richy

Turn off 4G and you will get unthrottled edge which can be faster depending on the network but it's worth a try.

You shouldn't ever find yourself in that situation, not in Hawai'i unless you are extremely unlucky or it is your own fault. I'm not sure how familiar you are with Tsunamis, and I understand peoples natural fear (they deserve respect but not fear) especially given the Indonesian Tsunami, but it's something that happens pretty much yearly here. A tsunami is a series of waves or tidal surges caused by an underwater landslide (or half a volcanic island falling into the ocean, if this happens give up, half a continent would drown) which is caused by an earthquake. It takes a decent sized quake to even begin to trigger a tsunami, usually we don't start to worry until its above 7.3, then we only really worry about the 8+ ones. We do get local quakes in Hawai'i, quite frequently, but they are usually pretty small. This means any tsunami is very likely to be generated a serious distance away. A tsunami travels at about 550mph IIRC, about the speed of a 747. The most common places to trigger them for us is Japan and South America. This means we get about 8-11 hours notice. There are some quakes from the South Pacific and even Alaska but these are much rarer and still give us lots of notice. What happens is theres a big quake and NOAA starts to monitor, they check for tsunamis directly around the quake area and they check for movement in ocean bouys. If they see a risk they start to warn people. As I mentioned, I've never known us to have less than 6 hours notice. Plenty of time to ensure everyone is safe. I made sure our home was above the somewhat arbitrary line of safety. We have a kit for post tsunami just like many folks do for other disasters. Should it look like its a bigger wave I know a dirt track we can drive up to get higher. I totally understand why it frightens people and I'm not saying you shouldn't treat it with respect, but getting afraid normally generates more trouble and you honestly shouldn't ever find yourself running from a wave, you'd of had to ignore hours of sirens, warnings, police helicopters chasing you and god knows what else. There's always some muppet who goes out to try and surf it but they get dealt with. One of the safest places to be is actually out on the ocean, the wave is pretty small until it hits shallow water so its nothing if you are out at sea, all the skippers try and get their boats out if they have time. If you plan on visiting and it worries you, get yourself in a hotel with at least 8 floors, should there be a tsunami you will find yourself being escorted to a higher floor if the hotel is in a coastal location, you should be perfectly safe from anything other than an end of days type wave which is one of those once in a billion years type event. Same as sharks, we have plenty of them, I don't sweat my kids being in the ocean, they know where to go and where not to go and we don't go out after a storm, in overcast conditions or if the water is murky, you ensure you aren't the farthest one out and you don't make yourself look like a turtle by hanging your arms and legs off the side of a surf board. Every single shark attack here in recent years has had most or all of these factors. If the surf is good and the locals aren't out, theres a reason

Congrats on the wedding, if you are considering Maui give me a shout (was a wedding photog here) amd I can put you in touch with some decent coordinators and vendors. I wasn't kidding about the millenium falcon When you look at 0-60 times for mid to high end sports bikes theyre insane, sub 3 second, with the higher end bikes pulling until you hit 150, then wind resistance vs relatively low torque tend to slow them down. Braking is also pretty decent, cornering is the weak point vs cars but it has its own charm, with the bike cranked totally over you can carry some respectable speed and its huge fun opening the taps as you come out of a corner and have it squirm all over the place. If you like dirt biking you can find a really decent dual sport that will pull double duty, something like the drz 400 should have the chops for most road situations and do moderate trails AND you can find them used for cheaps. The kwaka DS 650 is a bit fat and old, depending n your build and strength it might not matter so much but the ktm kids will leave you for dead on trails, at least until they have to stop to do an oil change and replace whatever dohicky in the engine had broken. The best thing about bikes is the vast majority of riders are very friendly and helpful. With the exception of a few 'too cool for friends hardley' riders (and even most hardley riders are friendly) you always get a shaka here as you pass each other and if you see someone pulled up fixing something everyone stops to help. I got to ride a while back with an awesome old Japanese guy with an ancient (manual ignition retard old) import, just passed each other and stopped for a chat and went for a ride up Haleakala because it was a nice day. Watching craigslist can net you a bike seriously cheap, too many mid life crisis bikes on there. If you live in a state that allows you to restore your own writeoffs you can buy a crashed bike with mostly cosmetic damage and get it back on the road for 20%- 30% of its sticker price just minus the plastics.

