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This site is a member of WebRing. To browse visit here. Tuesday, April 03, 2007 Whooee, gonna have broadband again. Sort of. I got so disgusted with Direct TV's allegedly highspeed satellite internet service last year that I canceled it. Since I'm an agent for one of the local ISP's, I had free dial-up service anyway, and though it's slow as molasses out here nine miles from the nearest telco central office, the price far outweighed the disadvantages.But I kept hearing about another satellite provider, Wild Blue. So I looked them up, liked what I saw, and filled out their little form to be contacted by a dealer. And then I waited. And waited. And waited. About a month went by, and I was afraid it was going to take so long for someone to get back to me that I wouldn't qualify any more for the promotional pricing. So I went back to their website to find the dealer's name, intending to contact them directly. Uh-oh. No more list of dealers for this area. Instead, I got a brief statement that installations were not being performed in this area at that time. They would "let me know" when service was again available. I said something unprintable under my breath and went back to working on my inspections.Today, here was an email from them saying that service was again available here, and would I please fill out the form again if I was still interested. Better believe I was. It just took over half an hour to upload twenty-two images. That's bad enough when I only have two stores to complete. When I have thirty (not an unusual situation), it's next to impossible. I was hauling the laptop into the coffee shop in town to use their not-always-reliable more-or-less high speed internet (speed depending on how many other people were trying to use it at the same time, reliability depending on where you were sitting). Wild Blue's lowest cost option gets you only 512kbps download and 128kbps upload, which is still slow as molasses compared to cable internet or a really good DSL line. But it's twice as good as what I have now. The only serious problem with satellite internet is that you're extremely limited in the number of concurrent connections you can have without slowing the whole works down to a crawl. When Nick was living here, I would have to ask him to exit from his browser when I needed to upload images, because even having one other browser open on the network was too much. That was on Direct TV, but I suspect that Wild Blue will have the same problem.Off to get tomorrow's paperwork ready. posted by Liz @ 8:34 PM | The template is set to display 10 posts. To see all the posts for this month, click on the month name in the Archive section RSS Feed PERSONAL Send email toliz at life-as-a-spectator-sport.com Home I'm a mother, grandmother, a computer professional, Democrat, Christian. I welcome politely worded comments and email, my spam filter throws the rest away, so don't bother to flame me WHY 'LIFE AS A SPECTATOR SPORT' "If you're lucky not to live in the gutters of a slum, but still can't afford to take vacations in the Alps, you're part of that enormous middle class who lives life through the medium of the television, further separated from "real" life by air conditioner, by automobile, by dishwasher, microwave and ice-in-the-door refrigerator, by automatic washer and dryer, and all the other appliances and conveniences that make it possible for America to live life at second hand. I'm not sure why Americans decided that televised drama was better than the real thing, that cardboard microwave food containers were an adequate substitute for real dishes, and their contents for real food, or that cooking, dishwashing and face-to-face conversation wasn't worth the effort and time it required. Someone fed this nation a plastic crate of out-of-season tomatoes and told us it was life and we took them at their word, and we're so much the poorer for it that it's hard to know where to start to list the shortcomings." I wrote this a couple of years ago, but I have to admit it's much less amusing than I thought it would be to see the artifical construct falling apart. THE NON-ELECTRIC HOME Cleaning, 1 Cleaning, 2 Cleaning, 3 KNITTING BLOGS Extravayarnza Knitting Heretic Mind of Winter Pie Knits Persistent Illusion See Eunny Knit The Keyboard Biologist Taleweaver's Ramblings TECHnitting Wendy Knits FINISHED PROJECTS -------FINISHED IN 2006------- Peruvian Cap Tutti-Frutti Socks Shelley's Socks Carol's Socks -------FINISHED IN 2007------- Chain Link Socks Baby Surprise Jacket Valerie & Friend Baby Bonnet Rainbow Baby Socks Girls Pixie Hood Mitred Square Heart Red & White Socks Coffee Cup Pot Holder Nubbins Dishcloth Garterlac Dishcloth Suede Booties Kate's Socks Norwegian Sweet Baby Cap Half Thumbless Mittens Red Mittens for Akkol -------FINISHED IN 2008------- SELF-RELIANCE AND THE FUTURE -- Blogs and websites -- Causubon's Book Club Orlov Food Storage Made Easy From the Wilderness In the Wake Listening to Katrina Survival Topics The Modern Homestead The Oil Drum Notes from a Hillside Farm -- Mailing Lists -- 12vdc Power Living on the Land Rainwater Refrigeration Alternatives Old Ways of Living POLITICAL BLOGS and SITES The political sites have moved BOOKS I'M READING How to Grow More Vegetables, etc. Small Scale Grain Raising ARCHIVES February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 August 2008 July 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 April 2003 March 2003 February 2003 January 2003 December 2002 November 2002 October 2002 September 2002 August 2002 July 2002 June 2002 May 2002 April 2002 March 2002 February 2002 Feedjit Live Blog Stats
