[Coco] Stories of Internet Connections

[Bruce W. Calkins]

Back in MA from 1998 to 2004 I had rock solid dial-up.  My modem was an old 
33.6k unit and it never dropped below that.  A 56.6k modem would 
consistently connect at 56.6 for those who visited with one.  When I moved 
to TN the dial-up and phone connections were crappy as all get out.  I once 
saw a connection speed of 300.  Dropouts were so common that I took to 
making the trip to the library to clean the spam and trash out my E-mail 
account so I could download the rest from home and for downloading my major 
files.  A neighbor worked for Bell South and had filed several reports 
within the company about the problem with the main link to the city station. 
Needless to say I was filing frequent outage reports myself.



Then we got phone and their slowest hi-speed internet package from Charter. 
Downloading the latest NitrOS9 is but a moments effort and I can get the 
latest Linux ISO in less time that it took for NitrOS9 back on dial-up in 
MA.  They have gone out a couple times, usually both together, and every 
time I called using the cell phone and pushed the button for a human I got a 
person in the states who spoke American English with a mid-western accent. 
In other words I have had no chronic or long term problems.  They did 
finally offer a combination package for TV with the phone and internet that 
was less that the separate price.  So at the moment, we are happy campers 
out here in the county on the end of this string.



Bruce W.