Yeah the whole age and sex thing for insurance probably works when you have 20 million customers, but it doesn't work for all the people who don't fall into the stereotypes. Give a bike a shot sometime, even a $4k new 250cc sports bike can be a howl. Just be prepared to pay $2k for a decent helmet and leathers (plus gloves and boots) and take all the learning you can, spending less isn't worth it. DOT certified helmets that aren't snell or ec rated should be ignored. Also get yourself online and find a decent truck horn and fit that The only danger is bikes tend to make you go all red eyed millennium falcon at hyperspace crazy.

Thats pretty impressive insurance wise. My bike insurance is insanely low because I'm mid 30's and no accidents \ tickets etc but in Europe I would still pay a heft premium for supersports bike (a 2 wheeled evo in effect:) ). Only ever had one whoopsie and it was at just under 10mph and no one else was involved and no need for insurance. I totally understand re the prefer cars, frankly I would rather chew all my own skin off than trade in 2 wheels for 4, its like sex with rubber Safer but none of the feeling. Sadly she who must be obeyed nixed the sidecar idea. I'm toying with keeping a bike for fun, very little seems to beat getting your elbow down for stress relief and on a small bike you can have hideous fun without going too fast. I think I need to go discuss sidecars again.

I would love an evo Sadly I know how that story would end (becoming a structurally important member of a tree, much the same as why there isn't a zx14 sat in my parking stall right now. Whats the insurance like on that stateside? I know in the UK anything like that is crazy money. Do they penalize you as hard here?

Any ideas about what mods he has done? K&N air filter etc? It should already be running 0w20 which is basically baby oil. I'm thinking I will go and pester the dealers again next time we have a stormy day, see if they will let me do a 2 day test drive. Silly question but do dealers let you do extended test drives like that here? I know back home as long as you are a serious buyer they let you do extended tests. Even the Kawasaki dealership back home let me do 24 hour tests but they're a big risk for the dealership and it adds serious miles to their stock.

Not sure why I didnt mention them. I did have a drive, I love the looks. The cx5 could do with just a smidge more power, another engine option would be nice, a diesel would be awesome. I'll see how they are doing in a year with reliability as it is a new model and they are still finding their feet after the ford divorce. The new cx9 will be interesting, I'm hoping they add the toyota v6 to it along with a light & safe chassis and it should be a great contender. The cx5 is faster than the base forester and a chunk faster than the crv which is glacial (only reason I'm not really considering the crv, it was like swimming through concrete). Sadly at 6'3 (210 lbs so I guess a little over average build) the cx was verging on cramped but I didnt mess too much with the seat position. They advertise 32mpg highway and 27 combined. It is possible to beat the epa figures assuming everything is perfect but mixed driving and beating the highway figures? Not impossible but if you check on places like fuelly he is 4mpg better than anyone has reported for any kind of driving. I can't match the epa figures on my bike (I assume because they were set using a 90lb rider) but on a fun day I can half them. The only vehicle we have ever had that beat the epa figures was a small diesel back in the UK which pretty much returned the same economy no matter what speed or conditions. I miss 65mpg Please note that is a real gallon not the half fat gallon used stateside. Just as an aside, does anyone know why there are so many gallons? (imperial, wet, dry, us??) Just fud out the melanoma roof in the subaru eats up 3ft of cargo space

Just live up the hill to begin with It's pretty crazy watching a tidal surge fill and drain a bay entirely, we have been lucky in recent years that we have only had the surges and not waves! I wouldn't worry too much, just make sure you have water & food (plus some way to heat it if required) and you are fine as long as you get high enough. The scary thing is people panicking. I rode past Safeway once after the sirens had gone off and it looked like the Helmand province.

