Collins’ Onovia

Just today my Verizon FiOS service was activated. It came with an Actiontec MI424-WR Revision C modem/router combo. Slick look, ok reviews on the net, so I’ll go with it!

The first thing I wanted to get done, was open up some ports for uTorrent, HTTP, and a few others. There’s many resources out there that give you directions on forwarding ports on the MI424-WR Rev. C, including PortForward.com. Finding the directions was a breeze, however figuring out that the directions were wrong wasn’t.

When you are adding a server service port on the router, your source port needs to be set to any, and your destination port needs to be set to single, with the port number typed in next to it. Here’s an example:

I had Verizon install their FiOS service that has been available here in my neighborhood for little over a year now. I talked to a few neighbors that currently have the service, and they had no gripes about it. I’m interested in seeing the difference in speed. So, here’s the results:

Comcast Speed Test:

Verizon FiOS Speed Test:

Looking at those results, I’d say that Verizon is definitely the way to go.

I’d also like to mention that the Tech that came to install the system was professional, and prompt. He did his thing, asked if we had any questions, and that was it. in all, it took about 1 1/2 hours to install the system. Mind you we already had all the in-house wiring required.

Apparently some money hungry lawyer has filed suit against Microsoft for “breach of contract” for their service outage over the holiday season. This sounded like yet another frivolous lawsuit to me, so I checked it out.

Now, I know that any service provided online comes with one of those nifty contracts called an EULA (End User License Agreement). I went and had a look at Microsoft’s Xbox EULA. Sure enough, right there in section 16, it states:

16. WE MAKE NO WARRANTY
We provide the Service “as-is,” “with all faults” and “as available.” The Microsoft Parties give no express warranties, guarantees or conditions. You may have additional consumer rights under your local laws that this contract cannot change. To the extent permitted by law, we exclude the implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, workmanlike effort and non-infringement.

In that section, there’s an opening. It states “You may have additional consumer rights under your local laws that this contract cannot change.” I did some searching online for consumer rights in Texas, and found little information. I really doubt that there is anything that overrides this service agreement.

Anything that relies on electronic equipment is destined to fail at one point or another. Allegedly, Microsoft should have foreseen into the future that in the time of year that we should be celebrating the holidays with our families and friends, we are glued to the television with our Xboxes, PS3’s, and Wii’s.