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

Okay, that's not a word, it's an acronym, but you know what I mean. Fast internet access, now available right here in my bedroom.

*be's jealous*

Although I did discover yesterday that cable is available here, too. Looking into pricing info on Monday.

Cable's usually cheaper (I'm paying 50 bucks; most cable access costs 40) and I wouldn't have avoided it at all. I just got tired of waiting for the "real soon now" time that we'd be able to get it here.

SW Bell's running a $40 special at the moment for DSL, and we're really close to the main hub...station...thing (it's right across from the Shell station, if you can recall where that is), so it's tempting, but I want to see what speed/price cable's offering, and if it's indeed available here yet. The website claims so...but I dunno. I also found their TOTAL lack of pricing info, yet abundant signup forms rather suspicious, so I lobbed them a nasty e-mail.

Also, our phone service has already been mucked up two separate times in the 6 weeks or so we've had the phone back on (it's been knocked out for two days-plus TWICE already, which doesn't make me feel good about reliability with DSL), so I'm reluctant to trust them yet.

Plus, if we get cable internet, we'd probably end up getting cable TV, which poses a few problems: one, I want satellite, 'cause that way I can get quite a few more Lakers games from Fox Sports West, and Paul Allen (owner of the evil, hated archrival Portland Trailblazers, but noted technogeek and broadband fanatic) owns Charter cable, so if I get cable, I'm contributing money to the anti-Lakers fund (it's a stretch, sure, but I've got time on my hands ), plus I can't get as many Lakers games. I was sold on Dish Network until I saw their draconian signup fees--on the order of "If you don't currently have cable, pay us $250, which is refundable 6-8 weeks after you have service, but if you currently have cable, installation's free, the dish is free, programming's free for the next thirty years, etc."

Which of course got me setting up plans to have cable for a month, then cancel it in favor of Dish, but DirecTV seems less evil on that end, but...etc., etc. It's confusing, but the end is result is still the same, that being:

*envies DSL from afar*

Hehe, complicated. Yeah, I don't have DSL through the phone co here (except indirectly they still had to tag a line for install, plus they've bought a big chunk of NorthPoint who does my DSL line). The phone co won't offer it but NorthPoint does, even though they use the same facility. Weird. Anyway, you should be able to get cable internet without cable tv; at least you can here, but we have AT&T cable.

Are you sure they'd even allow you to have a dish there?

As far as cable goes, if we got one, we may as well get the other, although that's rather stupid logic I admit. Maybe they'd offer some kind of package deal...dunno. I really doubt they've laid the necessary fiber in this neighborhood anywhere. Cable providers tend to say "YES! It's available EVERYWHERE! Live on the MOON? No sweat! We'll have the necessary cable there in '3-6 months'." When in fact it's only available downtown, since they don't want to market it to residential areas just yet. Our proximity to Wash U probably comes in handy, though. I dunno...have to figure out what it costs, and if we can even GET it here before I'd start making choices.

And we already talked to the landlord about installing a dish on the roof--they said it wouldn't be a problem. Hell, they even promised us a dishwasher.

Hm, exact opposite of my experience. For a couple years everyone else I talked to said I *should* be able to get the cable modem, that it was on here and so forth, but the web site always said no, and when I called them not long ago they said this area was one of the next ones coming on, but they couldn't give me a timeframe. They've put the wiring boxes in for their new telephone-over-cable service even but we can't actually get that yet either. They're dragging their feet on getting the right switching equipment locally, it seems like. Just up the road though (few miles away), the service has been on for 2 years or more.

The dish seems more appealing than cable to me as well, but I'm not sure I'm allowed to have one, probably not. More tv channels is probably the last thing I need, but I wish I had a couple of them. If there ever were a cable company that let you buy just this channel and this channel and this channel and pay a la carte, that would be perfect. Never happen.

Cable companies seem to drag their feet in this arena SO much--at an old job, we'd planned to get cable for a year and a half, with the cable company promising it'd be in in "6-8 weeks", until it finally became apparent (as well as hearing some rumors) that Cox didn't want the @Work service 'cause they thought it'd be too much of a drain on their networks. I can't really blame 'em though--there was a local ISP a few doors down, and they alone would've probably killed them in our node.

I still think that cable's worth it, though--right before I moved, I got a letter saying that they would be upgrading to 2 Mb soon.

I hold out faith for programmable TV (convergence, anyone? ), simply so I could get rid of, for instance, C-SPAN (which I never watch but probably should), the government-mandated Spanish channels, and those friggin' IDIOTS on TBN, and put sports channels in their place. I think it's more a failing of the FCC rather than cable and satellite cos., so don't hold your breath.

*is pale with envy*

We have all kinds of choices around here, but i don't have the money to get the modem services nor the need for the cable/dish thingy.

If it makes you feel any better, we really can't afford either of them either. I'm just one of those obsessive sports fan types that can't get a fast enough Internet connection.

It could be worse, you could live in the UK in a really old flat and have no hope at all of getting anything faster than a bog standard phoneline

Or, OR! You could live in the desert with no computer, and not even a phone line or running water and you've heard of this 'Internet' thing but it certainly hasn't improved YOUR life any, other than that documentarians, rather than carrying rather heavy minicams when they come to look at you, just point their laptops with cell modems and webcams attached at you and you have to do some ridiculous tribal thing that you make up every time a guy with a camera shows up, but this time you have the added pressure of being 'webcast' (whatever that means, you think) live to an audience of probably more than 7 and so if you screw up or anyone starts to giggle at the silliness and ripping-off-chickenheadedness of it all, they might figure out it's fake and there goes the documentary fringe benefits, like the candy and toys they give you STILL even though you're obviously not a child or a feeble-minded goober when all you really want is to see what this whole 'Internet' thing is about and you'd really appreciate a spare laptop, or maybe a chicken drumstick.

I mean, that's hypothetical, as I'm sure your experience is. Good thing no one has to suffer through a reality like that.

Thank you, KM.