keenmaster486 wrote on 2026-02-20, 04:02:

rmay635703 wrote on 2026-02-20, 03:33:

It was always a mistake to eliminate the emergency backbone of the country, pots, which technically could support higher transfer rates than it did but the tech was abandoned

There's nothing I wish more than that there were still a functional true copper telephone network.

Same here, it seems like it has been phased out globally.

I have no experience with it personally, but this discussion reminds me that I have wanted to tinker with meshtastic and to get some local friends onboard too. It could definitely be jammed if the government or someone else doesn't want people to use it, but it is an AES256 encrypted wireless communication (via text) method that does not rely on public infrastructure and isn't real expensive to get started with. You need electricity of course, but that is something that a person can provide themselves (generators, solar, etc.) where as even old school copper land line phones require infrastructure that is easily damaged and that individuals can't operate on their own.

Ozzuneoj wrote on 2026-02-20, 09:14:

I have no experience with it personally, but this discussion reminds me that I have wanted to tinker with meshtastic and to get some local friends onboard too. It could definitely be jammed if the government or someone else doesn't want people to use it, but it is an AES256 encrypted wireless communication (via text) method that does not rely on public infrastructure and isn't real expensive to get started with. You need electricity of course, but that is something that a person can provide themselves (generators, solar, etc.) where as even old school copper land line phones require infrastructure that is easily damaged and that individuals can't operate on their own.

Meshtastic works great depending on the use.

If you are less worried about encryption but just want short range comms with your community a GMRS license is only $35 dollars or so.

Ozzuneoj wrote on 2026-01-14, 16:03:

You know, I was just thinking... […]
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You know, I was just thinking...

I wonder how the memory "shortage" is going to impact the warranty and RMA process for RAM.

I have had to replace more defective sticks of DDR4 in active service in the past two years than I have ever had to replace any other type of RAM in a span of probably 15 years. Not sure if anyone else has experienced this, or if it's just been a fluke. When it was only like $15-$20 for 8GB, it wasn't even worth thinking about setting up an RMA. Now though... you can bet more people are going to bother doing an RMA any time something is wrong.

So, how are companies going to deal with that? Most have been offering lifetime warranties on consumer RAM for many years. How many free $300-$900 sets of RAM are companies going to send out there before they start having to make "adjustments" to their RMA system? Don't be surprised if people start getting denied memory replacements for cosmetic damage due a tiny scuffs or scratches.

Just wanted to mention, I just saw a news article about this happening in Australia.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Buyer-denied-DD … .1246160.0.html

DDR5 RMA replacement was denied, with the retailer only offering a refund for the original cost... which likely isn't even 1/4 of the amount required to replace the product. They come right out and say that because the exact kit is no longer available and current product SKUs are priced higher (durr) it would qualify as an "upgrade" and they aren't required to do that. So, the customer is left to foot the bill to replace defective products that are still under warranty, rather than the retailers or the manufacturers. To add insult to injury, they kept the whole kit rather than just the defective stick, and they won't return it. So the customer doesn't even have one stick to work with.

The retailer\manufacturer gets one good stick to refurbish\repackage and resell for 4x the original sale price and they probably get to sell another inflated kit to the same guy so he can get his computer working. Seems like a pretty good deal for everyone but consumers.

Australia's warranty laws seem quite a bit different than what we have in the US, with the retailer being responsible for RMAs, at least in some cases. I will be curious to see how long it takes before we start seeing the same thing happen here.

I keep a shit list for companies and people, it works great for keeping stress and complications off my back for what little I have control of anyway.

As it says in the article, in Australia consumers can choose repair, replace, or refund of a product that fails in the warranty period. The customer gets to choose. Umart (never heard of them) is breaking the law by not following the customer's choice. It's the retailer's problem of how to carry out the customer's decision.

So yes, shitty company trying to hoodwink the customer.