Thanks, yes it loses about 35bhp in order to stop the knocking, its only really a factor in the running cost rather than anything else. The real world MPG \ cost per mile of the turbo turns out to be fairly close to the highlander which was shocking given the extra bulk of the HL, but I also have to take into account the fact that the scooby turbo owners may be ragging it senseless for giggles which would drastically affect fuel economy.

Thanks again for all the comments, especially re AWD vs FWD I think the awd will just come down to whats on the lots and what I can negotiate. The turbo forester seems really rare here (and it requires premium which affects the cost per mile), I called and no tester and a wait list for it, makes the lot of fwd highlanders over the road look attractive. I'm just going to grab a maui cruiser from someone leaving the island and bide my time until the right deal comes along. Plus I get to keep the bike for the crazy weather and its reliability. The rumor for the pilot is it is getting an inch or two narrower and will get the mdx engine with a cvt for fwd which should make it fairly decent fuel wise, possibly best in class. The cx9 is also alledgedly getting redesigned this year although I have no idea what engine it will get, possibly they will buy in the toyota v6 as they have said no v6 skyactiv engine (maybe a 4 pot turbo or a large diesel?). It won't be fun filling it if things kick off with russia and gas goes up a few bucks a gallon.

Totally agree. On the last point however, the mere fact it might be useful to tmobile is all the reason at&t has ever needed not to. It makes sense that spectrum should be used and companies should be forced to swap or sell what they aren't using if they don't do it voluntarily for a fair price.

Whats the chances of survivng landing something like that on anything other than a well maintained runway. If there was an attempt to divert then ransom after a landing on an old 70's \ 80's russian strip in one of the stans or on hard dirt it would be pretty risky if not outright crazy right?

Sorry I thought there wouldnt be much more than basic gsm coverage over many of the potential areas for the plane and the additional altitude of the plane would make a connection less likely.

Doesn't plain jane gsm have a maximum range of about 35km due to timing, so being 10k ish up in the air would mean you would need to be closer (though not by 10k) to the tower, and although you would have LOS you would possibly also have clouds reducing the range.

4x4 and AWD is seriously popular out here. If you check out the local dealerships (excluding ford) they cant keep 4x or awd models in stock, but theres loads of fwd models. Honestly it's lack of real experience thats causing me to ask. I'm happy being out on the bike in anything, I've had one minor accident at ~5mph in 25 years, but cars are pretty new to me so apologies if its a dumb question. I know theoretically what awd should help with but reality can be very different. I know it cant help with braking etc but I was curious about how it helped in real world situations such as cornering at a sensible speed (say 20mph) and theres standing water on the road but under the water is a load of mud and gravel, is having driven rear wheels or the ability to cut power to the inside wheels going to help with stability? On a bike its fine, feet down and carry on. Apologies if I phrased my question badly, I wasn't trying to state it would mean I could drive in that, just curious if it would help to any meaningful degree. As odd as it sounds I am a little concerned that bikes have made me too indifferent to poor conditions as you can throw them around and you need far less road so you can change your line a lot, plus you can drop your feet and get through anything. Thank you for calling me on the stopping distances, again spoiled by bikes I think Hawai'i has been an odd experience driving wise, I do find myself needing to get the hell out of the way frequently. Either a swift stop off the road, heavy braking or lane changing or accelerating out of a situation. If AWD is not a significant advantage then honestly that works in my favor as I can get a hell of a deal on those lots full of fwd's no one wants. I thought it would also help on some of the back road, like the road to Hana via Kaupo which is basically a mud track for about 5 miles, in rain it is very hard to pass in a car. I've done it on the bike but I looked like a mud goblin, the mrs has done it in a car but only with the occasional stop and push and at very low speeds (beyond cautious slow) and shes a hell of a driver. There is another route but its full of tourists and takes even longer (in good weather the tourist route is 3 hrs, the back route is about an hour and 15 if I'm in a spirited mood and its dry). Given the feedback I think the best bet is to wait and see what Honda do with the Pilot then see what deal I can get on a fwd.

