Into the Space Age

This two cow town has moved into the space age!!

Yes, we finally have high speed internet!

And for those who don't remember what dial-up was like, let me tell you that I feel like I'm cruising down the open road at 120 mph!

Not only do we now have high speed, but I can actually be on the internet and on the phone at the same time! We could only do that before if we had two separate phone lines. We also have TV service with a kajillion channels! Most of which we'll probably never watch, but it's fun to go through them! We only had 20 channels or so before, so this is lots of fun!

Zoom zoom ZOOM!

Coming into the technological age!

This two cow town is coming into the technological age! At last! The City has requested Verizon (phone company) and Charter (cable TV company), many times to provide us with high speed speed internet. Both companies told us in no uncertain terms that it wasn't cost effective for them to light the fiber optic cable that was already running through the center of town. Finally, this year, a small company called Comspan has agreed to bring us high speed internet. I'm SO excited.

Right now we can only connect here at home at 28.8 kbps (at work I can connect at 56.6). With this new service we'll get 2 Mbps!! Lightening speed compared to what we have now! WOW! We'll also get TWO phone lines (one with unlimited long distance) and 170 digital TV channels! whoohooo! We're dumping Verizon & Charter and I hope they feel it!

Technology woes...

Living in a small town means you have to learn to accept that there are some things you just have to live without. There isn't a compromise. You just have to do without.

Unfortunately, one of those things we must live without in this two cow town is high speed internet. No DSL, no cable modem, no satellite service. Nada, nothing, zip. We have dial-up. Plain & simple. On a good day, I can connect at 32.1 Kbps. Most days I connect at 28.8. It's odd, though, at work I can connect at 52.1. I'm not sure why that is. Probably just another small town mystery.

Dial-up stinks. I mean, my service provider is ok. They are rarely down, and the customer service people are easy to deal with. But dial-up just stinks. Loading pages with graphics takes FORever. Try to open two pages at once and you can just about FORget it!

I like to play board games & card games at www.pogo.com (you'll find me there under the same nickname). I could walk around the block...TWICE...before some games will load. I also like to visit websites that are dedicated to my favorite hobby...scrapbooking. My new home is www.scrapthatmoment.com . I love this place. The ladies are wonderful and their artwork is GORGEOUS! I'm stunned when I look at their galleries. If you need to be inspired, that is the place to go. Anyway, when I try to go through the galleries (mind you they are full of GRAPHICS, and blinky bits, and swirly things, and stuff that fades off & on), guess what happens?! Yes, my connection slows down to a crawl. And once in awhile I think it just can't take it anymore and gives it all up by disconnecting from the net! Then I have to start all over again! *sigh*

I was on the City Council here for 4 years (my term just ended and I didn't run for re-election...more on that another day), and one of the things we tried to do was to convince the biggies (like Verizon or Charter Communications) to light the fiber optic string that runs through town. But they're not interested because it's not "cost effective" for them. (Can you hear the itty bit of sarcasm I have in my voice?) Why would whoever it was, pay all that money to install fiber optics and then NOT light them. *snort* Unbelievable!

So until we get something that crawls faster than a snail, I'll just have to learn to accept and to live without some of the modern conveniences of life! At least we have electricity & running water! :)