S4GRU

Both get smuggled up butts. Did I just say that? Robert via Galaxy Nexus using Forum Runner

Beaver Toyota (The local Toyota dealer) Robert via Galaxy Nexus using Forum Runner

bloody mess

That's exactly what I was thinking!!! Robert

I have considered it. But using IP Board gives us a great amount of support. I have a full time job outside of S4GRU, one that actually makes me money. Using IP Board to host the site allows them to manage my servers and network. They provide excellent server management, run interference with attacks and security, etc. They back up all our data for us. They install the software upgrades and provide me with live technical support 24 hours a day. We get our own dedicated server, and we get a redundant backup server. Even though there are some very inexpensive hosting solutions, they do not meet our needs at this time, within the dynamics of the resources we have to manage them. We used another company before IP Board, and our older members can attest to the very slow performance and server issues we consistently had. It turned people off from using S4GRU at peak times. And I was always having to monitor bandwidth usage. IP Board, it's unlimited because we pay a per average user cost. Other than just the cost aspect, IP Board has been an excellent move for us to date. I do thank you for the suggestion. It is something we may have to consider in the future if costs get out of line with what we can afford. But right now, I believe we are getting what we pay for out of IP Board and we all experience the benefits of it. Robert

I don't want to place a minimum. For a few reasons. We have a lot of college students and unemployed who are members. With this economy, I feel uncomfortable placing a minimum donation amount. Another big reason, I believe establishing a minimum will actually reduce donations. If I come across S4GRU and consider making a donation, I really have no idea how much to give. I think many people who don't know how much they should give and feel like they have to come up with an amount on their own, give $20 to $25 (as long as they can afford it). However, if we publish a minimum amount, a lot of these $20 to $25 givers would likely only give $5. If we ever set a minimum donation amount, givers would likely feel that is the amount we are looking from them. In reality, we need approximately $10 to $15 from every donator to meet our expenses, at the rate we are receiving donations. So we need those $20 to $25 donors very much. They help offset the $1 donors. Although, I reject donations less than a dollar as they do not even cover the PayPal fees. By my estimates, to equal the amount in ad revenue to the amount of sponsor donations we have now, we would have to quadruple our traffic. However, increasing our traffic quadruple increases our expenses. So we are nowhere near getting that to work out for us. Also, not being beholden to advertisers and ad clicks creates a much better forum. I think some of the other sites (like Sprint Users) feel like they have to kiss the butts of people they wouldn't really want around their forums because they need to keep the traffic counts up and ad revenue. So their site quality suffers mightily as a result. We focus on having a good environment for our members. And so far, our members have always stepped up to the plate and made sure we are financially solvent. The fact that I was nervous probably is more of an issue of my ultra conservative cash flow management style than it was a symptom of an actual problem. Robert

Even though it may not be likely, I like that our members are thinking outside the box. It seems that most innovation to pricing these days is coming from MVNO's. I could see one of them coming up with something like this. Robert

to S4GRU! Glad to have you join us. Hope to see you around. Robert

Thanks. And thank you for latest donation. The articles really dived off in May. I was really busy at work, and our writers also got really busy. I think donators are sending a message. They really like our articles. Robert

It was actually starting to get dire. We dropped below the three month expense projection window in May. The amount of one dollar donations (and even a few sub one-dollar donations) was really starting to impact our cash flow. Just when I was starting to feel uncomfortable, we have had about a half dozen new Premier Sponsors the past week or so. We are now just above our three month expense projection window with cash on hand. There seems to be a direct connection with article writing and donations. So any articles you can contribute is like cash in the bank to support S4GRU. I think we will plan a Sponsor chat soon and go over more specifics. Robert

Welcome to S4GRU. Sprint has not announced when they will get to "Parts Unknown" with Network Vision upgrades. Robert

music festival

I post updates when I get the info from sources. I like to get them at least weekly, but I don't have much say in the matter. Robert

And that is why I believe Sprint is blocking access to the LTE network. They don't want this issue discovered and go main stream in the press. I have been seeing over and over again Sprint say internally they were going to allow LTE to be discoverable by LTE devices at each site as they come online. And then right about the time the LTE Connectivity issue is discovered, they do a 360 degree about face and decide to institute a rushed and dire LTE blocking scheme. The LTE will not stop being blocked until they have a software solution to implement for the LTE Connectivity issue. Robert

There is over 1,000 sites now and growing by the day. Robert

Muffinman talks about it in this thread: http://s4gru.com/ind...e/page__st__100 I'm taking this, and another comment I read in another forum as validation for the LTE Connectivity issues we reported here: http://s4gru.com/ind...on-as-may-15th/ I'm thinking of writing an article on it. Sprint/HTC needs to get an OTA out fixing the issue and allow us all to connect to LTE poste haste. Robert

You can. I "purchased" a Google Wallet prepaid debit card right through my Google Wallet app. You can then add to it at any time. No need to go anywhere and purchase an actual card. Robert

tinted glasses

Yes...I try. And successful most of the time. But it only takes once... Robert

I think it is completely related to the EVO LTE connectivity issue, myself. Robert

A good lawyer will be able to skate by this one, since they have swiss cheesed these terms by so many memos and notifications that contradict it. Thanks for doing the leg work of digging it up. Robert

