Tethered : 56K Purgatory

Well there's something I never expected to experience again: dial-up. We had the worst time getting our phone service with Verizon switched from the old apartment to the new one, because the previous residents had never cancelled their service. And to complicate matters, the old service wasn't with Verizon and they needed the apartment manager's permission to cancel it. Complicate matters with said manager not being so "on top of things," and Verizon needing to ask us for her name and numbers three or four separate times. So we didn't have a landline until a few days ago.

Verizon came through in the end once Karen got a "customer service" rep who was actually helpful, but... the DSL was apparently never transferred. After 4 days of no internet at home, I finally decided to call Verizon to confirm the DSL was on its way. The rep made it sound like it had been complicated with the whole disconnecting of the old service issue. I've got a strong suspicion though that wasn't the case. Especially when we get an automated call today confirming our "order" for DSL. Yeah...

So the kicker is, I'm without broadband until April 6.

Graciously, oh so graciously, Verizon is providing me with dial-up service until then. So for the first time ever I get to hear my Powerbook dialing, connecting, and emitting those oh-so-familiar chirps and static of 56k purgatory.

Talk about suddenly being grateful for what I had gotten used to - broadband wherever I went (given I was going to work or home).

I'm trying to look for the positives here though. I figure it's a great time to test all my sites from the perspective of that poor old sap still using dial-up. And to catch up on my reading. And I've been meaning to spend more quality time near the phone jack...