I moved back to Oklahoma 5 years ago, and live on a small family farm 8 miles from town, unless you go around by the road. Until then, I was pretty much up to date, cable tv, telephone, and internet, the only problem with that was when one goes out, they usually all go out. I'd hoped to use a cellphone here for my primary number and since no cable or DSL was available this far from town, was stuck with dial-up on a land line since I couldn't afford a satellite setup. The cell phone got terribly undependable reception here, so I let it go and had a second line installed, doubling all the fees for that, but I needed a dependable phone and internet connection (unless it's too wet after rain, or too dry during drought).
A power surge just shut everything down, it does that sometimes when the guy up the road, my nearest neighbor 1/2 mile away, who started a feed mill to process the grain we pay him to grow, so he can sell it back to us at top dollar, turned something on. While I was waiting for the computer to reboot, turned the TV back on to watch (or sort of hear in the background) the PBS reruns again (that's my only station, but since the digital upgrade there's 2 now channels of the same reruns : ) and realized the movie I'd began watching last night but stopped halfway to save for later, would have to be restarted too. Also realized after the computer rebooted that all the photos I had sorted and had ready for editing would also have to be resorted (i enjoy photographing landscapes, nature, and wildlife as a hobby). Heard something out back and went to check if the chickens were hasseling the ducks again, there's 3 ducks setting so I've been running the chickens out of the pen during the day if they do that, well, i ran the drakes out too, maybe peaceful for awhile so I can concentrate. uhmmm, what was the topic?
Yeah, I use dialup. Finally found a program that works fairly well with incoming phone calls too, so one phone line would work for both(at least, thankfully, call waiting was available here). Now an incoming call will disconnect the internet and ring on through, and I don't have to pay for two lines. If I've just set up a computer that will need some serious updates I'll take it by Mom's up in town and hook it up on her DSL, it'll get them there in an hour, here it would take 2 weeks.
Planned to work in the garden this morning, now it's already half gone. As an old farmer once said, "I used to get up early, but with all these modern conveniences, now I can sleep till half past 4" ; )
I just mentioned NA because I know that the phone connection is used a lot here. I know some people like the price and find dialup adequate. Others have need for more bandwidth, or just like popular media a lot.