I got so disgusted with Direct TV's allegedly highspeed satellite internet service last year that I canceled it. Since I'm an agent for one of the local ISP's, I had free dial-up service anyway, and though it's slow as molasses out here nine miles from the nearest telco central office, the price far outweighed the disadvantages.But I kept hearing about another satellite provider, Wild Blue. So I looked them up, liked what I saw, and filled out their little form to be contacted by a dealer. And then I waited. And waited. And waited. About a month went by, and I was afraid it was going to take so long for someone to get back to me that I wouldn't qualify any more for the promotional pricing. So I went back to their website to find the dealer's name, intending to contact them directly. Uh-oh. No more list of dealers for this area. Instead, I got a brief statement that installations were not being performed in this area at that time. They would "let me know" when service was again available. I said something unprintable under my breath and went back to working on my inspections.Today, here was an email from them saying that service was again available here, and would I please fill out the form again if I was still interested. Better believe I was. It just took over half an hour to upload twenty-two images. That's bad enough when I only have two stores to complete. When I have thirty (not an unusual situation), it's next to impossible. I was hauling the laptop into the coffee shop in town to use their not-always-reliable more-or-less high speed internet (speed depending on how many other people were trying to use it at the same time, reliability depending on where you were sitting). Wild Blue's lowest cost option gets you only 512kbps download and 128kbps upload, which is still slow as molasses compared to cable internet or a really good DSL line. But it's twice as good as what I have now. The only serious problem with satellite internet is that you're extremely limited in the number of concurrent connections you can have without slowing the whole works down to a crawl. When Nick was living here, I would have to ask him to exit from his browser when I needed to upload images, because even having one other browser open on the network was too much. That was on Direct TV, but I suspect that Wild Blue will have the same problem.Off to get tomorrow's paperwork ready.
The template is set to display 10 posts. To see all the posts for this month, click on the month name in the Archive section
RSS Feed
PERSONAL
WHY 'LIFE AS A SPECTATOR SPORT'
"If you're lucky not to live in the gutters of a slum, but still can't afford to take vacations in the Alps, you're part of that enormous middle class who lives life through the medium of the television, further separated from "real" life by air conditioner, by automobile, by dishwasher, microwave and ice-in-the-door refrigerator, by automatic washer and dryer, and all the other appliances and conveniences that make it possible for America to live life at second hand. I'm not sure why Americans decided that televised drama was better than the real thing, that cardboard microwave food containers were an adequate substitute for real dishes, and their contents for real food, or that cooking, dishwashing and face-to-face conversation wasn't worth the effort and time it required. Someone fed this nation a plastic crate of out-of-season tomatoes and told us it was life and we took them at their word, and we're so much the poorer for it that it's hard to know where to start to list the shortcomings." I wrote this a couple of years ago, but I have to admit it's much less amusing than I thought it would be to see the artifical construct falling apart.
THE NON-ELECTRIC HOME
Cleaning, 1 Cleaning, 2 Cleaning, 3
KNITTING BLOGS
Extravayarnza Knitting Heretic Mind of Winter Pie Knits Persistent Illusion See Eunny Knit The Keyboard Biologist Taleweaver's Ramblings TECHnitting Wendy Knits
FINISHED PROJECTS
SELF-RELIANCE AND THE FUTURE
POLITICAL BLOGS and SITES
BOOKS I'M READING
How to Grow More Vegetables, etc. Small Scale Grain Raising
ARCHIVES
February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 August 2008 July 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 April 2003 March 2003 February 2003 January 2003 December 2002 November 2002 October 2002 September 2002 August 2002 July 2002 June 2002 May 2002 April 2002 March 2002 February 2002
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