sorry subaru guess thats a euro thing

Thanks, the I have had a play with a Pilot and it is WIDE:) Maybe 4 inches wider than the highlander. Its an awesome vehicle and on the mainland I would buy one, hell if they shrink the width an inch or two on the new version it will be right up there with the highlander on my list. Sadly there are a lot of places here where width is an issue (both roads and parking), the scooby is on the list because it is something like 8 inches narrower than the pilot and 4 inches narrower than the highlander. Thanks for the heads up re reliability, was that the awd or fwd transmission they had issues with? I know the 2014 has been tightened up to reduce that wallowing and diving which was pretty intense. I have to admit I put Honda and Toyota above most other non luxury makes for reliability.

Help a motorcyclist out please! Apparently the time has come to buy one of those 4 wheeled coffins so I can ferry the kids about. I don't have much driving experience, although I have a couple of decades on two wheels in everything from snow and ice to tropical storms. I'm not looking for a true 4x4 for offroading, I'm considering if it is worthwhile to get an AWD to deal with the Hawai'i specific road dangers. In no particular order we have insane thunder storms, roads occasionally being covered in 2-3 inches of mud and pebbles, drunk tourists, drunker and or tired locals, tree branches on the road but luckily no ice (although we do get hail storms which are not fun on a bike). There will also be some driving on 'unimproved' roads, i.e. mud roads with stones driven into the top in most places, and 60 year old beat up road surface, but no jeep esque back roads. I've played about with 4x4's in my youth but never an AWD. I know there are costs to awd, both the initial cost, maintenance and fuel economy but I'm curious how much it would help with our road conditions. I pretty much have to be out no matter what the conditions, I can't do the stay at home and wait it out thing. I'm also used to pretty decent acceleration (circa 6-7 seconds to 60) which I have found very useful here, far more so than home which limits what I am going to buy (crv, rav4 etc are out). Right now a highlander is top of the list with a forester 2.0T in second place. Next years pilot redesign might be a contender if they make it a bit narrower. I know AWD won't help with lateral traction much if at all but it should help a little with driving out of a problem or a sudden loss of traction on one side. I will be test driving everything but unfortunately they don't let you test it in crazy conditions or by bombing around the back road to Hana. Just wondering what your experiences with AWD are. Any advice would be very much appreciated. Obviously as the kids are going in it safety is a huge concern (and youd be amazed what vehicles dont do well in crash tests, ford escape, rav 4 etc) and reliability is important given repair costs here are silly. Thanks in advance!!

So true! ARPU means very little without ACPU as well. If you can grow Pirate Poop without growing your ACPU as much then you are golden, if you grow ARPU but your ACPU rises faster for a prolonged period then you are doing something wrong. Sprint fy2013 Post paid branded arpu = 64.07, tmobile = 50.70 churn, sprint post paid branded = 1.93% tmo = 1.7% So Sprint makes more money per sub (probably a mix of less discounting and higher package sells rather than like for like value, i.e. sprint customers buy higher packages rather than sprint being more expensive for the same thing). The churn difference, in favour of tmobile is likely to do with Sprint taking a knock for NV not being completed yet and Legererers whoring his network into the ground offering unsustainable packages (as we have seen with the recent price increase) just to fluff the figures and make a buyout pay more plus he will hit higher incentive payouts. Sprint is investing heavily and is doing ok subscriber wise, once they can slow down on the capex they can fight harder financially for subs and have a network that keeps them. Plus when there is disruption in the market (and 2013 has been disruptive with the pricing shakeups) there will be people wandering between companies. There is always a fair degree of churn in the cellular market, it's a fairly competitive market and whilst Sprint's is a little high tmobiles has been far higher in recent years. As a comparison, I worked for a cable company in Europe, we did landlines, cellular, cable tv and internet, our voluntary churn was usually circa 2% and involuntary was a little lower around 1.8%, adding cellular into the mix dropped both by about .3%, the recession actually dropped both down close to 1%, People actually made sure they paid their bill because it was cheaper than going out to party which they couldn't afford due to the recession. Churn is important, but theres usually a hell of a lot of things affecting it some of which you don't even think possible. Every iphone release quarter our invol churn went up by a noticeable bump as halfwits decided not to pay their cable bill so they could afford the latest iphone bill.

