In times of Corona, how to choose a good internet connection?

During this time of social distancing and loneliness, we are all dependent more than ever on the Internet. So during the COVID-19 pandemic, if anyone is out of internet connection we have everything you need to learn the factors you need to keep in mind to support you remain linked to education, work and the family. Instead of merely signing an ISP contract that includes glittering bells and whistles, ensure that the one you choose can fulfill your needs. We have gathered a few suggestions to help you make an educated decision.

Serviceability

The most important feature, of course, is availability. It’s completely pointless to spend time studying an ISP that is not providing services in your area. First of all, we recommend that you visit localcabledeals to check the providers available in your region, all you gotta do is put in your Zip Code in the zip code bar. It breaks down the options available categorically, from cheapest to highest-speed internet.

Customer Service

The smartest way to learn about an ISP is to question their current customers about their customer service experience. How easy is it to get help if you have crashes or other internet problems? How quick will the customer support be achieved? Does the business provide client support through email, telephone or live chat? What is the phase of installation? Is it simple or difficult? Well, most of the time, it can be too difficult to search for support from your ISP. Nevertheless, there are organizations who provide their customers with exquisite assistance, for example, spectrum customer service is among those companies that put their customers at the utmost priority and has a team of highly qualified representatives to take care of all your issues promptly.

Internet Speeds

The internet speed is definitely the most critical factor when it comes to selecting a new ISP. Everybody wants to get the fastest speed possible with the rates they are paying. Make sure the services are compared closely that are associated within the most common systems, contrasting both downloading and uploading rates. Speeds typically differ from an area to another. A network providing download speeds of up to 20 Mbps in one area, could be providing up to 100 Mbps a few miles afar at the same price. Therefore, it has to be an important part of your research to know what speeds are offered at your particular location.

Contract Policy

Some companies demand that you borrow the modem and routers, whilst some will ask you to buy them, whereas some will also provide free of cost equipment. Similarly, some of them offer free of charge installation while others bill you for the installation services. Most provide promotions on the web services when bundled with televisions or telephone services (and sometimes just for a few months, and even if the deal ends, you have to keep evaluating cost). In fact, certain companies are adopting contract-free strategies such as Spectrum, while some cannot subscribe you without at least a yearlong contract. Also, at some extra amount, you might even avoid a multi-annual contract with some providers.

Add-ons

Most of the time, ISPs offer additional features to make it look as if you have a high value for money. Those extras that you probably need are things such as subscriptions for antivirus programs, a branded ISP e-mail address or a personalized webpage. One super cool add-on, though, is free Wi-Fi hotspot connectivity. If you use your laptop regularly on-the-go and you can access a Wi-Fi hotspot near you at a coffee shop or in the park, this add-on might be very beneficial to you.

Terms

Make sure you are well-aware of the service limitations. There might, for example, be capacity limitations that restrict the amount of data you may use per month or restrict the type of things you may do, such as operating a website or file server.

Money

Finally, none of these features are relevant if you cannot use the services quite often. Therefore, you need to be sure that an ISP you’re looking for is trustworthy in terms of reliability. It can be done through its ratings online or you may only ask current clients regarding their overall experience.

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Filed Under: Commentary Tagged With: choose, connection, corona, good, internet, times, ...

Bassist Pete Griffin talks Giraffe Tongue Orchestra and their “The Walking Dead” connection.

Pete Griffin is a Grammy Award-winning bassist who has worked with everyone from Dweezil Zappa and Steve Vai to Edgar Winter and Dethklok. Griffin’s latest musical endeavor is that of Giraffe Tongue Orchestra a group whose members also include Brent Hinds of Mastodon, Ben Weinman of Dillinger Escape Plan and William DuVall of Alice In Chains. The group released their debut album titled “Broken Lines” in September and is hitting the road this month in support of the release. Media Mikes had the chance to talk with Pete recently about the bands formation, the creation of the album and what fans can expect from the upcoming tour.

Adam Lawton: How did the group initially come together and what is the story behind its unique name?

Pete Griffin: Ben and Brent had been touring together off and on for a decade with their respective bands Dillinger Escape Plan and Mastodon. Even though their sounds are a bit different there groups are both heavy and are very forward thinking. They have been friends and co-workers for some time. Those guys started kicking ideas back and forth and they ended up being better than the average ideas one might pass along. This all started back about eight years ago. The idea for the group has been around for some times and there have been various rhythm sections and recording sessions that didn’t yield any solid results. Last year I got a text from Brent after meeting him while I was out with Dweezil Zappa. I got asked to come and jam with those guys and we started working on a song that would end up being titled “Crucifixion”. They had already started working on things before I got there so I just walked in and just started going. It was at that moment that I think we all agreed there was something there. A month later we tracked the rest of the record with no vocalist. During that time Ben and I were having some pretty hilarious text messages back and forth about who we should get to sing. We were throwing out names like Sting and Paul McCartney which were just pipedream ideas. Around this same time Brent ran in to William in Atlanta and asked him if he would be interested in doing the record. The name of the group was already in place by the time I came along. I think it was one of those flash in the pan ideas where they saw a nature documentary about giraffes and you got to have a band name so there you go. On the flip side you have the abbreviation GTO which when you read it often gives people thoughts of the muscle car which is a hard driving automobile. I think that is a pretty accurate description of our sound as well so in a silly backhanded way it became a good moniker for us.

AL: Are the songs that make up “Broken Lines” ones that were already put together before you joined the group or is this an entirely new group of tracks?

PG: About seventy five percent of the songs were blocked out before I came in. The parts were all there but the bass lines may have needed some tweaking. We also may have done some arrangement changes but Ben had demos for three quarters of the album. When we got together we wrote three more songs as a band and things went from there. The last song we did was put together from three different jams we had recorded. We came up with a way to put them all together and make them work as one song. The interesting thing about that was going back and learning that song in its new form. Now that we have done it a few times its one of the more fun songs to play as it jumps around quite a bit.

