The internet on the Island has gone berserk.
I've had big problems for a week or so but yesterday it disappeared. I am not alone. Far from it. I went into The Woodlands (in Stornoway) this morning after having my fasting bloods done. I wanted a bacon roll and a large black coffee! And to use their wifi. I managed to download my emails but then their wifi went down too.
Back home and I have wifi - just. For how long I don't know so I thought that I'd post this so that you, dear reader, know why I am not posting and not visiting your blogs either as frequently as I would wish.
Add to that the fact that the weather here is as good as I can recall it in the last 40 years and I am spending as much time in the garden as I can. As I type this in my kitchen overlooking the bay with every window and door in the house open the temperature is just a whisker under 30ºC. That's hot.
Hopefully I'll be back again soon.
'Bye for now.
Graham, a Hutchinson Dongle will sort all problems. Mine costs about £25.00p a month on pay as you go. A bit more if I watch I-Player a lot but I only really watch the F1 and that is usually only an hour a fortnight. I have been watching that cloud watch programme. It could be £30.00p this month.
ReplyDeleteYou have good 3G coverage where you are if I remember correctly.
I don't have good data coverage at all at the house Adrian: I can't download data on my phone as a rule. I used to have a dongle in NZ but it was a lot more expensive than your quote. Broadband is a lot more expensive in NZ generally though.
DeleteI never knew you had a wifi. If your wifi goes away for a day or two I know that the ironing will pile up but at least you'll have some peace from the wifi's constant chatter. Every cloud has a silver lining.
ReplyDeleteBrave twice in a day YP. Are you tired of life?
DeleteThe wifi being away YP increases the likelihood of the ironing getting done or it would if the weather wasn't so good that being inside is minimised.
DeleteGB,
ReplyDeleteI am not sure if fickle or BT is the word, but I've used both in the frustration of trying to send e.mail from the island and the mainland, and I am in awe at residents' forbearance. Scots are a stoic lot. Oh , the woes of the traveller - and the locals, it seems! I blamed and maligned BT for intermittent service everywhere - teashops, libraries, ceilidh houses, pubs, An Lanntair, the Woodland Centre, and even people's homes. When I stay, I can rarely get a signal in the village, so to call or email home takes hours of my holiday / work time, as I take the bus (avg. 45 mins) to town to call or send a note home. When messages won't send, asking for help reveals the service is down. Once last year, to my surprise, my mobile phone rang while I was on the bus, and quit before i could answer it. sheesh!
If you know of any Improv skits on this topic, could you let me know about them?? If this message arrives within the next week, you and I will clearly have regained the favour of the cyber-gods - make hay while the sun shines!!
McGregor
President Elect Alexis Salmondski promises that during the first Five Year Plan super-fast broadband is to be rolled out to every corner of The Scottish Republic. It will be so fast that your emails will be sent before you've even written them and you'll get tomorrow's news today. Anyone voting "No" in the referendum will be excluded from this programme.
DeleteMcGregor something very odd is happening at the moment. I am almost the furthest house from the exchange to which I am attached so I expect my broadband to be poorer than most but, as a rule, I have workable broadband. When I was in California I discovered that outwith the main cities cellphone coverage was non-existent or run by local-only networks. The East-Coasters on holiday were complaining about people having to live so primitively. In NZ I live 7 km as the crow flies from Napier but there is no terrestrial broadband and none planned: it is not economic. Any broadband is also much more expensive than in the UK. In the Highlands and Islands anyone can have reliable broadband via satellite if they are prepared to pay. We live in a society which has become completely reliant on instant communication and we don't cope well when it fails us and we want it to be as cheap as possible or free. C'est la vie.
DeleteYP my township (English = village) is due for super-fast broadband in 2016. Do you think England would vote for independence if it were offered? Or would Yorkshire? After all then you could have your Tory government without fear that the Scottish Labour vote would re-emerge to provide the UK's Labour Government again.
DeleteI have had recurring wifi issues since moving too ~ I am wondering if I can complain for loss of ESSENTIAL services. I am sure you know I am going to tell you that a tad under 30 is not hot ~ try a tad under 40.
ReplyDeleteSo it's not just here Carol. I agree 30 isn't hot in either your terms or my NZ terms but it's all relative and it's hot for here.
DeleteGB, I forgot to tell you that wi-fi is an Australian invention and one of the four Australian scientists who received an international patents award for it is a past student at the school where I teach. Unfortunately, Australia does not celebrate its scientists like it celebrates its football stars.
DeleteInternet and wi fi can be frustrating at time. Nice weather for you guys!
ReplyDeleteFabulous weather Red. And back in communication.
DeleteI hope your internet service is back up and running properly soon.
ReplyDeleteHow on earth did we ever live without it?
In this house I know immediately when there is a blip in the wifi connection from the loud cries that are heard.
Guess what arrived in the mail today, a flyer from the "other" internet service provider. The new fibre optic network installation has now been completed and the installation contractors will be in the neighbourhood to complete the migration over to the fibre optic network within the next few days.
I don't know if I like all this lightning fast speed all around me....sometimes I like a slower pace.
Virginia I am completely lost now without access to the Internet or my cellphone. With friends round the world everything from my news to my social life is reliant on that form of communication. Of course if we didn't have it we'd adapt to the old ways again. Or would we?
DeleteActually, I do believe that "the internet" is still there - it hasn't gone anywhere ;-)
ReplyDeleteBut I know how frustrating it can be when you try to access the www and can't.
Nearly 30 Celsius really IS hot for your part of the globe, Graham! What was it like there last summer? I remember my 2013 Yorkshire Holiday; the thermometer went up to 29 Celsius, I walked in dry riverbeds and never needed my brollie - not a single drop of rain fell during my entire stay.
It's a long time since we had a spell this warm for so long Meike. We do have dry spells but when you think that a few weeks ago I was wearing winter clothes to go out one evening this is a bit of a change. I know that last summer we were almost at water restriction time so we must have had a dry spell but it was otherwise unremarkable up here.
Delete