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Ten - Eighty P TV
By a show of hands, who owns a Blu-Ray player? Now by another show of hands, who knows what the benefit of a Blu-Ray player is? You have probably asked yourself whether you need this new video technology, but one thing is certain - You want a solution that gives you better video quality with everything you watch.
Flash back to Christmas 2007; my Dad receives the Planet Earth collection on Blu-Ray from my brother Jason. Dad to this day has yet to enjoy this fine piece of nature cinematography since he does not own a Blu-Ray player… Jason did not realize this would be a problem, he was told simply that the Blu-Ray was better. Too bad, it really is an excellent series! Nevertheless, what if you could enjoy the quality of 1080p resolution (that Blu-Ray players offer) with regular DVD movies?
There are DVD players on the market that can give you this benefit. Some better, some worse. These players take the normal 480 lines of resolution contained on a standard DVD and “upscale” the video to create up to 1080 lines of resolution. The outcome in picture quality is substantial and you will never go back to watching a movie on a standard player.
Let us take it a step further - What if you could watch TV shows, VHS tapes, and even play Wii games at the same resolution as a Blu-Ray disc? Today, almost all of the new home theater systems we install offer this astounding benefit, giving you better video quality with everything you watch on your TV.
What if my TV isn’t 1080p? That’s OK too! If you own an HDTV with an HDMI input (Blog on HDMI coming soon…) you can take advantage of the highest resolution that your TV is capable of with all of your video programs.
Blu-Ray players and discs offer the best video quality available for home televisions. In fact, Dad has asked me to set him up with one the next time I am in town. No problem for me and he will be able to watch that disc that Jason bought him so long ago. What about you? Wouldn’t you rather have everything you watch on TV look better than it does now?
Hope you enjoyed this Techno-blog. Questions or comments?
This post is in: Residential Services | Be the first to comment!
MPLS. What is it and why?
The technical information about MPLS is below. Important thing to know is that it allows companies with multiply locations to more effectively and efficently manage their networks. Not only are they able to save money; but greatly increase the redundancy and reliability of their network.
Short for Multiprotocol Label Switching integrates Layer 2 information about network links (bandwidth, latency, utilization) into Layer 3 (IP) within a particular autonomous system–or ISP–in order to simplify and improve IP-packet exchange.
MPLS gives network operators a great deal of flexibility to divert and route traffic around link failures, congestion, and bottlenecks.
From a QoS standpoint, ISPs will better be able to manage different kinds of data streams based on priority and service plan. For instance, those who subscribe to a premium service plan, or those who receive a lot of streaming media or high-bandwidth content can see minimal latency and packet loss.
When packets enter a MPLS-based network, Label Edge Routers (LERs) give them a label (identifier). These labels not only contain information based on the routing table entry (i.e., destination, bandwidth, delay, and other metrics), but also refer to the IP header field (source IP address), Layer 4 socket number information, and differentiated service. Once this classification is complete and mapped, different packets are assigned to corresponding Labeled Switch Paths (LSPs), where Label Switch Routers (LSRs) place outgoing labels on the packets.
With these LSPs, network operators can divert and route traffic based on data-stream type and Internet-access customer. (Source is webopedia.com)
This post is in: Carrier Services | Be the first to comment!
Troubleshooting Dropped Calls!
For example, let’s say you are the receptionist or switchboard operator at your place of work and you get a few calls from people that say “I just tried calling you and I got dropped”. You start to notice a pattern so you get concerned. Here is where you can become the “Troubleshooting Detective”. I know you’re asking yourself, gee Marlene how can I become a Detective for you?!
Here is how…..if you were dropping every call that came through you would definitely want to call us right away because that would be an emergency type issue but since you have only a few calls what you want to do is start a log of the phone calls you are told about. The person that calls you is probably going to feel like they are being interrogated but the questions must be asked, and the questions are as follows.
First of all take down the time and date of the call.
Are you calling from a cell phone or land line?
What number did you dial?
What is your phone number?
What did you hear when you called (be specific please and don’t be afraid to make the sound you may have heard)?
If you heard a busy signal was it a regular busy or a fast busy? (I know you’re asking yourself, how do I know the difference. Say it with me….. de de de de (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3lcXUbvoK8) would be a regular busy where de de de de de de would be a fast busy. Remember when you’re reading the de’s consider the spaces. I know your saying it out loud and people walking by are wondering whether you’ve gone insane but it’s ok, it’s for a good cause)
If you heard a recording, what did it say?
Those are all the questions you would want to ask. If you are the one getting the dropped calls, you want to ask yourself the same questions.
So what do you do with all this helpful information? Well, you would want to call the Service department after you’ve gathered information from several calls and pass along your findings. Depending on how often it’s happening will determine when to call. Just figure on once you’ve gathered about 4 or 5 calls you could then call and this vital information will help our technicians troubleshoot the issue further.
Now that you are a certified “Troubleshooting Detective” you have the responsibility to help those who are crying at their desks because they have lost the most important call they had been waiting for. It’s your duty!
I will be back soon with other troubleshooting tips to continue your education as the “Troubleshooting Detective” you now are!
“It is a capital mistake to theorize before you have all the evidence. It biases the judgment.” – Sherlock Holmes
This post is in: Phone Systems | Be the first to comment!
POTS Lines ~ DSL Just acronyms or ?
Thanks for checking out our new Technocom blog! I thought my first blog would be about what I’ve been doing for over 20 yrs now. (somehow that makes me feel old) 
In a nutshell, if you have services from “the phone company” then you have Carrier Services. Almost every business has plain old telephone service (POTS) and a way to the internet, the faster the better for that matter! POTS is just that, “Here’s my number, give me a call, let’s do business.”, internet options are a little more varied, it’s all about SPEED! You could have the plain jane, slow poke dial up service, you know the one, your modem grabs the phone line and dials out to your intended party (using their IP address). Nothing worse than hearing the sound of the modem dialing out, death to all waiting in line behind them. I’ve noticed that any time I am making a purchase at a point of sale (POS) the sales person always apologizes, “Sorry, we still have dial up.” Guess it’s not really their fault. On to bigger and better things, Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) as it is most commonly known by. Much faster than dial up, speed varies depending on service location, phone line qualifications, network/internet congestion and other factors. la te da… I’ve seen customers qualify for 7meg, and some do not qualify at all. Not to worry, there is more than one way to get to the world’s largest computer network! It’s bigger, faster and better…. but that’s another blog topic. I’ll be back…stay tuned.
This post is in: Carrier Services | Be the first to comment!
Welcome to Technocom’s Blog!
We have started this blog site to assist customers, potential customers and just those with questions about our products, services or industry, gain additional information or discuss issues with one of our experts. Please feel free to comment, question or contact us with suggestions on how me might use this page to better serve you!
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