[pnpgm] Oh the woes
Longshot
longshotgm at netzero.com
Fri Apr 23 06:07:01 CEST 2010
So bow to me so sayeth the Dwarves!
I'm back. More or less...
What a week. What a week...
First some history. I've covered this before but I figure
folks might have ignored me. :)
I've been in cyberspace before that was a word and before
the internet was a word. Back in the early '80s from the
start of the 300 baud modems. Then I had a 1200 and a 14.4
and a 33.6 and a 57.6. I saw the internet grew in leaps and
bounds in the mid-90s and folks use e-mail when we had been
using it for a few years.
Back then not many ISPs were around. I believe the big boys
were Genie, AOL? and one other I can't recall. That was it.
Most were local hobbyist and mom/pops.
The first one I signed up was 1995 officiailly though I've
been on the web before then through BBSes and simple direct
calls. Cybermax was the first ISP and my only one. I could
simply walk into the shop in town and pay. back then it was
maybe 5-6 folks. Then a few years later maybe 1999? Funport
or CyberportUSA bought them. Funport was run by a single
person called Donley Main or Donnie. The great thing about
him was it was him and another person. We had a direct
line to his home which was likely his home office.
So we could call and instantly get problems fixed right then
and there. There was some sentimental reasons as well for
keeping him as he helped my father who was a newbie to computers
in learning the internet and deal with issues. Who ele
could you call up and they'd know your name beore you said
hello. (I know caller id helps but he could also recall details
of accounts right off before he could get to the computer).
Over the next decade or so Don was a great support guy. He
upped my website on a simple query about space without
charge or question.
Of course there were bad times like when I couldn't connect.
But up till about 2 years ago it wasn't a issue. I could
call and get it fixed in a day at most minutes at best. Usually
the network he used to give his users (about 1 million nationwide)
restricted the so called unlimited access. So if you were online
for hours and hours it added up even though you paid for
unlimited access. Well don got around this by simply changing
the user name. It was a quick and dirty fix that i did maybe
a dozen or so times over the last 5-6 years.
Around 2008 late that year the isp had issues by not rebooting
the ftp server and access problems. Turns out he went into
the hospital for a week. I suspect that's when things got
bad. When you are the sole person it leads to problems.
Then the 3-4 times I couldn't connect. I think it was a month
one time and a week back in November. This was likely due to
the leased router network he used saw me as over the quota and
so he had to reset it or they reset it. Problme was the contact
number is disconnected. There is no apparent other info for
him and I can't seem to find any on the web. I've sent 2
certified letters back in November one to the isp and one to him
personally and one came back.
So is he dead? I don't know. There is some obvious issues.
he is about 3 hours away. I have been tempted to go down
and find him. Knock on the door. But I don't know yet.
I suspect if he is sick the isp is on auto pilot. I intend
to email him in the 3 emails I have for hte isp to see if
anyone responds.
I hate to leave a ISP like this. I know why stay with the
old and get a new. Well there are problems there.
So this last week 4/13 I was able to get online in the morning
and replied to emails. Then that night I couldn't. to this
point I still can't. So I immediately signed up for Netzero.
I had to wait for the CD to arrive before I could get online.
So let's compare...
Loyalty: OLd ISP over a decade with world class service for
most of that time.
New ISP - I'm a account number.
Tech Support: Old - Call up for years and get instant help.
He'd even call us back on his time to waive the LD charges
to him personally.
New - Gee 1.95$ a minute to talk to some guy in India which
likely has no clue what is going on.
Login: Old - Quicka nd fast terminal connection.
New - I have to use some garbage NZ terminal that if you exit
out disconneccts. If you use a basic connection setup
your access is restricted since not using their terminal.
Pro/Cons:
Bad: New - Terminal seems to zap some video and desk memory
making things sometimes sluggish. Sigh. They even
want you to switch video modes to high res just so you
can use it but I got around that.
Good - New - Connection is a tad faster but not much.
Good - NZ CD included IE 6 which was good for me to upgrade
since I never use IE.
Bad - When you login IE is loaded and goes to some page so
I have to just exit out (annoying will figure out way
around it).
Sigh. I hate to leave my old ISP and will give the the benefit
of the doubt for some time. So bear with me as I may use two
different ISPs and emails at various times if I can get back
tot he old isp. After all I'm still paying for a few more
months at old ISP.
I can still access web mail and the website ftp site using
the other isp so I can upload websites. Problem is I don't
know how long that will last. I don't know yet if NZ has
personal website and ftp setups.
So I could at some point lose the website so that could
be a major loss for me. Will have to research some site
out there for that.
At this point the old isp is still a plus for the website.
If I wasn't using a website I'd probably fully convert.
I know some ask why not use high speed access? Bleh. I
simply see no point in paying 30-40$ a month more for what
I don't need. Cable bill is worth it as I see a lot of movies
and shows on demand and the movie channels. But for the
amount of files I download high speed broadband is NOT worth it.
For that stuff I can simply go to brother's house or do it from
work but when you consider I may have downloaded 5 megs of
files in the span of 2 years other than e-mail then high
speed just isn't worth it. If I was a video, gamer, music
downloader or such then yeah but its just not worth it.
That's the basic details. You may see me post from either or
email so please reply to that one at the time. I can download
my cybermax.net emails but can't send out since I'm not on
the isp network. So I can accept e-mails for now from both
ISPs.
But you may see longshotgm at netzero.com as well.
don't know about a NZ website yet. I saw somewhere on a page
of theirs mention of 5 GB but not sure if that's for website
or for email limits? I will have to research it.
I know its stupid to use 2 ISPs and pay extra just to do the
way I'm doing. Well I can afford it and I feel the other
may fix itself eventually. But in the next year I will likely
decide on a pernament plan of attack.
Ok. I will work on the update this weekend likely Saturday when
I get home from work. I hope to reply to Mark's game before
then and such as I'm only down to 8 emails (his game) for now.
Thanks for all being patient!
Sigh. Another odd thing is when I installed the NZ software it
messed up my task bar. Grrr. I had the start menu then to the
right the quick link setup showing icons for programs I could
click. Then to the right of that any programs I have running
and then to the right any task bar admin programs like CD,
volume control, etc. Now it moved the quick layout icon section
after the current programs loaded section. Oh well have to
get used to the change.
But beyond the ISP issues I also had a big car bill (took my
tax refund) for repairs on my mom's car (a/c) he screwed up.
Let bolts come loose and some of the engine dropped down and
had to be remounted. He'll pay for it eventually along with
the other few thousands he owes us but when I saw the bill
I got a bit upset. Because of that a certain volcano on the
Earth world erupted. Sorry! I'll be calm for awhile. I
just hope Chris and Wout weren't affected much!
Stay tuned...I'll be online with one or the other ISP at times...
Website updated with the recent emails. If you didn't get an ack to emails you sent me or its not on the list archives or website let me know. I dn't seem to have reached the spam limit I set so doubt I lost any. (Seems I didn't get one of Alex's though but got it from archives).
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