Tag / Comcast

by admin

Fitbit XI – Week 52

We wrap up my eleventh year using a Fitbit to track my steps on a high note, extend my streak of 30,000 step weeks to eight thanks, in part, to a trip to Southern California.  The week got off to a slow start on Sunday, finishing with just 3400 steps.  Monday saw a nice improvement, jumping all the way up to 4800 steps.  Work by Comcast knocked out my internet on Tuesday, forcing me to work from my sister’s house, which left me 29 steps shy of 5800.  A snow squall on Wednesday, and the corresponding snow blowing, gave me 5600 steps.  Packing on Thursday left me with 4800 steps.  Traipsing through O’Hare and LAX on Friday night helped push me over my daily goal, finishing with 7800 steps.  A trip to the Galen Center for exciting Purdue/USC basketball on Saturday, along with other activities, finished the week, and the year, on the upswing with 9600 steps.

Total steps: 41,990

Daily average: 5998.6

by admin

Chicago White Sox Baseball Is On The Air

Over a year ago, the White Sox, Bulls, and Blackhawks announced that they were partnering with Standard Media Group to create the new television broadcast home for all three teams, which eventually became Chicago Sports Network (CHSN for short).  Starting in October, the network went live missing one small little thing: a carriage agreement with Comcast, the largest cable provider in Chicago.

Ratings for the Blackhawks this past season, their first on the new network, were down 78% from the previous year on NBC Sports Chicago.  The Bulls were looking at a 63% decrease as of February.  The White Sox, coming off a season where they set the MLB record for losses in a year, were not exactly worth the $29.99 the network was charging for streaming.

Well, that all changes today.  Word broke yesterday that the fledgling network had finally reached agreement with Comcast to be added to their channel line-up.  They are expected to be placed on the Ultimate tier plan, which will add $20 to your cable bill if you are not already subscribed.  The Cubs’ Marquee Sports Network is expected to be moved to the same tier following this season.  With live sports seemingly one of the few reasons to keep cable, it seems that providers are looking to soak their customers for as much as they can before everything moves to streaming.

 

by admin

Another Speed Trap

It has been more than three years since I last took a look at the internet speeds being delivered to me by our good friends at Comcast.  At the time, my download speeds had improved by nearly 22 Mbps over the previous test.  Can I expect a similar jump now, with the amount of people working remotely?

Google Chrome

No, I most certainly cannot. Compared to my last test using Google’s Chrome browser, I’ve gained a mere than 4.5 Mbps of download speed over the past 41 months. Upload speed has stayed pretty consistent.

Microsoft Edge

Things were a little better on the Microsoft side of the house. The Edge test finished just a smidge over Chrome, but added nearly 10 Mbps from the last test. Upload capabilities were again pretty much the same.

by admin

A Deal Is Made

Less than 12 hours before the first pitch of the 2020 season for the Cubs, the Marquee Network showed up on Comcast systems in the Chicago area, signaling a carriage deal had finally been reached.  Crane Kenney, president of business operations for the Cubs, confirmed a multiyear deal in multiple media interviews yesterday, but details were not disclosed and Comcast has yet to release a statement.  It’s still unclear how much Comcast will charge subscribers for the addition of Marquee to their service.

In related news, Sinclair Broadcasting, the partner of the Cubs in the Marquee Network, is using their local television stations to push a conspiracy theory this weekend that suggests Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top expert on infectious diseases in the US, was responsible for the creation of the corona virus.  Between the Ricketts family’s relationship with Donald Trump and their dealings with Sinclair, it is getting harder and harder to support the organization.

by admin

T-Minus 7

With the delayed start to the 2020 season only a week away, the Cubs new Marquee network is still without a carriage agreement with Comcast, the dominant cable operator in the Chicago metropolitan area.  While the expectation remains that a deal will be in place by Opening Day, nothing is guaranteed in these types of negotiations.  As has been pointed out many times before, the Dodgers, who created their own network in 2014, still have not gotten full clearance in the Los Angeles market after 7 years and 2 World Series appearances.

by admin

Turn On The Marquee

Tomorrow, the Marquee Sports Network, the new home of the Cubs, goes live as the team kicks off their slate of games in the 2020 Cactus League.  Unfortunately, for the majority of homes in the Chicagoland area, the network will not be available.

