From The Report
I love broadband. Ya know, when I have access to it. For some odd reason, our new complex management decided to go with a different service provider. Instead of fractional access to a T1, I'm now being forced to go through Verizon's DSL. Yeah, my thoughts exactly. To top it off, they decided to kill our current access point without making sure the other one was fully set up. Boo, CityLofts! I'm composing this issue mid-afternoon on my Pocket PC at Peet's. I'm not even online; I dread going home to face a less than 56k connection. I didn't even bother to put a modem in Storm Shadow, ya know. It's not too late, I realize - but going from cheetah speed to slug pace is unbearable. I don't even wanna try a slower patchwork solution, thus avoiding the “waiting game” frustration in the first place. I owe Roland a nice dinner; he's graciously offered his more-than-adequate onramp until I can find a suitable (wired or wireless) replacement. And the thing is: our lease is up in a couple of months. Finding any kind of short term connectivity contract will be next to impossible.
We're heading down to Fry's again tonight. I have to return that misfit power supply. En route, I'm going to dictate my CPU article to Gretchen. I'd type it myself, but I get carsick easily. Have you subscribed to that yet? If not, you should - and I'm not just saying that because we get a finder's fee for every qualified reference. This is a rock-solid monthly periodical that has garnered smashing reviews from both technology enthusiasts and pragmatists. Pick up a copy at your local grocery store; if you like what you see, then have it delivered to your home or business address. Some say that they get 90% of their information online - but what happens if you're not online when you need your fix? Believe me, I'm speaking from experience. I love downloading eBooks to my PDA, and I love having a computer magazine on hand at all times. You never know when it'll save you from certain boredom. I just can't read 'em while I'm moving. But that's what radio is for, right? I gotta go. I'm going through massive baud withdrawal.
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6 Comments
Anonymous
June 4th, 2002
at 9:48am
Perhaps I'm just not living in a big enough city, but I've never heard of any type of apartment complex or building ever going completely with one type of internet service. I run cable here, my neighbour has DSL, the guy above me has DSL, and the landlord has cable… And although the only ISP there is for DSL here is the phone company, me and the landlord have different ISP's for our cable… *Shrugs* But I do sympathize with your lack of baud. I know all too well how frustrating it can be.
Anonymous
June 4th, 2002
at 10:49am
I live in an apartment complex, too and we are not restricted to one broadband service provider; the access is limited to only which service provider serviced the area/town… I have both a 56k dialup and the broadband connect ..but without broadband life would suck…
Hopefully, something will change in the next few days.. ?
Good luck!
Anonymous
June 4th, 2002
at 11:31am
Even Des Moines, IA has some of those around now.. I know one of firsts was the Brown Lofts.. They had prewired all the lofts so they could provide a ISP for the tenants, and I think a few of the bigger apt complex property owners have also started to dabble in providing it..
/d
Anonymous
June 4th, 2002
at 2:10pm
Well you know my opinions on Verizon DSL. Having all of my e-mails branded with their incoming POP3 server information (and having to override it in the reply-to field for my 'vanity' addresses to even be used) is one of the biggest pains in the [bleep!] I've ever encountered! But until just recently…it's the only high-speed access offered in our area. And now that Road Runner is filtering in and we're on DirecTV, well, who knows. Hope you're back up and connected soon!
Anonymous
June 4th, 2002
at 8:09pm
Chris, I've had Verizon DSL since last September, and have had only one instance of trouble with them. Fast fast fast, too. And no branded e-mail. I suspect if you hound them they will give you access without requiring a one year contract.
Best of luck with whatever you do. I know how horrible it is to go back to dail-up (and I suspect that is what the broadband providers count on!)
Vicki
Anonymous
June 4th, 2002
at 8:59pm
Vicki, how did you manage to get user.name@verizon.net off your sent e-mails (for instance, my e-mails do not come from my vanity robyn @ whollymatrimony.com account but rather the Verizon address and I have to override it with “reply-to”)? Ours will not send if we don't use their POP3 info. I have a friend who works tech support (one of the main call centers is here in Tampa), and have been told it's a company-wide policy after the GTE switch, with no known work-around other than using web-based mail.