What browser are people using as some browsers (opera?) can route traffic via their own servers to compress images and save data? Some uk isp's also did this but you could turn it off, this was back in the days of edge connections.

Tmobile changed to only allow very selective access to roaming. There is very little chance of that 301m number being vaguely accurate. I very much doubt that tweet or related comments actually came from Legererer, not to defend the annoying little tit, but it will have come from marketing and or whatever minion has the password to his twatter account. There are large areas in Hawai'i (on Maui alone there is ZERO coverage in North or East Maui and very spotty coverage via a whip antenna upcountry and no coverage between central and west Maui, unless you count 911 coverage via at&t which adds some of that back) where there is no tmo signal but there is at&t but you cannot roam at all anywhere I have found (hell you cannot even pay to roam which sucks). 301m would require almost universal coverage of the entire country, including all aboriginals in Alasksa, Hawai'i and the c48. I really just don't see it happening. Even if you said it's just for zero bars of voice coverage when you are stood on the roof of your house with a 65gb gain amp and a yogi, with the best will in the world, it wouldn't be close to 301. I think someone is double counting some roaming coverage somewhere i.e. they are adding tmobile and at&t and a regional where the at&t and regional overlap. That or the marketing team spent the night snorting the dust out of the vacuum cleaner filter and just spewed that number out when asked. Perhaps they just cover 1m people in Maryland (301) and misread the statement?

It would be interesting to see if the FCC could force sprint to increase coverage over time as part of the deal. In theory they can request them to purchase dancing pink hippos and teach them Norwegian. I like how Son is playing this. There are significant savings \ economies of scale and I think customers could also benefit from a merged network in the longer term. It's good to see that it isn't too difficult to merge them. If anything just bump the LTE bands over to Sprint and give everyone 2 years to buy a cdma \ lte phone, subsidized if required, then that frees up more of tmo's spectrum for sprint lte. At least if it happens it shouldn't be too traumatic, and if a full merger doesn't happen there could be some sense in a network sharing agreement to cut costs and use the savings to increase coverage and capacity (obviously there would need to be safe guards to prevent one pinkish carrier destroying network quality).

I see 3 things potentially that would happen. 1- Immediate synergies - or basically firing people where there is overlap, consolidating stores, back of house departments etc. Also the added bulk allows for savings on purchasing. This is probably the quickest thing we could see, a drop in price related to savings here. 2- quint or hexaband phones to straddle both networks. This would go some way to helping in some areas. The networks don't have to be joined at the base station if the handsets can use both. This is likely a 9 month lead time. 3- Physically merging both networks to save money on redundant sites or increasing density - this obviously would be on the 2-5 year scale but it isn't the only benefit, the other two would be significant in themselves (sadly very significant for those losing their jobs). Thanks for all the comments re the network merging

On a NV site, what would be involved with integrating tmo's PCS \ AWS network? If a merger were to happen Sprint could save a lot of money by divesting tmo sites where they are effectively the same location. New RRU's, New Antenna etc? As I understand it, NV sites are designed to be pretty versatile and being able to consolidate would mean more money could be diverted to establishing new sites elsewhere or buying smaller regional carriers for filling gaps.