Sun May 3 22:07:57 UTC 2009
wie ich ISPs hasse
Two posts in one day? Impossible! Except in the case of more computer problems!
So, while I was dealing with the disk failure, I also decided to switch ISPs.[*]
*: The conversation went like this:
<karen> I'm downgrading the DSL service, to save money.
<me> Nuh uh!
<karen> Yuh huh!
<me> Fine, I'll just move it into my name, and pay for it myself!
<karen> Fine!
<me> Fine!
I went from Verizon, at 3Mb/s down and 768Kb/s up and $39.99 a month to Worldlink,at 6Mb/s down and 1Mb/s up, two static IP address, $49.99 a month.
The switch would be kinda delicate, consisting of three logical operations.
- Switching from Verizon to Worldlink.
- Upgrading the service, and changing to static IP addressing.
- Performing a "standalone conversion", unlinking the DSL line from a landline, because seriously, who pays for landlines anymore.
This is complicated, and rife with opportunities for disaster, involving two companies and two different customers. Upon informing Karen of this, she promptly canceled the landline and DSL herself, fucking everything up.
Thanks!
As I write this, (Sunday) I have been without internet access since ~1000 hours Thursday morning, when Verizon killed everything. I was only able to contact Worldlink and inform them of the clusterfuck ~1600 hours Thursday afternoon, when I finally checked my cell phone. This left them exactly one business day to restore service, which predictably failed to happen.
The internet drought has had some minor benefits. I've gone through a bunch of old tabs, watched two Netflix discs that had been sitting on my desk for months, finally figured out how Duplicity works, (a post of its own!) when I tried to use it to do some incremental backups, and discovered that it runs at 1.5 gigabytes an hour on the eee, about sixty times slower than plain rsync, which means encrypted backups will have to wait until I have a linux box with a dramatically faster processor.
Watching the netflix discs (Hellsing 1 and Beserk 5) revealed that I can no longer watch DVDs without MSTing continuously. I blame the internet, or perhaps the lousy quality of the anime I watch. Or both!
What's the lesson here, kids?
Pay for your own internet access!