AL: The group made some ties recently to “The Walking Dead” television series can you tells us how that all happened?

PG: Bear McCreary who is the composer on the show is a good friend of mine. I have worked with Bear for many years now on a number of his other projects. Have yet to work on “The Walking Dead” but I have done stuff for “Black Sails” and a bunch of other movie score stuff. I had let some of my music friends know about the new album when it came out so they could check it out and a couple weeks letter Bear made a post telling people to go check it out as well. It was cool to get the praise from him.

AL: What can fans anticipate from the upcoming live shows?

PG: So far I know we are going to be performing the full record. With the record being only forty five minutes I am sure we are going to be looking to add some other material or do some extended jamming but we will have to see. At this point we are still experimenting with who we are live. We did two festival shows in England but other than that this is all still very new. It’s definitely going to be a great show though every night we get up there. I am really excited to get things going. A couple days before the tour starts we are all heading out to Ben’s in New Jersey to put everything together so it’s going to be a lot of fun.

AL: This tour runs through mid-December. Have there been any talks of what you and the band have planned for the remainder of the year and into 2017?

PG: Currently after December there isn’t anything else booked for Giraffe Tongue. That doesn’t mean that there won’t be anything else as I would love to keep doing this but nothing is scheduled for right now. Personally for me after this tour wraps up I have a pretty quite rest of the year. Going in to next year I will be working with Paul Gilbert in January and February as we will be going down to Brazil which I am definitely excited for. Ben will be out with Dillinger in Europe promoting their last album and Brent has a new album with Mastodon coming out. It’s going to be a busy 2017 for all of us. That’s something fans should consider when thinking about coming to see Giraffe Tongue Orchestra is this could one of the few times you will get to this project live. That fact also will make the shows even more special.

 

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Filed Under: Interviews, Music, Music Interviews Tagged With: bassist, connection, dead, giraffe, griffin, orchestra, ...

Film Review “The Connection”

Starring: Jean Dujardin and Gilles Lellouche
Directed by: Cedric Jimenez
Rated: R
Running time: 2 hours 15 mins
Drafthouse Pictures

Our Score: 5 out of 5 stars

In 1971, the movie “The French Connection” did many things. In Hollywood, it won (5) Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and made a star out of Gene Hackman. Outside of Hollywood it did something very few films at the time did: it opened people’s eyes. That same year, President Nixon declared that drug abuse was America’s “public enemy number one!” The film also did something for the country of France. It embarrassed them. Out of that embarrassment came the events that are chronicled in “The Connection.”

When we first meet police magistrate Pierre Michele (Dujardin in an amazing performance), he is helping supervise juveniles who have found themselves on the wrong side of the law. Impressed with his work, his superiors put him in charge of the Organized Crime squad, hoping that he will be able to stop “the French connection,” the almost unstoppable passage of heroin from France to the rest of the world. Much like Hackman’s Popeye Doyle, Pierre tends to listen to his gut when working on a case. His rival is Gaetan “Tany” Zampa, a drug dealer with a network that keeps him almost untouchable. Almost.

A first rate thriller, “The Connection” excels because co-writer and director Jimenez has chosen to show both main characters in their entirety. Not just at work (enforcing the law or, in Zampa’s case, breaking it) but home with their families. Both men have young children that they adore and wives that often feel neglected because of their husband’s hours. Running the period of 1975 through the early 1980s, the film is a continual rollercoaster, with great highs and depressing lows. The cast here is top notch. Dujardin won an Oscar a few years ago without saying a word. He tops that performance here. For those of you that may only be familiar with him from “The Artist” or his short role in “The Wolf of Wall Street,” I urge you to see “The Connection” and marvel at Dujardin’s layered and nuanced performance. The supporting cast is equally up to the task and there isn’t a false performance in the bunch.

“The Connection” is currently playing exclusively at an Alamo Drafthouse Cinema near you.

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Filed Under: Film Reviews Tagged With: connection, film, review

CD Review: Sweet “New York Connection”

Sweet
“New York Connection”
Produced by: Andy Scott
11 tracks
Running Time: 40 minutes

Our Score: 4 out of 5 stars

From the moment this CD kicks off, it rocks mega hard and doesn’t let up until the CD ends. The Sweet are well known their Glam Rock during the 70-80’s and though still they sound just as good as they ever have. “New York Connection” is comprised 11 cover songs including the 2011 single “Join Together”. There is also a revamped original recording for their 1972 b-side “New York Connection”.

If you are a fan of 70-80’s rock, then you are going to love this album easily. The album kicks off with the great song “New York Groove” and just includes on great hit after another. Some of the other great cover tracks included are “You Spin Me Round”, “Because the Night” and “Blitzkrieg Bop”. All the covers sounds really kick-ass and get your toes tapping and head rocking.

Peter Lincoln takes lead on vocals on 8 out of the 11 tracks. Andy Scott takes lead vocal for “Sweet Jane” and is a great tribute to The Velvet Underground. Bruce Bisland belts out “Blitzkrieg Bop” and doesn’t let down the Ramones. Lastly Tony O’Hora puts a new spin on Patti Smith’s “Because the Night”. Overall, the guitars are well…sweet! The music is loud and sums up a great 40 minutes you will experience with this album.

Track listing:
1. New York Groove
2. Gold On The Ceiling
3. All Moving Faster
4. New York Connection
5. Shapes Of Things
6. You Spin Me Round
7. Because The Night
8. Sweet Jane
9. Blitzkrieg Bop
10. On Broadway
11. Join Together

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Filed Under: CD Reviews Tagged With: cd, connection, review, sweet, york
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