| Connection | 2005-04-13 23:59 7 comments |
 by Flemming FunchMy DSL connection was down all day. Which is always a time where I panic about how dependent I am on being connected, and I regret that I haven't prepared any backup solutions. I could very well have things arranged so I could do a good deal of my work while I'm online, but I don't. Suddenly I realize all the stuff I'm missing. Not just that I can't communicate with people, but most of what I need isn't on my computer. And say I wanted to arrange an alternative way of getting on the net, I can't, because I'm not on the net. Like, how would I quickly find a dial-up provider if that's what I decided I needed? I'd, duh, search on the net. I'm blind. When France Telecom finally answered the phone, after disconnecting me dozens of times, I got a dose of the bureaucratic madness I've tasted before. The lady told me they were working on the lines, so of course I was down. They're be doing that until the 29th. I needed her to repeat it several times, but she insisted, my line would be down for the next 2 and a half weeks. And, besides, I'm not even supposed to have DSL, because I'm too far from the central. That's an old story, which was a big deal when I got the line. You know, DSL providers usually have a website where you can put in your phone number and it tells you whether DSL is available to you, and at what speed. If you put in the numbers of either of my neighbors, it says, sure, you can have a high speed DSL line. If you put in my number it says, sorry, DSL is not available in your area. It took an enormous amount of hassles to get the line originally, only because I managed to find an ally who could see the crazyness in that and help me insist that of course I could have a line too. But now that's the kind of thing the service people can bring up when it suits them. You're not really supposed to have that line, you're putting too many bits through it, so if it doesn't work, it is your own fault. So, now, if you don't have DSL the next couple of weeks, tough luck, good bye. I decided not to believe her, to keep my sanity, so instead I played with my router settings. And, somehow, switching it from "PPP over Ethernet", which it normally is set at, to "PPP over ATM" made the difference, and I got my connection again. But it doesn't take more than 10 minutes to forget about the pain of not having the connection, and go right back to normal. Otherwise, my wife had been looking forward to that I'd clean up my desk and help her in the garden and go to sleep at normal hours for the next couple of weeks. |