Yes, I have survived my first week and a half of living on my own. I have not had much time to enjoy my new place yet and get settled in though, as I've been busy with work, running, and Christmas shopping. I got a slow start on my shopping this year and have been franticly trying to get it done over the past week. The hardest part for me is remembering what I have already gotten for whom, and how much more I need to get. I will be very happy to see the 25th pass by.

My biggest frustration since moving has been my internet connection. My apartment has a contract with some small company called My E-Suite to provide "high-speed" internet. Basically it's all wireless and they're broadcasting across the apartment complex, and you give them your device info and they allow it to connect. As I mentioned before, it is far from high-speed. My new Centrino laptop has repeatedly had connections dropped, and even when I do have a connection it's almost always really slow, or my page loads time out. And my wireless adapter for my Xbox has yet to been able to pickup a signal.

I called their tech support the other day and told them of my troubles and the guy didn't seem to believe me. I told him that I was seeing "2 to 3 bars" on my connection which is the equivalent of "poor to average" connections. He says "you should be able to surf the internet at that speed". Well, I can't. If and when the pages actually load, they are taking longer than if I had friggin dial-up! I also mentioned that only certain spots in my apartment seem to be able to pickup a signal. He then asked if I had anything "obstructing the windows". I have the cheap window blinds that came with the apartment, but what, am I supposed to open all blinds when I want to connect to the Internet? Maybe I should crack a window while I'm at it? He then, of course, went ahead and made the most commonly used tech support suggestion: "try rebooting your computer". Oh, ok. That will magically make the internet connection work? Should I do it while standing on my head and rubbing my stomach too?

I called the phone company today and got a quote for a phone line (which I really have no desire to have) and DSL service, since that is my only alternative. It is going to be pretty costly, but at this point it seems necessary if I want to be able to rely on the internet in my apartment. *sigh*

This entry was posted by Brad, on Wednesday, December 21, 2005. You can leave your response.