January 1, 2007

life on the wrong side of the world

If you're anything like me, the internet is usually the best way for others to get a hold of you. No other way guarantees I'll get a message. I lose my cell phone all they time. I rarely lose my email addy and password. So, of course, reliable, decent internet is a priority of mine.

Unfortunaely, it just doesn't exist here. For $40 a month, give or take, My flatmates and I can get what is best described as a "dead rodent" speed connection with unlimited* transfer, and.. oh, yeah, limits at peak hours, and on dl's, and any time they feel you're "abusing" the network.

If you want something you can actually use, well, get ready to pay. browsing the various services offered- of which only 2 or three offer the mentioned unlimited* connection, with all it's limits, you have a rather broad choice, now that they've somewhat deregulated the dsl system and whatnot. Note that they don't actually run fiberoptics in most towns. One or two have started putting it in, but.. well, imagine if colorado was a country with the gdp of Maine, and you'll get a pretty good idea of about how fast this is going to happen.

So, you can get a relatively ok 3Mb connection, with 2Gb transfer for... um.. anywhere from $50 to $150. Only three or 4 companies offer it. You wanna game, or DL anything (like the current season of just about any show) and you'll need waaay more than that. You can get up to 100Gb transfer, from $170ish up.

Now, compared with the craptastic wireless I have now (when the signal is up, which it usually isn't) that'd be not so bad... I mean, 10gb at dead rodent speed for just me for $35 a month, or 20Gb at about 2Mb, for 1/5 of about 170. Somehow, tho, I don't think that's the plan we're getting.

As long as Skype works, and i can still play my games, I'll be ok. Oh, yeah, did I mention the insanely high ping times for games on the unlimited* plans? 'parently gaming is not "normal use". Go fig.

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