We've been frustrated with our AOL dialup for a long, long time. Have been trying to find a solution to that. AT&T doesn't have anything for us. Comcast does, but wants us to pay $700 to extend the line from the pole that is at the end of our driveway to our house. Nope. All of it is location, location, location. Somehow we're not in a good one. Technology-wise that is.
We bought a cheap little external modem when we bought the new computer in August. I should say Steve and Eric did this. I was at camp at the time. Anyway, we've had a lot of trouble connecting to dialup and staying connected. We've tried so many solutions. Finally I decided to install the AOL software on my netbook and use the modem with the netbook. After a few glitches we were successful. Worked fine that evening. The next morning, had the same problems connecting that we've had with the desktop. We'd figured it was a software conflict on the desktop but after having the same issues we figured it's probably a problem with the (cheap) modem. You get what you pay for, right?
So went to Best Buy yesterday to buy a better modem. While there, the salesman talked us into trying wireless broadband. The Verizon map showed we did have coverage. So we brought home this little gizmo, charged it up last night, and started monkeying with it today. I am using wireless broadband right now as I'm typing. Very rarely would dialup cooperate enough to get me onto this site, part of the reason I haven't blogged much lately. The signal indicator has mostly been red showing a weak signal. We've had either one or two out of the four bars.
Steve was trying to send some Goldwing pictures to some friends. Very slow there. But I was just as slow sending pictures from work to him. Plus there are file size limitations. He's just not sure that this is going to work. Biggest reason (I think) he's hesitant is that if we don't return it within the three day trial, we are locked into a two year contract.
Plusses in my opinion are that we are online without hassle - important for him when he is job hunting and checking email. Plus the phone line is free - Scott should be calling about any time now and we're not blocking him by being online. Might not be as fast as he's used to at work but it sure is faster than dialup!
We're also not sure how much we use at a time. Our "plan" is for 5 GB per month, we're not sure how long that will take us to use. Waiting for one of our more tech-savvy offspring to give us some enlightenment on that. Eric spent a good part of Friday with us, so not sure if we'll see him today. Will ask Scott when we talk.
So MAYBE we will have better internet. If we decide this doesn't work, our only option seems to be satellite with a few hundred dollars to invest in set up fees and equipment. With this, we had to pay $35 activation, it's $50 per month, and the little gizmo was free. And we can take the little gizmo anywhere to get service, not just have it at home.
I'm hoping we stick with it.
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Playing catch-up with the blog
Can't believe it's been over a month since I last posted. I keep writing posts in my mind but then don't have time to go online and get them actually written. I should just write them in Word and then post when I can. Oh well.
It's been a roller coaster month. Pow-Wow was on the 15th of October, that was lots of fun and a bit challenging as I was asked to take on the science session at the last minute. That plus cooking and geocaching made for a busy day. The Wood Badge dinner was that evening, and in the same town, so got in some geocaching between the end of the Pow-Wow and the dinner.
The following Monday was not a good day in Cooper land. Steve lost his new job of six weeks duration. They had hired him in anticipation of a contract they thought they were getting. When the contract fell through, so did Steve's job. As of this writing, nothing promising yet. He was in line for at least one job that went to someone else. It's been very discouraging for him, to say the least. And now we have two COBRA payments to make, for a total of over $600 a month. I have faith that the Lord will bring us through this. Saddened that Steve does not have that faith. As I posted before, our house is paid off and we are debt free so we could be much worse off. I am hopeful that I will get more hours at work soon and also hopefully move into full time status so that I qualify for health insurance. If nothing moves for either of us by the first of the year, I am going to have to start looking for full time work with benefits. Much as I hate to lose my current job.
The next weekend was the fall edition of COAST at Camp Gerber. As usual, a great weekend of training leaders in outdoor skills and having a good time with all my friends on staff. Halfway decent weather for the end of October, though a bit chilly in the mornings. Got to do some good geocaching on the way up and back. Friday was the best - went to Duck Lake State Park, practically nobody else there, and did a bunch of good caches. One of the best was called "Lost Scout Camp" and was at the former site of Shawandosee which was the Boy Scout Camp where Gerald Ford had worked as a counselor in his youth. The caches on Sunday weren't as good, many placed by teenagers in Whitehall which were in poor condition, in glass containers, or otherwise had problems.
Since then it's been just the day to day. Getting used to the new routine of being the one to be quiet in the morning getting ready for work, and having Steve home when I get home. Max sure likes having Steve home, I'm sure! This month has been doctor month so far. Went for my eye checkup last Wednesday - my cataracts are a little worse but still not bad enough to do anything with yet. Today was the doctor for my diabetes check. Not proud to say I'm not doing so well. So hard to get back on track and with the holidays just around the corner I'm not optimistic. I'm going back to a second medicine which I really didn't want to do. But it's my own fault.
Next Wednesday is the dentist.
Will try my new plan of writing in word then posting when I can. We'll see how it goes.
It's been a roller coaster month. Pow-Wow was on the 15th of October, that was lots of fun and a bit challenging as I was asked to take on the science session at the last minute. That plus cooking and geocaching made for a busy day. The Wood Badge dinner was that evening, and in the same town, so got in some geocaching between the end of the Pow-Wow and the dinner.
The following Monday was not a good day in Cooper land. Steve lost his new job of six weeks duration. They had hired him in anticipation of a contract they thought they were getting. When the contract fell through, so did Steve's job. As of this writing, nothing promising yet. He was in line for at least one job that went to someone else. It's been very discouraging for him, to say the least. And now we have two COBRA payments to make, for a total of over $600 a month. I have faith that the Lord will bring us through this. Saddened that Steve does not have that faith. As I posted before, our house is paid off and we are debt free so we could be much worse off. I am hopeful that I will get more hours at work soon and also hopefully move into full time status so that I qualify for health insurance. If nothing moves for either of us by the first of the year, I am going to have to start looking for full time work with benefits. Much as I hate to lose my current job.
The next weekend was the fall edition of COAST at Camp Gerber. As usual, a great weekend of training leaders in outdoor skills and having a good time with all my friends on staff. Halfway decent weather for the end of October, though a bit chilly in the mornings. Got to do some good geocaching on the way up and back. Friday was the best - went to Duck Lake State Park, practically nobody else there, and did a bunch of good caches. One of the best was called "Lost Scout Camp" and was at the former site of Shawandosee which was the Boy Scout Camp where Gerald Ford had worked as a counselor in his youth. The caches on Sunday weren't as good, many placed by teenagers in Whitehall which were in poor condition, in glass containers, or otherwise had problems.
Since then it's been just the day to day. Getting used to the new routine of being the one to be quiet in the morning getting ready for work, and having Steve home when I get home. Max sure likes having Steve home, I'm sure! This month has been doctor month so far. Went for my eye checkup last Wednesday - my cataracts are a little worse but still not bad enough to do anything with yet. Today was the doctor for my diabetes check. Not proud to say I'm not doing so well. So hard to get back on track and with the holidays just around the corner I'm not optimistic. I'm going back to a second medicine which I really didn't want to do. But it's my own fault.
Next Wednesday is the dentist.
Will try my new plan of writing in word then posting when I can. We'll see how it goes.
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