Life without internet
My blogs lately have been rather scarce, but there is a reason! Internet. Or to be more specific, a lack thereof. We've been in our new place for two weeks now and the internet conundrum continues. People from the states, please take a moment to appreciate your internet at home! Let me tell you a thing or two about internet in Australia.
For starters, there is a limit to your internet activity. Forget about streaming videos online, and beware to those uploading their photos--only so much can be done per month! During my first week in Australia, I spent full days online, emailing, uploading pictures, and when online socializing ceased, I streamed season two of Grey's for company. When the internet started going slower and slower, I got frustrated and almost desperate as my only mode of immediate communication was being removed. I came to find out that I had used up all of our internet cap and we wouldn't be getting more usage for a few weeks. Oy! So long Youtube, so long Grey's, so long internet usage as I know it.
I adjusted to the downloading limits, paid my monthly internet share, and thus internet issues came to a halt.
Until now. Now we have to figure out a new internet plan, and it's not pretty.
A few friends suggested we go with this new "Naked" DSL (whatever that means) that you can use without a phone line. Great! We were paying $30 a month just for a phone line before, and then $40-$50 on top of that for our internet. Phone line-free sounded too good to be true! And it was. Turns out you have to have an active phone line first, then the internet company comes to deactivate the line and hook up. That doesn't make any sense, why would you have to activate a phone line, then deactivate it??? We would have to pay $150 just for a temporary phone line connection, not to mention the internet set-up fee, which would put us at $220--before we even have internet! This also takes up to 20 days, so I threw my hands up in the air at that and continued my internet search.
Next I looked at the cable connections, but appears you have to have an active phone line for those, too. I looked up broadband, DSL (are they the same thing?) cable...and I think I've decided on mobile. You can get the little USB drives that do mobile internet through the cell phone companies for about the same amount per month--and you don't have to pay for set-up fees! Well, if you sign up for a 24 month contract you don't have to.
Why so complicated? I just want internet, and I don't want to have to pay more than $50 a month for it. Is it so much to ask?
So this little Tina has been going through some internet and email withdrawals. The HF internet filters block gmail, hotmail, facebook and myspace, which makes sense but I feel isolated from my people! How are you, people? I miss you. :) I will try to be a better blogger. It will be my only form of communication back home until I get this damn internet business sorted.
Praises to the incompetence of HF IT, that they forgot to add blogspot to the internet filter.
For starters, there is a limit to your internet activity. Forget about streaming videos online, and beware to those uploading their photos--only so much can be done per month! During my first week in Australia, I spent full days online, emailing, uploading pictures, and when online socializing ceased, I streamed season two of Grey's for company. When the internet started going slower and slower, I got frustrated and almost desperate as my only mode of immediate communication was being removed. I came to find out that I had used up all of our internet cap and we wouldn't be getting more usage for a few weeks. Oy! So long Youtube, so long Grey's, so long internet usage as I know it.
I adjusted to the downloading limits, paid my monthly internet share, and thus internet issues came to a halt.
Until now. Now we have to figure out a new internet plan, and it's not pretty.
A few friends suggested we go with this new "Naked" DSL (whatever that means) that you can use without a phone line. Great! We were paying $30 a month just for a phone line before, and then $40-$50 on top of that for our internet. Phone line-free sounded too good to be true! And it was. Turns out you have to have an active phone line first, then the internet company comes to deactivate the line and hook up. That doesn't make any sense, why would you have to activate a phone line, then deactivate it??? We would have to pay $150 just for a temporary phone line connection, not to mention the internet set-up fee, which would put us at $220--before we even have internet! This also takes up to 20 days, so I threw my hands up in the air at that and continued my internet search.
Next I looked at the cable connections, but appears you have to have an active phone line for those, too. I looked up broadband, DSL (are they the same thing?) cable...and I think I've decided on mobile. You can get the little USB drives that do mobile internet through the cell phone companies for about the same amount per month--and you don't have to pay for set-up fees! Well, if you sign up for a 24 month contract you don't have to.
Why so complicated? I just want internet, and I don't want to have to pay more than $50 a month for it. Is it so much to ask?
So this little Tina has been going through some internet and email withdrawals. The HF internet filters block gmail, hotmail, facebook and myspace, which makes sense but I feel isolated from my people! How are you, people? I miss you. :) I will try to be a better blogger. It will be my only form of communication back home until I get this damn internet business sorted.
Praises to the incompetence of HF IT, that they forgot to add blogspot to the internet filter.
Comments
~Jessi, Logan, Madison and Matt
the internode deals seem like a good bet, though you'll need a phone line.
as for pricing, typically a good australian isp is about 100 a month, he said he was paying 150. so you might not be able to find quite what you're looking for down there.