Nope, just without DSL since Saturday morning when Earthlink and I had a misunderstanding about an order. I've been trying to put in a landline again, to facilitate my editorial business, and it turns out that the Capital of the World is not equally well-wired everywhere. I live in a 1930s building that's only recently had its electric wiring updated. Somehow, they neglected to upgrade the phone wiring at the same time, so I still have a single line that can be split for separate phone numbers or dial-up, but not for DSL and phone. Oy.
So I've discovered I"m going to have to spring for a cable modem (poor me!), which is only complicated because Earthlink doesn't have an agreement with my cable provider, and—you don't really want to read the rest of this saga, do you? I mean, the upshot is that everything will stay pretty much the same until August, when I'll have a cable modem and a landline. Through the genius of Earthlink, I'll still be able to keep all my addresses and web space, even though my ISP will probably be Optimum, so nothing will change there either. But it's been four or five days of doing the headless chicken dance, and then four days without DSL, when I dashed to Starbucks to check my mail on the laptop.
As I said before, Oy.
Anyway, I'm back up now, finally. So if you haven't heard from in a bit, this is why. Stay tuned for more substantive posts when I'm done wading through the swamp of backlogged mail.
What a rock and a hard place! In the end, you may be much happier with a cable modem than with DSL. I have found it to be faster.
Now, I am one of those folks who had one too many problems with cable companies for years. Since 2000, I have used DISH as my television provider and I am one of their biggest fans. However, when it comes to the Internet, satellite companies really only offer a service for people who really live in the boonies. It is barely faster than dial-up.
When I chucked DSL for a cable modem, Ron and I just planned to eliminate our wired phone line to save money. We both had good cell plans. However, I still doubted a cable company could be reliable. I can't speak about your provider, but Comcast gives good value for the buck. When I'm not wireless, I get 100 MBits/Sec service for about $43/month...that is without signing up for the cable TV service. Probably cheaper as a package if I wanted to dish the DISH, which I don't. And in 5 years or so of Internet service, I can count on one hand the number of times when there was a problem.
Good luck...I'm an Internet junkie, so I feel the pain.
Posted by: Roger | June 22, 2007 at 09:07 PM