Trying to post anything has been really difficult. Yesterday, it went from cool and comfortable to really, really hot. I think it might also be humid, but frankly, it’s so damned hot who can tell?
It’s not that the Wi-Fi goes down and stays down. It’s that it goes on and off a dozen or more times a day and it’s absolutely maddening. It has been on and off four time in the past hour. I don’t know if, after writing this, whether or not I’ll be able to post anything because aside from being off, it’s also really slow.
Charter — now “Spectrum” — has got to be the most expensive ISP around. $88/month for JUST wi-fi. That’s no TV. Oh, I forgot. It also includes an almost useless telephone that is so garbled, even if there really IS someone on the other end and it isn’t a recorded scammer or spammer, who can tell?
They advertise themselves as having the fastest bandwidth — but for where? Worcester county where for the mostpart, the ARE the only ISP? I always want to throw things at their ads.
I’m giving up for now. It’s not unwillingness. I’m tired of rebooting the modem and the router repeatedly. Seems like a good day to read a book.
I’m not sick. Not on vacation. Just trying to work using Charter, a pathetic ISP who charges a big price and gives you crap for the money. Since it is the only ISP in this area, we have no choice about who we use. It’s Charter or nothing.
Ain’t that swell?
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Categories: Anecdote, Software, Technology, Wi-Fi
SERENDIPITY: SEEKING INTELLIGENT LIFE ON EARTH 
I can’t beieve that Charter is more expensive than Cox — $250 for TV, Cable internet, and Phone! I had so many issues with Cable internet that I started to pay $10 extra for their “Complete Care” product of 2nd level help — that has paid off several times — they cleaned out the hacker that hit me about 6 months ago. Their Phone service is terrible — I have to reboot that modem or it cuts me off as often as a cell phone would — and the TV service is just as bad — they use a “minibox” scrambler system that is run on their equipment — I have replaced one minibox at least 3 or 4 times, and the service kid who came last couldn’t complete his job — within 5 minutes after he left, I had it up and running, and it hasn’t failed since! I don’t think this is a third world country, but we really need the infrastructure bill to be passed!
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They sound like they are about the same price as Charter, but are as bad. Our cable phone is awful. The only reason I keep it is because sometimes, having two phone matters. Except that it is rare that both people on the line can hear each other. Sometimes one can hear, the other can’t or vice versa. Alternatively, no one can hear anything that doesn’t sound like gibberish. We also have a separate modem for the phone, but the modem is almost 20 years old — and sounds like it.
I’m vaguely comforted to hear that other people wildly overpay for services that suck and with which they are stuck because that’s all that’s offered wherever they happen to live. It’s not like we got a choice, either. The town “made a deal” and I’m sure they got paid off. These people are always noticeably richer than any work they’ve ever done. I can’t IMAGINE why.
We pay $88 JUST for wi-fi and the phone. Basic cable would add another $50 (for one year until the double the price next year). Enough cable to make it worth watching would be another $100 — or more. And they don’t have second level service. It’s ALL bad, floor to roof. We do have one freelance computer guy who comes over and fixes things — or if things are very bad, takes your computer away and brings it back when he’s replaced and repaired everything. He’s not cheap, but he’s not crazy expensive either. I do as much as I can myself. Backups REALLY help.
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It must be frustrating. We also have these problems in Pakistan but ours is a third world country and we expect it.
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In a lot of ways, once you move out of the big cities and wealthy suburbs, you ARE in a third world country here. What they show on television and the movies is very “Hollywood.” Salaries are low compared to other “first world” country and much worse now than a couple of years ago. Most companies hadn’t raised salaries in years. If you demanded more pay, they fired you and hired someone cheaper.
But ironically, COVID changed the marketplace and suddenly, a lot of people discovered being out of work was a WAY better deal than working wherever they worked before — and salaries are rising. But again, WHERE you live makes a gigantic difference in what is available to you. if you live in Boston — about 80 miles away — you have choices. A selection of ISP service and the superfast telephone wire, too. In the close-in suburbs, you have the same choices. But you come here where it’s rural, we don’t have much shopping and we are EXTREMELY short of doctors and hospitals. It’s not like two different countries. It’s more like 50 difference countries, depending on where in the U.S. you live and what (used to be) the climate.
The U.S. has always had a lot of problems. If Trump did nothing else, he ripped the scab off the festering sore. and no one thinks the U.S. is “fine.” Everyone knows something is very wrong. Opinions differ about exactly WHAT is wrong and WHY it’s wrong, but we ALL know things are not okay.
I don’t think anyone thinks “it’s all back to normal.” I’m not sure we know what “normal” IS.
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I get your point about the difference in living conditions between the urban and rural living. In Seattle, things were better because as you said there were choices.
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