Grrr..damn electric fences and dial up internet

Grrrr - been without internet for two whole days. On Thursday morning a regular ticking sound could be heard on our phone line and while the phone was ok to use we couldnt get an internet line - either we got really really slow line, couldnt connect or if we did get a line couldnt stay connected:(

We disconnected our fences, popped up the road and turned off the fences to the small block up there ([}] we know where the switch is) and he always has shorts - no change. So turned up the roads fences back on and walked the roadside verges all covered with long grass that the dogs vanish in, except for our place which has been neatly mowed. Couldnt find anything. Was going to talk to the guy nextdoor when we could catch him, then this morning saw a van with aldder up at the cross roads. The van then went to the farm down the road and after it left we had an improved phone line - coincidence [?]
as the kids from that farm said they had a fault under their house with a TV connection....dont see what that would do to our phone line but there we are - I'm back!

Now all I have to do is catch up on two days of what everyine here has been chatting about....DH says I had withdrawel symptoms:D

You are not out of the woods yet. You still have a broken link on your sig!!:D;)

You are not out of the woods yet. You still have a broken link on your sig!!:D;)

The above double post was bought to you by "time out/script error" thingy stuff!

quote:Originally posted by Valmai

The above double post was bought to you by "time out/script error" thingy stuff!

now that phrasing sounds suspiciously like sesame street ending credits

If I can just sort out a couple of tricky problems we will have the new forum this weekend...if I don't sort them out........[]

The fault with the TV connection and phone line was probably an issue with Sky TV.

I'm sick of dial-up internet and the BS excuses we are given as to why our community won't get broadband.

We were meant to get a wireless broadband access point as part of the government strategy for broadband for rural communities. Apparently Waitakere council tried to redirect the funding into one of their pet projects and the funding was withdrawn as a result. So we miss out, again...

Last March I had no internet access for nearly the whole month. Various line faults, Telecom upgrades gone wrong and lousy ISP's caused the lot. One particular line fault was so bad we couldn't even call the fault service, we had to drive to a payphone and use that to register the fault. They said it would take two days to resolve the issue, I said that I was standing in one of their fancy phone boxes with a sledge hammer and a pair of bolt cutters and they better get the fault fixed quicker [}] It was fixed in less than 24 hours

Telco companies try to avoid admitting there's a fault. I've had to resolve nationwide network issues for various companies - call faults, describe problem, get put on hold... ...get told there's no problem (but the line has started working), have a nice day.
Once they forgot to put me on hold, I could hear them talking and reconfiguring their routers to fix the issue. There were lot's of comments "this is configured wrong", "it shouldn't be like this". They even had to get someone else to help them, there was furious tapping of the keyboard to configure the router. The connection had started working once they had finished their fiddling. I was told that there was no problem their end and that it must be our equipment at fault, have a nice day...

Cheers
Alan

quote:Originally posted by Alan S

I'm sick of dial-up internet and the BS excuses we are given as to why our community won't get broadband.

I have a relative at Swanson, and they are getting excellent service from Compass Communications via the Waikumete repeater station. They also have other stations that might be in range. If you let me know approximately where you are, I could take a look.

There is also the following option:

Sign up for Telecom Mobile Broadband with an Installation Cost of $299 and a Monthly Charge of $30 for up to 200MB of data, or $40 for 400MB of data.

Alternatively, you can sign up for the 1GB+ plan with an Installation Cost of $199 and a Monthly Charge of $50 for up to 1GB of data, or $60 for 2GB of data.

According to this coverage map, most of the Waitakere area will receive 3G speeds of around 1.5Mbps download and 500kbps upload:

www.telecom.co.nz/binarys/auckland%20coverage%203-0.pdf

There are some options for you to mull over, Alan.

Let me know if you have any further questions.

I live in Parau, a small community about halfway between Titirangi and Huia. Unfortunately mobile access isn't an option due to poor signal strength. We show up on all vendors map as being a full service area etc.. but reality is that we have nothing.
The Waikumete repeater is the project that the council tried to redirect our funding to.
As the funding has disappeared, work on the wireless project has stopped. There were several providers who were offering solutions for the communities out here, but now we have to put up and shut up and behave like good little rates payers/taxpayers.
We are fighting to get what we were promised and sooner or later it will happen, it's not only Parau that missed out but the nearby communities also.

I'm guessing there's a few people on here that live in places that have been granted government funding for similar projects, so I thought that I should make it known what has happened here so they can avoid the same fate. Keep an eye on your council.

Cheers
Alan

quote:Originally posted by Alan S

I live in Parau, a small community about halfway between Titirangi and Huia.

Alan, you might be interested to know that the Kordia Extend Wireless Broadband service can reach some parts of Parau. According to Kordia's Coverage checker:

Area: Parau
Coverage: Some

Unfortunately, it costs about $800 to get this service installed, so that may rule it out for you. Nevertheless, I thought it worth mentioning, because this is the service we use on our farm at Russell, and we find it excellent.

Cheers,
Grant.

Cheers Grant, I've made contact and I'm waiting to find out if we're included in the "some".

Thanks
Alan