OK, now is the time for this thread, and in fact it's probably way overdue. I am starting this pinned thread as a running list, or a W.I.P. (Work in Progress). I will add to it when the Moderating Team and I come up with a new guideline, or if a new situation not addressed by these guideline occurs. Please note that how and when the guidelines are applied or enforced are up to the discretion of S4GRU, Administrators and Moderators. The severity of the offense and how it is handled is an area that S4GRU staff need flexibility based upon the circumstances involved. S4GRU MISSION STATEMENT: "To provide a forum for discussion and education about wireless spectrum, networks, and Sprint Network Vision, in particular, in an online community that is mature, intelligent, and free from uncritical negativity." The mission statement is very important to us, because it is the foundation for which all rules and guidelines stem from. S4GRU endeavors to maintain the mission statement as our core philosophy and only consider rules and actions in context within the mission statement. GUIDELINES: Insults and name calling. Insults, name calling, threats or overtly critical comments directed AT other members or staff are not permitted. Negative comments. We understand that Sprint's network suffers in many places, especially the legacy network. However, negative comments about Sprint or S4GRU must be constructive in nature, relevant to the topic and the conversation, illustrate facts, be made rationally and intelligently and cannot have an attack tone. Rants will not be allowed. We do not host Sprint complaints. Complaints about Sprint should be directed to their customer service channels. People come to S4GRU to discuss Network Vision deployment and do not want to sift through uninformative complaints to find useful information. Trolling is prohibited Respect your leaders. It is acceptable to discuss and even debate points with S4GRU Staff in forum posts and comments. S4GRU Staff includes Administrators, Contributing Authors and Moderators. However, overly aggressive, insulting or combative language that appears disrespectful of the all-volunteer S4GRU staff will not be tolerated. Here is a link to our current S4GRU Staff: http://s4gru.com/ind...50-s4gru-staff/ Multiple posts. It is not permissible to post a new thread in a category, and then post it again in another category because it seems relevant there too. Additionally, posting a question in one thread and re-posting it in other threads is also not allowed. An exception to this rule is if something new becomes relevant to multiple existing threads, it would be permissible to post the same thing or link in more than one thread. But the post must be relevant to the discussions in both threads. Content. S4GRU is not geared to the the general public, but rather to wireless enthusiasts who are generally adult aged. However, anyone may come along and read your comments, including children. Please do not exceed a "PG-13" content rating in your posts. Moderators and Staff may notify you of content they deem exceeds a PG-13 level. X-rated or obviously pornographic materials are prohibited and may be subject to post moderation, account suspension or being banned. Copyright. Posts/comments are required to maintain and protect the copyrights of other members, other sites and any other copyright holder. Please see this link for guidelines regarding posting articles from other websites. Sales/Spam. Promoting or actively selling goods or services in S4GRU threads, posts and comments is prohibited in all forms after June 12, 2012. Exceptions require Administrator approval in advance. Post/Comment Moderation. S4GRU Administrators, Moderators and staff reserve the right to edit, remove or put on moderation queue any post, comment or profile of any member at any time. Illegal, Unethical or Violative Content. It is not permissible to post content that helps to encourage or facilitate the breaking of, or circumvention of, laws, statutes, Terms & Conditions of U.S. domestic governments, companies or organizations. Some examples would include instruction how to break the law, evade law enforcement or how to bypass wireless companies network management controls. Creating multiple accounts. It is not allowed to create additional member accounts without prior permission from the Administrator. Creating multiple accounts may lead to you being disciplinary action including being banned, depending on what is done with additional account and severity. Problems at other 4GRU sites. We will consider allowing members who have been banned from other 4GRU sites to use S4GRU, depending on severity. Pre-approval is not required to create your S4GRU account, but you will be notified if it is decided your issues rise to the level that we will not allow a S4GRU account. If you continue to cause problems or threaten other 4GRU sites after creating your S4GRU account, your S4GRU account could receive disciplinary actions up to being banned or account termination. Sharing Sign In Credentials. It is not allowed to share your account sign-in credentials with other parties. Posting credentials in a public forum (sites like bugmenot.com, etc) is prohibited. Offenders found to be sharing or posting their accounts will be marked as spammers and their accounts terminated and banned. Private Messages. All rules/guidelines pertaining to threads, posts and comments also apply to Private Messages to other members, unless specifically exempted by S4GRU. Chat Room. All rules/guidelines pertaining to threads, posts and comments also apply to the S4GRU Chat Room (also known as The Lounge), unless specifically exempted by S4GRU. Social Media sites. All rules/guidelines pertaining to threads, posts and comments at S4GRU.com also apply to S4GRU Social Media sites, like Facebook, Twitter and Google+, where not in conflict to these sites Terms and Conditions. Speed Test Images. Posting examples of slow speed tests are not allowed. We all know slow looks like. We already know there are parts of the Sprint network that really stinks. Zero looks like zero, no matter how many times it is posted. Violative posts will be removed. Repeat offenders many be subject to further action by S4GRU Staff. Sponsor Content. Content posted by S4GRU (including data and maps) in Sponsor and Premier Sponsor sections are not for distribution or to be posted outside of Sponsor and Premier Sponsor forums. Exceptions to this are only to be given by the S4GRU Administrator and permission must be received in writing. S4GRU is dependent on donations to keep the site active. Violating these rules may cause S4GRU to not be able to raise the funds necessary to keep online. When violaters are discovered, their S4GRU accounts will be terminated and no refunds given. Donations. Donations to S4GRU are freely given by members to help support the significant costs of keeping S4GRU online and operating. S4GRU does not provide any guaranteed service or material goods in exchange for donations. Donations are not refundable, nor tax deductible. Anything that S4GRU provides to members after a donation, like access to maps or forums, is not a service and access is not guaranteed for any period of time. Donations are not required for membership, but S4GRU reserves the rights to limit memberships in the future for any reason. S4GRU can reject and refund donations for any reason and deny Sponsorship status.

You can only add a Google Wallet Pre-Paid MasterCard or a Citi MasterCard. The Google Wallet debit card is just a virtual card that you load with funds. Very easy to set up., Robert

I love that sentence. I don't know why... Robert