Well, things have gone from bad to worse. I spent over two hours on the
phone with a level 3 tech support guy. He wasn't very good at listening, but I
finally got him to do a simple test of calling one of the dialup numbers. He
didn't do it fully at first, but tried again later and got the same results as
I had been getting. So we tried some experiments to narrow down the problem.
Pinging Google took 311mS, which is far too long. After more digging and
experiments he found that the baud rate behind their modem was a disgusting
1.92K, which is why everything was timing out. The number of dialup users has
increased. but most dialup usage is still for small businesses connecting their
cash registers to banks.
It's unlikely that it will be restored to earlier rates as this has a lot
to do with 19CL trying to get out of the copper business. But then they aren't
doing anything towards installing fiber. He also learned that Verizon will
soon have a hybrid optical/copper network here, which I was already aware of by
way of the seemless orange tubing being installed under the streets.
So, my internet usage at home is crippled for now. I'll knock down the
Earthlink account to email only and use the tethered cell phone very sparingly
until the Verizon system is available.
>
> I don't doubt what you've described for a moment, as I've had similar
>experiences in both government contract and commercial businesses, many of
>the latter failing due to gross incompetence together with white collar
>crime. There were many times early on where I had considered moving back
>east and returning to the ANG, but the outdoor opportunities outweighed
>the employment difficulties. My one shot at flying older C-130s for fire
>suppression came to an end thanks to a fellow named Dennis Reagan, who
>pretty much grounded everyone who was flying them.
>
> You have to do the best you can with the cards you've been dealt.
>Sometimes you have no choice but to fold and walk away.
>
> BTW: I also recall the demise of an earlier dialup provider named
>Primenet. They were bought out by Global Crossing (Bermuda?). They were
>equally incompetent. When I dropped them I was still able to use their
>email by way of Telnet.
>
Chris
When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro
- Hunter S. Thompson
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