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This really burns me
Here I am, purposely staying up during the middle of the night, knowing it will adversely kick my butt with my health and set me back several days because I have to do some serious updating and fixes on the computers, but it is the only time I can do it.
not because it is quiet. not because it is the only time I can get to the computers. not because it is the only time they are free. but because it is the only time I can get the major downloading down without killing our supposedly “unlimited” internet.
Yes, we pay $80 (with tax) a month for unlimited, high-speed satellite internet.
but do we get it?
that is a big HELL NO.
Where we live, the only alternative is dial-up, and our land-lines are so bad, that the dial-up can barely connect.
So, we pay the big money. For something we don’t even get.
And it pisses us off.
The thing is, because we have 3 computers spread throughout the house, we have it on wireless. Well, that is fine. we live up on a mountain. literally. and up until recently, that was not a problem. but someone up here, has figured out how to tap into our wireless. we don’t know who. we don’t even know where. our nearest neighbor is at least a half-mile away. we can’t figure it out fully. and out network key is about 20 characters long give or take. but they figured it out.
So, between the piss-poor internet we are getting, and whoever is tapping into us, we do not get the service we are paying for.
One thing we are going to do, is fork out even more money to switch to a different satellite company that gives us a little more leeway on our time, though they still put a cap on us though claim to be unlimited. (I will describer more about that in a minute), and buy several lengths of cable about 30 feet long each and wire them into the router and get rid of the wireless.
Ok, how do we know someone is tapping in to us? Well, every day, after school gets out, our internet goes from super fast, to super slow, and on weekends it literally goes from high-speed to slower than dial-up.
And as for the “unlimited” yet limited internet? Yes, it is unlimited, but they have something called “Fair-access policy” and depending on what package you pay for each month, you get only a certain amount of MBs to download and a certain amount to upload before they put a cap on you and take your high-speed down to dial-up speed. sure, you can still surf the internet, but only at a very restricted pace. “to be fair to all users.”
And this is what gets me.
now this next piece may sound like a conspiracy theory, but after my experience with my “unlimited….but only to a certain bit-rate!” experience with satellite…all of the “free wi-fi”? who do you think the expense for the free wi-fi comes from? people like me who pay $80 or more a month for internet who don’t get the service they pay for, who get a cap put on how much they surf, even though they pay for unlimited. Or people who have hidden fees with other electronic services, such as television that have satellite internet companies attached…such as Dish network, or DirecTV…though I don’t know for sure that Hughesnet is officially affiliated with DirecTV anymore or not, but you get my drift…The free wi-fi comes out of someone’s pocket, and not just the generosity of businesses.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I think it is great for those that can’t afford internet to be able to access…but, well, I have a hard enough time making ends meet. I can barely afford internet as is, but I cannot do without it, especially if everyone out there wants to continue to read my works, because there is no free internet access anywhere for me. And for me to be ripped off the way I am with it…it burns me. and it burns me bad.
I guess like everything else, a little bit of a good thing has become abused. My internet situation wouldn’t be so bad if whoever up here wasn’t abusing me and my family the way they are. sure the people out here are poor. some are beyond poor. but to steal from others, and it is stealing, is not right. Especially where our health and livelihood depends on this internet. Where we lose it at times because they steal it, and where the internet company is continually shutting us down because of their “Fair-access policy” that we don’t even exceed, puts all of us at risk. I use this internet to keep in contact with my doctors, to get medications…not just for my writing.
But, I guess, as long as whoever is stealing it from us is getting a little bit of pleasure, all is well huh? **rolls eyes**
Ok. It is late…or early. I hate being up this time, working on computers. I get cranky and paranoid. I will go crawl under my desk. Maybe, though, if one of my neighbor’s reads this, they will think twice.
Wishful thinking huh?
