T-Mobile

For the longest time, AT&T/Cingular was the only GSM cellphone carrier available in North Carolina. The only other major GSM carrier in the U.S. is T-Mobile, but the only way you could use T-Mobile here was to order a phone (and phone number) in a neighboring state and use it in roaming mode here. I hoped for T-Mobile as their rates were significantly cheaper than Cingular’s.

A billboard told me T-Mobile now offers service here in North Carolina, which is great. I believe they bought SunCom when AT&T bought all of Cingular.

While I’m happy with my super-cheap pay-per-use mobile plan, I’m glad there is now some GSM competition here in North Carolina.

No IPv6 love – yet

I tried configuring my Hurricane Electric IPv6 tunnel last night but could not get out anywhere. Using ping6 to ping a site such as ipv6.google.com gave me a “network down” message, yet the sit interfaces are up and I can ping HE’s gateway.

I noticed when I configure the tunnel on the HE page that I get packets from their gateway of type PROTO=41. Anyone know what these are all about?

I’ll have to dig into things a bit further when I have more time (i.e., not this week).

Earthlink’s IPv6 project ending tomorrow!

No sooner do I get prepped to jump into Earthlnk’s IPv6 project that I learn that tomorrow the project comes to an end. The project’s sponsor was given notice of his impending layoff from Earthlnk in February and tomorrow is his last day.

Fortunately, I found another free source of IPv6 addresses, Hurricane Electric’s Tunnelbroker.Net. Tunnelbroker’s forums seem to be chock-full of good IPv6 information, too. It looks like Tunnelbroker will get me into IPv6 with the exception of not providing the low latency my tunnel would’ve had being on the native Earthlink network.

Anniversary recap

Kelly and I had a great anniversary. We exchanged gifts in the morning, chatted throughout the day, and spend the evening together … with our kids! Hallie had her very first soccer game after work and a Conn Elementary Open House right afterward.

Hallie seemed to take to soccer. She loves it! Her team scored five goals so there was the thrill of victory. Actually, one girl on Hallie’s team scored every goal, or at least she seemed to. Hallie told us at bedtime she wants to become an “Olympic soccer champion.”

The open house was fun, but PTA meetings are PTA meetings. Its tough keeping the kids busy while PTA work is being done.

Hallie drew a “family tree” picture yesterday in class. She wrote “today’s my Mom and Dad’s anniversary.” Last night Hallie’s teacher congratulated us on our anniversary. Its true there are no secrets that first grade teachers do not learn.

Hallie also wrote about her soccer game that night. “I hope my Daddy can come,” she wrote.

I’m so glad I could.

DARE

Here’s another song that’s wormed its way into my head thanks to Pandora

DARE
Gorillaz
(Youtube)

It’s coming up
It’s coming up
It’s coming up
It’s coming up
It’s coming up
It’s coming up
It’s coming up
It’s DARE

It’s DARE

You’ve got to press it on you
You just think it
That’s what you do, baby
Hold it down, DARE

Jump with them all and move it
Jump back and forth
And feel like you were there yourself
Work it out
Continue reading →

Not so Great Atlantic Warranty

Got a mystery call to my mobile phone from a number which does not exist: 760-204-8438. I get so pissed off when I pay for Great Atlantic Warranty to spam my mobile phone.

In related news, many unhappy customers are flocking to my website, looking to vent about this untrustworthy company. If you’ve been called by them please weigh in!

Update 22 Oct 2008: Word on the street is that Great Atlantic Warranty is now North American Warranty Solutions.

First WRT54G, then native Linux?

While I can start using IPv6 on my WRT54G, I found this on Earthlink’s IPv6 FAQ:

18. Why do I even need to use a WRT54G for this? It seems to me I could accomplish the same thing using my Linux or FreeBSD box.

You’re right, you could. But it involves some pretty serious Unix System Administration skills. You have to know how to configure IPSEC, how to configure DHCPv6, how to configure route advertisements, how to configure IPv6 routing, and several other things. And it would be very difficult for us to help people debug their configurations as they tried to get it all to work.

Ah, a challenge! I am well-versed in IPSEC configuration. I live and breathe it, actually. And I can pick up DHCPv6 fairly quickly. The IPv6 routing and advertisements would be all new to me, but with the help of my buddy Greg it could happen.

This could turn into a very interesting TriLUG presentation! I don’t think Earthlink even requires one to be their customer to use this, so anyone with an Internet connection could conceivably get IPv6 addresses through this program. And Earthlink doesn’t mind as it doesn’t cost them anything. Pretty cool!