Len Kasper and Jim Deshaies will continue on as the main announcing team for Cubs games.  They will occasionally be joined by one of the roving band of analysts that have been announced to date: Lou Piniella, Rick Sutcliffe, Mark Grace, Carlos Peña, Mark DeRosa, Ryan Dempster, Doug Glanville, Dan Plesac, and Jason Hammel.  Cole Wright, formerly of NFL Network, will be the studio host for pre- and post-game coverage and Taylor McGregor will be the sideline reporter, a role she previously held with the Rockies.

The one thing Marquee doesn’t have is a carriage agreement with Comcast, the dominant cable operator in the Chicago metropolitan area.  Comcast has 1.5 million home subscribers in the area, more than all the other metro area operators combined.  The Cubs hope to avoid the fate of the Dodgers, who created their own network in 2014 and still have not gotten full clearance in the Los Angeles market, after 7 years and 2 World Series appearances.  Tomorrow was a soft deadline to get a deal done.  If nothing happened by March 26, when the Cubs open the season in Milwaukee against the Brewers.

by jim

Speed Trap

It has been nearly three years since I last took a look at the internet speeds being delivered to me by our good friends at Comcast.  At the time, my download speeds had improved by nearly 4 Mbps over the previous year.  Can I expect a similar jump now?

Google Chrome

No, I most certainly cannot.  Compared to my last test using Google’s Chrome browser, I’ve gained a more than 22 Mbps of download speed over the past 31 months.  Upload speed has stayed pretty consistent.

Microsoft Edge

Thing are a little worse on the Microsoft side of the house.  The Edge test finished a good 6 Mbps behind Chrome, gaining a little more than 6 Mbps from the last test.  Upload capabilities were pretty much the same.

by admin

Full Speed Ahead

It has been nearly two years since I last took a look at the internet speeds being delivered to me by our good friends at Comcast.  At the time, my download speeds had improved by nearly 40 Mbps over the previous year.  Can I expect a similar jump now?

2016speedtest-chrome

Google Chrome

No, I most certainly cannot.  Compared to my last test using Google’s Chrome browser, I’ve gained a measly 4 Mbps of download speed over the past 22 months.  Upload has also increased by a single Mbps.

Microsoft Edge

Microsoft Edge

Thing are a little better on the Microsoft side of the house, though this test used the new Edge browser as opposed to Internet Explorer.  The Edge test broke the 100 Mbps barrier, getting a good 10 Mbps more than Chrome and gaining more than 15 Mbps from the last IE test.  Upload capabilities were pretty much the same.

by admin

Fitbit Week 38

Week38_FBA disappointing week, despite being over 10,000 steps above my goal.  For the first time in forever, there were two days where I failed to meet my daily total.  The week got off to a slow start on Sunday when I managed to surpass my daily goal by a whopping 45 steps.  Things picked up on Monday thanks to an afternoon trip to North for coffee.  Tuesday managed to surpass 10,000 steps thanks to a post-work trip to Wrigley Field for Game 3 of the NLCS.  Wednesday once again had a mixture of work and baseball, though less of the first and more of the second as the Cubs were eliminated from the playoffs.  Thursday was back to work for another decent day.  Things fell apart on Friday, as I left work before coffee time, and Saturday, as I worked on clearing off the DVR before Comcast makes me replace them.

Total steps: 49,104

Daily average: 7014.9

by admin

Full Speed Ahead

It has been exactly one year since I took a look at the internet speeds being delivered to me by our good friends at Comcast.  At the time, my download speeds had improved by nearly 20 Mbps since the previous February.  Can I expect a similar jump now?

Google Chrome

Google Chrome

Wow.  Last year, using Google Chrome, I had download speeds of 56.44 Mb/s.  That has jumped up all the way to 95.08 Mb/s, which is an increase of almost 40 Mb/s.  My upload speed has more than doubled, from 10.25 to 23.34.

Microsoft Internet Explorer

Microsoft Internet Explorer

Just like last year, the results with Internet Explorer are a little worse than Chrome, but still a tremendous upgrade over last year.  The way this is going, I will be able to download an HD movie in 5 seconds by this time next year.