Page 4 - Florida Sentinel 7-30-19

Net Buddy May Not Be The Answer To
Your Internet Woes
James Ransom Declines Appointment To Mayor’s
Advisory Team
y now many people
have heard of Net Buddy. Net Buddy is a 4G hotspot service which cost $65.00 a month. The com- pany offers no data caps, no contracts and no credit checks for its service. The service however runs on the AT&T network, so to activate the service you must pur- chase a portable hotspot or a 4G router at www.net- buddy.co. If AT&T is not available in your area, you will need to purchase a Sims card from Amazon. The serv- ice can be then activated at Net Buddy with the Sims card number.
Net Buddy is growing in popularity because con- sumers are quickly becoming tired of the obligations they have with their current Inter- net Service Providers. Con- sumers sometimes will face consequences, if they decide to end the service with Inter- net Service Providers such as Frontier, Spectrum and Comcast.
To date there has been no large scale complaints about Net Buddy. Yet, many con- sumers, like myself, remain somewhat skeptical of the company which seems to be operating on a shoestring budget. The company also appears to be piggy-backing off the AT&T network with a private account.
Consumers, who have been using Net buddy have been raving about the service on YouTube and Facebook. Current customers seem gen- uinely pleased with the over- all speed and service the company offers to its poten- tial customers.
Net Buddy supporters es- pecially flock to the service for playing games and streaming media. The under- lining problem is a large amount of consumers these days are miserable with their current Internet Service Providers. Consumers are unhappy with the high prices and subpar services in gen- eral they receive from larger companies, which rake in bil- lions each year. Net Buddy may be here to stay or may fade away in a year or two, so buyers must always beware they are taking a risk.
Net Buddy promises speeds of up to 150mbps run- ning on their Net gear MR1100 Nighthawk mobile router. The router has an Ethernet port and two USB ports type A and C for media streaming from microSD.
You can also purchase the router from Best Buy for $249.99. Maybe in the future the company will offer free routers and a lower monthly charge for the service to con- tinue to grow. There are other less expensive routers you can buy as well, but must be compatible with the AT&T mobile service.
Eric Hall holds a Mas- ter’s Degree from the University of South Florida in Instructional Technology and Cyber- security Digital Foren- sics. He has been a computer technician for over 20 years. He is for- merly the manager and owner of Comptech PC, Inc. in Fort Pierce Florida. Follow him on Facebook.
Last Friday, July 26th, the Florida Sentinel printed a story prompted by a City of Tampa press release announcing Mayor Jane Castor’s ap- pointment of James Ran- som to Mayor Castor’s Workforce Development Advisory Team. While Mr. Ransom did initially consider accepting the in- vitation to join, he later sent an email to the Mayor’s office respect- fully declining the offer.
(See the excerpt below)
Dear Ms. Wilkes: “Please be advised that due to unforeseen circum- stances, I will not be able to serve on the Mayor's Workforce Advisory Team. Please thank Mayor Castor for consid- ering me and let her know that TOBA and our SMBG look forward to collabo- rating with her on all matters of common inter- est and mutual values to make Tampa a model city where African Ameri- cans, among others, can truly enjoy life, liberty and prosperity and
where diversity and eco- nomic inclusion, by race and gender is the norm. Please let her know that we are committed to these ideals and wish her well as she continues moving forward to achieve her vision and reach new milestones as the key elected leader of all of the people in the City of Tampa.”
When contacted Ran- som said he had received numerous emails and ap- preciated all comments of encouragement and con- cern. While he ultimately decided to decline, Ran- som said, the Tampa Or- ganization of Black Affairs (TOBA) and the Saturday Morning Breakfast Group (SMBG) will continue its efforts to work collabora- tively to build relation- ships with the Mayor and other key leaders.
Wedosonottogain notoriety but, instead to have uncompromised, un- filtered, non-ambiguous, unselfish, unapologetic, fact and data based direct and positive impact on the special interest of the Black community that we
represent.
TOBA and the SMBG
recognized long time ago that its charge is to lift our people up without the in- ference that any single person would benefit from the struggle to make things right.
Ransom said, TOBA and the SMBG’s contribu- tion to the collective ef- forts of many others is solely for the greater good of our people and we will not leave anyone behind along the way. We suc- ceed together.
Ransom cited that TOBA and the SMBG en- courages the importance of having Blacks serve on appointed boards, coun- cils and committees as doing so does help to build meaningful / long- term, quality relation- ships with key leaders to better represent the inter- est of the Black commu- nity.
TOBA and the SMBG attempted to recommend someone else in the Black community to serve on the referenced team, but was informed that the po- sition was non-transfer- able. We also need our people to be on the same page about matters of im- portance greater than the individuals involved, Ran- som said.
TOBA and the SMBG’s primary role is to make sure that African Ameri- cans equally benefit. Ran- som said, Blacks represent approximately 24% of the voting and tax- paying population. Our unity is our strength. When the African Ameri- can community agrees on anything for the right rea- son, we are in better pos- ture to effectively address our social, economic and political interest toward the betterment of the en- tire community. We need to have positive actions that are measurable, ac- countable and transpar- ent regarding the employment of and spending with African Americans, as well.
Mr. Ransom is a Board Member and Chairman of the Economic Develop- ment Committee of the Tampa Organization of Black Affairs (TOBA) and President of the Saturday Morning Breakfast Group (SMBG).
JAMES RANSOM Tampa
B
PAGE 4 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY TUESDAY, JULY 30, 2019