h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

On at 5.15 in the morning!!! You really have got a problem!!

Either that or someone has kiked Ormondroyd out of bed in order that they can watch the final Grand Prix of the season...........................

I should be so lucky. I live alone. Do you really think anyone else would put up with my incessant nocturnal typing?

They might if it was in return for watching blokes in cars going round in circles......

Yes, motor racing IS... er... riveting, isn't it? I mean, it's not as if the result is decided by the mechanics, and whose engine holds together for the whole race, or anything like that...

I think from these last comments I might be classified as a bit of an h2g2 junkie.

Friday night / Saturday morning turned into abit of an h2g2 extended session, with me retiring (still a bit wired from the caffeine drip) at 5am.

The next day I tried (I really did try, honest) not to go anywhere near the blasted place, but had to sneak on a couple of times during the day. Went to bed SO early that night(11pm ish - only an hour or so online) - but no - I can't survive these privations. Managed to hold out till about 9am this morning (even before breakfast!)

I can no longer deny it. Please - an intervention - something. Burn my modem...

*help...*

I'm not sure that I can help, Frizzychick, but I must say that it's nice to know that I'm not the only h2g2 dawn raider.
I really don't know what the answer is. The only thing I can suggest is to try to find another, equally strong obsession. I'm quietly confident that I'll be able to leave this site alone for a whole two hours at a stretch later this afternoon - but only because there's live footie on TV.

I would stay on longer than I do but the library closes at midnight on a Saturday and I am turfed out back to my computerless accomodation. Otherwise I might be tempted to stay online all week.

Ah, the addicts meeting. Why wasn't I informed?

My name is Mike and I'm an H2G2 addict. However I have no intention of trying to kick the habit, so there. I just keep a browser open on H2G2 24x7 and hardly ever look at it more than once an hour. Well, OK, no more than once every ten minutes, but only when I should be working.

Those of you looking with longing at telecom prices in the USA should try living in the RURAL areas. Yes, the infrastructure in the big cities is good, but not out here. In order to get a decent connection to the internet I had to have a frame relay line run to the house...which took our incompetent local telco about 6 months and is costing me around $400 a month. Of course before that I was paying about the same in long distance charges for internet access because there is no ISP in my local calling area (which is about the size of a postage stamp).

Of course, it could be worse, I could be in Italy or somewhere...

I have been rationing myself to logging in once a day, but that once is occurring earlier and earlier in the day. I have to go out of town for a week, but I'm taking my notebook with me and the hotel room has a data port. That's for 3 days in El Paso: after that I go on to Lincoln, New Mexico, which seems to be so unimportant that the weatherman stands in front of it whilst delivering the area forecast.

El Paso has 3 local numbers I can use to connect: New Mexico, the whole state, only has 3 numbers, and none of them are near Lincoln. So Mike, you must be in a place like that. I guess I'll try channelling Billy the Kid.

I'm a bit confused by these last couple of posts - am I to assume that US h2g2ers have to find a friendly neighbourhood local connection to be able to surf for free?

Us Brits are in the situation where ISPs offering 'free' connection are readily available, but we have to pay for local rate phone bills (which are certainly not free, but are as cheap as phone calls get round here) (and no ISP charges). The benefit is I guess that we have a dialling code (0845) for calls to be charged at a local rate, even though they may not be to an exchange that is geographiclly local).

Hi folks! I'm back with more pizza and fresh drips for the really sad cases (5.15am!!!) And I'd just like to say that I've been 'clean' for nearly three days...

...okay, so I'm here NOW, but I had to just check on you guys, you know...

'sus

I'm still hanging around, just unable to comment on these very hi-tech comments about internet access.

Lucky for some being able to kick the habit, even if only temporarily.

Sounds as if you've gone back into denial.

BTW Thanks for the pizza

Denial?

I strongly refute that!

'sus

Hi Lil...yeah, I suspect Endicott, Washington is even smaller than Lincoln, New Mexico.

As far as surfing for "free"...there ain't no such thing as a free lunch. Out here, my choices are

(1) Use the 800-exchange number to access a national ISP such as Netcom. Cost: just under 10 cents a minute billed from the ISP to cover the fact that they have to pay the phone bill, no charge from the telco.
(2) Use a long distance number to access Netcom. Cost: $19.95 flat rate monthly from Netcom, but 7 to 10 cents a minute from the telco for the long distance call.
(3) Use the frame relay connection I had dropped in. Cost: About $250 a month from the telco and $150 a month from the ISP for the 56K pipe to the rest of the net.

The frame relay connection wouldn't have made sense, except that I spend so much time on the net (mostly, believe it or not, for professional reasons) that I was paying that much before even without surfing for fun.

I share email communication with clients, but otherwise have had no reason to be online. My sole-proprietorship business may be getting a major break with this visit to El Paso/Lincoln, and if that happens then I'll have to build a house in the domain I've been reserving for so long. But that's OT.

I can't imagine paying 250 dollah every month.

To answer the confused Brits, I pay a flat monthly fee for the right to connect with my ISP and get email. I can do this, at home, through a local phone number, and we Amurricans don't (currently) have to pay toll on local calls. Out in El Paso, I will probably get dinged by the hotel for use of their lines even though I am calling a local number. And in Lincoln I would have to call long-distance to Albuquerque or Santa Fe in order to connect, although the b&b where I'll be staying is too old-fashioned to support internet access.

ffMike is more cutting edge than me. So are you a cottage industry too?

Hey Peg, try these nachos.

Lil

Yeah, I have the joy of being self-employed. Went independent as a computer consultant in '92 and haven't looked back. At the moment most of what I'm doing is writing books and articles, but I still do a bit of consulting for major clients.

So, for me, the extravagant cost of being online is part of the cost of doing business (and as such, as business expense, which has some tax advantages). It's worth it for the sheer pleasure of living way out in the country.

Hello all, back again mainly due to being back in London after a week
of seeing the family (OK I did check what was going on, but not too much).
For your delight I bring you some sweet foodstuffs from near the familial base (just outside Manchester, UK). Have some Eccles cakes.

Now there hasn't been anybody coming in here trying to tell us that we should go and see what the real world looks like has there? no, good.

Later

Phil

If you ask me, h2g2 is very real, real good fun, and full of real cool people.
The only trouble is that the phone bill I had to pay last week was real too.
By the way, Phil, greetings from one Northerner to another. I'm making a trip to my familial base near Bradford this weekend.
Yay!! Bradford curry!!

Bradford curry, is that the new name of the football team then