Friday, July 06, 2007

Off-Line


My blog today is more of a rant. I apologize in advance. It’s just....well, you know if you read this blog often enough that several of us are internet addicts. Addicts! I mean, my icon has a computer mouse in it for goodness sake! I check my email every 5 minutes the entire time I’m at work and several times throughout the evening at home. At the old house, I had cable internet. Very speedy - 8.0, I think. Not super-reliable – every time someone digs up the wire, the whole neighborhood goes down, but they’re usually pretty quick at fixing it.

The new house was close enough to town that I could now get DSL, which is a little cheaper and I could bundle it with my phone, cellular and satellite service to save money and get some cash back bonus. I closed on the house Wednesday, had an appointment to turn on the phone Thursday and an appointment to setup the DSL Friday. All lined up in the neat and orderly way I do things. Thursday of last week there is a card on the door that says there’s no phone lines available and it will be setup within 5 days. I had to cancel the DSL appointment, of course.

Tuesday was 5 days. Wednesday was a holiday. I call this morning for a status as I still have no phone. They tell me its going to take another 2 weeks. 2 WEEKS!! That’s just for the phone. Then I have to get on the schedule for the internet installation. No way. Can’t do it. I don’t care if they have to run the phone cable from the phone company building 20 miles to my house – this is unacceptable. It’s a new subdivision, they should be equipped to handle the new houses coming in. They, of course, are not very apologetic about it. What am I going to do about it, right? Can't very well call and complain with no phone.

So I call my old cable company and decide to reup my cable internet and add the new online phone service – something like Vonage, I guess. Same price as the other guys, but includes unlimited long distance and all the bells and whistles. They can get out to install the internet on the 12th, the phone on the 17th. Not great, but better. We have cell phones, so the internet is the most important (read above: internet addiction!).

First time in my life I’ve said this, I think, but thank goodness for work! At least I can check email and blog from there. Poor DB has no access at all, forcing us to make several trips a week to visit my mother and use her computer. His internet addiction is far worse than mine and he is getting quite crabby. Normally, I'd suggest he install some cheap dialup software until we could get the high speed, but again...no phone line.

I can’t live this way. It’s making me crazy. I can’t do web updates for us or our RWA chapter without going to someone’s house. I’m way behind on email. I’m cut off from the world from 4:30 PM – 7:30 AM every night. The other night I even lost my cell phone (it was on my floorboard, but I thought I left it at work) and sat on the couch all night, not sure what to do. No phone, no internet. ARGH!

I know some of you are laughing and thinking things like “Fifteen years ago, we didn’t have all that internet nonsense.” I KNOW! What did we do back then? I honestly don’t recall. I do know that I was forced to do icky things like use the phone book, call stores and ask for their hours, do research in the library and buy an Atlas. The horror of it all. I can't buy a tv, shop for shoes, research a book, find a phone number...my life has just become wrapped around it now.

So, what can’t you live without?
SP


(PS. I won't be responding to any comments today because I'm not at work, ie. no internet access until Monday when I come back. Oh the suffering!)

12 comments:

Playground Monitor said...

Can't live without internet too. Or indoor plumbing and air conditioning.

If you have a Books a Million membership card, you can get free wireless access at the BAM at University and the Parkway.

I agree that your situation is unconscionable. The phone lines should have been run up to the houses during construction. When we moved 2 years ago I switched from cable to DSL cause my old cable company didn't operate here and I didn't want your cable company. We had a fairly seamless transition. Of course building has boomed in this county in the last year so...

Bless your heart. I hope it works out soon.

PM

Anonymous said...

You have my sympathy! I was on vacation in Georgia for a week and barely had cell service. I don't have a laptop, so no computer. First thing i did, even before laundry and bringing in the stuff from vacation, was head to the computer.

I can't live without it. Like PM said - internet, indoor plumbing, air conditioning...and books.

I think i want to add my cell phone in there too, because i do talk an awful lot...

Shame on those companies not being ready for the massive influx of residents in your area. Talk about unpreparedness!

PM suggested Books A Million - but don't forget your local library, or if you have a community college near you, perhaps you can use their computers. You're an author! You're doing research!

Off to do laundry, check my emails, and do some writing...

Nini :)

Linda Winstead Jones said...

My next big purchase will be a laptop with wireless internet. Lots of places now have wifi -- Hotels, BAM, the coffee shop that's taking over the world ... they're everywhere.

And I hear you on the phone lines. My neighborhood was built in the late 50s, early 60s. We have the original phone lines, and now and then they just don't work. I get lots of hums and crackles (until someone comes out here to check out the problem, and then, miraculously, all is well.) Several times we've been told that we're scheduled for replacement wiring, only to be told months later that the plan had been ditched for one reason or another.

I'm pretty much addicted to internet, but I have to say -- Lately I have been enjoying my time away from the computer. I'm not taking a laptop to Dallas. There is NOTHING that can't wait. Yes, I came home from my last vacation with 300 e-mails to read, but that's a small price to pay for testing my addiction. :-)

LJ

Kira Sinclair - AKA Instigator said...

My name is Instigator and I'm an emailaholic.

Even considering that most of the people who email me were on the trip with me, being unable to check my email regularly in Scotland made my skin itch.

I have 7 email accounts. Excessive? I don't think so. They're all for different things and most of them are forwarded to one of my major accounts. DH, however, thinks I have a problem. I have no idea what he's talking about.

Instigator

Angel said...

I wouldn't say I was internet addicted, but definitely email addicted! And you have my sympathies, SP. I had several problems when I moved, too.

Central Heat and Air!!!! Most definitely. I grew up on a farm with fans and a wood stove. Indoor plumbing. Electricity.

Maven Linda said...

Too bad you won't be reading this until Monday, SP. Get one of those little thingies that attaches your computer to your cell phone, and you can do internet using your cell phone minutes. Don't know how fast it is, but hey, something beats nothing.

Linda

Katherine Bone said...

I'm addicted to e-mail too now. Ditto the AC, indoor plumping and toilet (Grandma had an outhouse until 1975- oh horrors!), my cell phone, car, lap top or sewing machine.

I feel for you, SP! Sometimes when it rains a lot here our cable goes out. Something about the buried lines and water.

I hope your situation gets resolved soon. Shame on the builders for not thinking ahead.

Kathy

Problem Child said...

Need email. Can't live without it. That's one great thing about DG--if he has to personally walk a wire somewhere to get us connected, he will :-)

Of course, when SP is without internet, the whole Playground suffers. Without our SP, we can't access anything on the site!

Lois said...

Can't live without my computer in general, the internet in particular, CNN or my books. :)

But boy, hope you get it back soon. . . just after 5 minutes I would be climbing the walls without it. :(

Lois

Anonymous said...

#1 my computer.
#2 a t.v.
I also have to agree with pm - indoor plumbing and air conditioning and my car too.

Anonymous said...

Apparently i can't live without a nora roberts bobblehead!!! I stood in line today for over two hours for a bobblehead!!!

And then stood in line another hour for it to be signed.

Nini :)

Stacy S said...

I haven't worked since the first of April & I've become addicted to the internet. I have to agree with pm on the plumbing though.