Summary of details

• 75 GB upstream and 75 GB downstream during peak hours.
• Peak hours are from 5 PM – 1 AM
• Unlimited bandwidth during non-peak hours
• $20 fee for unlimited bandwidth

*Note: this may be different depending on your area. The above information is for Service Electric’s internet provided by Penteledata in Eastern Pennsylvania.

Here is the full phone call

Download audio file (ptdbandwidthcap.mp3)

This is my current desktop.

The Wallpapers. (1680 × 1050 Widescreen Resolution)

Where to get instructions:

Cubeecraft.com

Adrian-Nation on DeviantART

Trogdoriangrey on Photobucket

What Instructions look like.

How to make them

1. Cut along the black outlines
2. Cut the slits
3. Fold. Match the letters. (remember, no glue is required for the cube type)

Each character is different. Some are more difficult and might take more than one page. The Cubees are generally easier than the round ones by Trogdoriangrey. The entire process takes around 1 hour.

Pictures of the finished product

Peng

Tyler

Jordan

More Pictures

Here’s the link to the Street View page. (update: Google removed the image)

Click the images to enlarge.

Back in October, I got a grim letter from my ISP, PenTeleData. The letter warned me that I used an excessive amount of bandwidth that month and my account would be suspended for 30 days if it happens two more times. I promptly put my Google-fu to use. Apparently, PTD has a bandwidth cap hidden in its Acceptable Use Policy.

PenTeleData and your broadband service provider offer multiple tiers of high speed Internet access with different speeds and bandwidth usage limitations (not all packages are available in all areas). Customer acknowledges that any quoted bandwidth rating/transfer rate for broadband Internet Service is a maximum rate and are not guaranteed. PenTeleData and your broadband Internet provider reserve the right to manage its networks to provide for maximum efficiency. As a user, you must ensure that your activities do not improperly restrict, inhibit, or degrade any other user’s use of the service or PenTeleData’s ability to deliver and monitor the service, or our network resources and do not represent (in the sole judgment of PenTeleData) an unusually large burden on the network itself. Users found to be (in PenTeleData’s sole judgment) in violation of this policy may have their accounts terminated, suspended, or upgraded to a higher level of service, subject to the appropriate fees. PenTeleData will use reasonable efforts to notify a customer prior to service termination for excessive bandwidth use.

So the bandwidth cap is… whatever PTD feels like? My friend Moose has already passed this cap 3 times. One more time and he will be effectively banned from the internet thanks to the monopoly PenTeleData has in our area. Hopefully nobody will have to suffer that fate. Many other customers have also felt the burden of PTD’s bandwidth cap. Judging from the forums, the cap ranges from 50 gb to 80 gb. That might seem unreachable to most users, but I’m Peng. I live on the internet. My parents’ new hobby of watching streaming television on the internet doesn’t help either. In other words, PTD sucks.

That said, I’ve been pretty good with the bandwidth usage lately. With the help of Tomato firmware for my DD-WRTGL router, I can closely monitor my bandwidth usage with pretty graph. If you are in the same situation as me, I highly recommend installing Tomato. The whole process takes about 2 minutes with this Lifehacker guide. (Turn Your $60 Router into a User-Friendly Super-Router with Tomato)

Now I’m hungry. Hungry for truth. What is the real bandwidth cap? That’s exactly what I’m going trying to find out.

Attempt #1

I called their PA toll free number and pressed 0 to reach an operator.

Beeeeeep…Dead tone. Ok, I’ll try again.

Dead tone again.

Again.

You’d think a telecom company would be able to have working phone lines.

One more time, yay waiting music.

2 minutes later

I asked a lady about the bandwidth cap and quickly got transferred to the internet department.

The internet department lady then transferred me to a technician.

This is what I got. Download audio file (capcall1.mp3)

to be continued…

What I know so far (from comments and experience)

• Bandwidth cap is 50 gb downstream or higher. If you’ve gone higher without penalty, let me know.
• Suspension requires 3 consecutive bandwidth violations. (not 100% sure)
• Visit http://24.229.18.60/ to check your bandwidth usage.
• File a complaint with the FTC, FCC, or BBB. They may help you remove your cap if you drop the complaint.

Obama’s inauguration is finally here! A record 3 million people will be attending the historic event tomorrow in addition to 11,000 soldiers, 25,000 policemen, snipers on every rooftop, scout drones, and F16 fighter jets patrolling the city. It’s going to be awesome! If you want in on the action, there are many online places to watch the inauguration.

• Live stream on Hulu
• Video feeds by C-Span
• Inauguration channel on Youtube
• Joost
• CNN with a special Facebook thing
• Presidential Inauguration Committee (requires Microsoft Silverlight)
• Ustream

Have fun and say bye to Bush for me. :]

Back to pictures of the Super Happy Awesome Bridge

The bridge held about 300 pounds (we actually ran out of weights) plus the force of Mr. Ohl standing on it. It only broke when he stomped it a couple times. I made an animated gif.

Video and pictures below.

Click here for the pictures of other groups’ bridges.

More pictures on Moose’s gallery.

Pros:

• Looks nice.
• Good weight.
• Has a camera and camcorder.
• Easy to type on the qwerty keyboard.
• Lots of preloaded ringtones.
• Has AIM and Facebook for people with a data plan.
• Media player.

Cons:

• No way to sort music in the media player.
• Pictures are bad quality.
• Lids for ports are low quality.
• Doesn’t come with games. (excluding demos)

[Update 1/07/09]

Added test images with phone camera. Very low quality.

So here’s the game plan for today:

• Email address for this domain. (mouse over for the address)
• blog.pengxiao.net subdomain with Wordpress
• Import posts and settings from my old blog
• Install some plugins/widgets for this blog
• Custom favicon.
• Put something on pengxiao.net
  

Future plans:

• Add more things to my site. What should I add? Discuss.