[Mayim Bialik and our piece of crap USB Internet connector]
The title of this entry made me think of the ‘90s sitcom Blossom, because Joey Lawrence (who played Blossom’s brother on the show) had the catchphrase “Whoa!” Maybe a wittier title would have been “Internet Whoas!” Blossom was one of those shows I liked at the time, but imagine would be completely unwatchable now. I used to call this girl in my 8th grade history class Blossom, because I thought she had a weird resemblance to Mayim Bialik. I had a small crush on her. She subsequently went on to run with the “bad crowd”, put on fifty pounds, and get pregnant by this other kid in my class. That pretty much ended the weird resemblance to Mayim Bialik. The crush was over long before that.
Unlike an episode of Blossom, though, this Internet problem is no laughing matter. It sucks. All we have for Internet at home is this crappy USB stick that’s supposed to pick up a signal from god knows where.* Sometimes it works (meaning gmail only takes 3 minutes to load), often it just flat out doesn’t work. For me, it’s not such a huge deal. If I can’t log on to post a blog entry (I type them all out on Word beforehand) or check my fantasy baseball teams, so be it. I have good access at work. I don’t like spending time online at work, because it’s a really bad habit, and seriously decreases my productivity, but I can if I want to. Work Internet is enough for me.**
For S it’s a different story, because she has to log on to a remote server to do her contracting work (a substantial part of our income at the moment). Also, a lot of her leisure activities (gchat, Skype, NPR, People, “Project Runway”) are online. Basically, without Internet she can’t do anything. To make matters worse, we are getting the run around from Telstra (an Australian communications giant) in trying to get a decent DSL connection. Seriously, this company has me longing for Comcast. Listen to this…
First, we ordered a modem and they told us it would arrive in a few days. When it didn’t, S called and was told that they can’t mail the modem until we activate our phone line (which we were planning on doing soon), so they just canceled the order – no notification or anything. Next, we tried to activate the phone line and were told we needed to provide proof of residence. So, S walked to a Telstra office at the end of our block to show them our rental contract, but it turned out to be a corporate office not a customer service center. However, somebody was nice (and incompetent, but I’m getting ahead of myself) and faxed the rental contract to the customer service center, so that our phone could be activated and a modem could be mailed. S then called today to ensure that our modem was being mailed, and they said yes – it should arrive Friday. Then at about 7:00pm this evening, we get a text saying that only the cover sheet for the fax had been sent. S immediately called and confirmed that, yes, we would have to refax it – back to square one.
Ugh… It literally brought S to tears of frustration and then I tried to help, but couldn’t really do much, because it’s not like I have Internet in my pocket that I’ve been hiding, and then her frustration got directed at me, and then I got upset, and it turned into a tense situation. Like I said, this whole thing sucks. If Telstra leads to the demise of my marriage, they will get a sternly worded letter from me. I assure you of that.
* It’s not like the States here, where you can go into a Starbucks (or almost any other café), buy a latte, and get free wi-fi for the day.
** I actually am enjoying not having leisurely access to the Internet. I am reading a lot, exercising, and I’ve starting dabbling in Chess. I got a book on strategy and have been playing against my computer. I’m still not that good though, the computer beats me nearly 65% of the time, on difficulty level 5 of 10.
Unlike an episode of Blossom, though, this Internet problem is no laughing matter. It sucks. All we have for Internet at home is this crappy USB stick that’s supposed to pick up a signal from god knows where.* Sometimes it works (meaning gmail only takes 3 minutes to load), often it just flat out doesn’t work. For me, it’s not such a huge deal. If I can’t log on to post a blog entry (I type them all out on Word beforehand) or check my fantasy baseball teams, so be it. I have good access at work. I don’t like spending time online at work, because it’s a really bad habit, and seriously decreases my productivity, but I can if I want to. Work Internet is enough for me.**
For S it’s a different story, because she has to log on to a remote server to do her contracting work (a substantial part of our income at the moment). Also, a lot of her leisure activities (gchat, Skype, NPR, People, “Project Runway”) are online. Basically, without Internet she can’t do anything. To make matters worse, we are getting the run around from Telstra (an Australian communications giant) in trying to get a decent DSL connection. Seriously, this company has me longing for Comcast. Listen to this…
First, we ordered a modem and they told us it would arrive in a few days. When it didn’t, S called and was told that they can’t mail the modem until we activate our phone line (which we were planning on doing soon), so they just canceled the order – no notification or anything. Next, we tried to activate the phone line and were told we needed to provide proof of residence. So, S walked to a Telstra office at the end of our block to show them our rental contract, but it turned out to be a corporate office not a customer service center. However, somebody was nice (and incompetent, but I’m getting ahead of myself) and faxed the rental contract to the customer service center, so that our phone could be activated and a modem could be mailed. S then called today to ensure that our modem was being mailed, and they said yes – it should arrive Friday. Then at about 7:00pm this evening, we get a text saying that only the cover sheet for the fax had been sent. S immediately called and confirmed that, yes, we would have to refax it – back to square one.
Ugh… It literally brought S to tears of frustration and then I tried to help, but couldn’t really do much, because it’s not like I have Internet in my pocket that I’ve been hiding, and then her frustration got directed at me, and then I got upset, and it turned into a tense situation. Like I said, this whole thing sucks. If Telstra leads to the demise of my marriage, they will get a sternly worded letter from me. I assure you of that.
* It’s not like the States here, where you can go into a Starbucks (or almost any other café), buy a latte, and get free wi-fi for the day.
** I actually am enjoying not having leisurely access to the Internet. I am reading a lot, exercising, and I’ve starting dabbling in Chess. I got a book on strategy and have been playing against my computer. I’m still not that good though, the computer beats me nearly 65% of the time, on difficulty level 5 of 10.
I would not recommend having anything to do with telstra,
ReplyDeleteif it isnt too late, I am thinking that a modem from "Unwired" would be the best thing to have. I have one at my studio. The modem is reasonable and the plans are ok too, perhaps month by month might suit. Telstra are just the absolute pits and only interested in corporate business.
this crappy USB stick
ReplyDeleteIn England they call it "dongle" which I think sounds dirty hence I use every opportunity to say it.
I've been using this mobile thing for over a year now. It has good days and bad days. It depends on the provider I think. Mine is not so bad overall.
Not sure I can add much to what the others said. I would definitely consider Fifi's advice.
ReplyDeleteAs it is, I'm sorry to hear that you're having internet problems -- and I certainly understand S's predicament in that she needs internet access to do work related things at home.
On another topic, when you upload pictures to blogger, you can cut and paste the entire HTML text (switch to "Edit Html" mode) to wherever you want it to be in the entry. I'm sure you know this but I just wanted to make sure since I noticed that in all your entries so far, all the pictures are bunched together at the top). You can also have smaller images that are not centered -- and you can even change the width and height in the HTML by adjusting the values.
Fifi -- We've already started down the Telstra path (more on this in my next entry). I don't know if it's easier now to get off or just ride it out. This next week will be the deciding factor.
ReplyDeleteKrzysztof -- "Dongle." I like it! Henceforth, that is what I shall call it.
Reg -- Thanks for the tip on the pics, I actually was meaning to ask you how you move the pictures in your blog
It’s good to hear that your internet woes did not frustrate you that much. I guess the good side of it all is that you got to catch up with your non-internet related hobbies such as reading and playing chess. Nonetheless, I hope the absence of internet connection didn’t last for too long.
ReplyDeleteClara Brooks @ Telco World