korea, which boasts the fastest average internet speed, comes in at 17.5Mbps.

This kid couldn't be more wrong, but I guess that's why he works at Staples, not as a network engineer.

Now, in all fairness, I know I've spoken out of turn, and I could have an improper grasp of concepts, I thought I had mastered.  But it's helpful to see the imperfections in yourself when they are reflected from a stranger.

I tried to give this life lesson to the boy, but he was too busy hitting on the cashier.

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