Just ran down to my local Eckards for a pack of cigarettes. They had signs on all of the registers saying that they could not accept ATM/Debit cards due to a satellite problem. They could accept charge cards.

What gives? I'm techno-stupid when it comes to satellites.

R.

-- Roland (nottelling@nowhere.com), May 10, 1999

Answers

Rpland ... Was on a thread yesterday that gov was taking ONE satellite off line for testing, BUT that this was only a backup to the 26 others they have. Supposed to need only 24 to " locate the lost ", so don't know but that a little information to the wrong sheeple will cause a small panic, OR , just a coincidence !! Eagle

-- Hal Walker (e999eagle@freewwweb.com), May 10, 1999.

Sounds as if they have rented a couple transponders and are using an earth station to uplink data to their bank, rather than using land lines. Works well when it works, gives trouble when it doesn't. Guess they don't like the high cost of a T1 connection - or maybe they just aren't available in your area.

Could be any of a dozen things that have killed their connection - high wind twisting the dish mount, lightening strike, mice nibbling cables (yes, the damn little pests do that) or any of a dozen other nasties. Could even be ants in the LNB - most have a condensate 'weep' hole in the bottom, and tiny grease ants will sometimes try to nest in there. Since they just moved into a tuned resonance cavity, they screw up the signal in a hurry.

Or it could be the router or the modem, or they may be sending voice as well as data and the MUX is messed up. Who knows?

-- Paul Davis (davisp1953@yahoo.com), May 10, 1999.

Paul,

Can you come fix my cable? The local cable guy can't seem to figure out why I can't receive certain channels. They've given up. I have ants in my yard. Think they've set up housekeeping?

Or--maybe it's my darn groundhog. . .

:)

-- FM (vidprof@aol.com), May 10, 1999.

A single problem at any single site could mean anything, or nothing.

Don't try to link everything to Y2K, but DO use this example as a way to find "links" between things you'd otherwise not know about. In this case, your card (VISA/AMEX/MC/ATM) is going thru a satellite to get somewhere else for approval and accounting.

Nuff said. For your card to be accepted next year, and your account to be properly debited, the whole chain has to work properly.

-- Robert A. Cook, PE (Kennesaw, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), May 10, 1999.

My cable TV was out for two hours this morning and our power has been flashing on and off for a month.

The cable TV goes out almost daily now. Lots of wierd things going on all at once.

Paranoia is a heightened state of awareness......

GEE GEE

-- GeeGee (GeeGee@madtown.com), May 10, 1999.

I have a debit card with a MC/VISA logo which is accepted at ANY retailer who has a MC/VISA capability as it process as a credit card. i also have an atm card which does not. It would be instructive to know if they could process the one WITH the logo and not the one without, or if they were blowing smoke and were processing the credit cards off-line and planning on running the whole batch at a later time.

chuck

PS ANY ATM/Debit card with a VISA or MC logo on it processes as a credit card through the retailer's normal clearing house. (with the usuall attendant usurious fees, etc.)

-- chuck, a Night Driver (rienzoo@en.com), May 10, 1999.

Chuck; There is usally a floor limit by which you can accept the card up to an amount if the system is down. It is usualy $75-$100

-- FLAME AWAY (BLehman202@aol.com), May 10, 1999.

I just love to spell!

-- FLAME AWAY (BLehman202@aol.com), May 10, 1999.

FM - check the cable for sharp bends around corners. There is a common phenomena called "channel suckout" that occurs when the bandwidth of the cable is reduced by such bends. Takes out the top and bottom three or four channels. Also make sure the cable is not spliced except inside the house - water and dirt get in the splices. And you should not change cable size except after the box - sounds like you are talking about a DBS receiver and they want RG-8 throughout.

-- Paul Davis (davisp1953@yahoo.com), May 10, 1999.