online again

The dark cloud of internet-less gloom has lifted.  In a stop gap measure, I went and bought a wireless dongley thingy and plugged it into the computer, and we're set.  The overall situation is not resolved, but at least we can now do the internet jobs we have to.  And reconnect with all the people we lost contact with.

It's been interesting tracking my emotions over the last six days.  At first I thought the ISP would be able to fix the problem, so I was hopeful and impatient.  After three days it became apparent they didn't have a clue, their technicians knew little more than me (how many times do I have to reset the modem before they will acknowledge there is a serious problem here?), and they weren't doing anything to fix things between my increasingly agitated phone calls.  By Friday evening impatience had turned to resignation - there would be no internet over the weekend.  May as well settle in for the long haul and find another way to pay staff. (We ended up opting for lunch at a cafe with wifi)

Monday morning, armed with the knowledge the problem wasn't ours (thanks to a good tech-savvy friend) I phoned again.  Still no answers.  And to my surprise they just gave up.  Said they couldn't find the problem and we could find another ISP, they wouldn't charge us the termination fee.  I felt rather elated.  Except that this morning when I tried to go back to our previous ISP (why, oh why did we ever leave?) they advised me they have no ADSL 2+ ports available at our exchange.  I find that pretty ridiculous in this day and age.

In the end I have signed up with another well recommended provider but we have to wait ten business days or more to be connected.  I'm just hoping that the problem with the other company hasn't complicated things with the new provider.  I found two phone messages from the first company this afternoon - the tech team saying they could see I was using the internet and if there were still problems let them know.  Infuriating.  I do not have internet.  I have had to buy wireless.  I rang the ISP and nearly cried as I asked them to stop ringing me, and could they please confirm our contract has been waived.  Emotionally overwrought.

Anyway, here I am back online, feeling more cheerful and less stressed.  I don't like to think I'm addicted to the internet, and I'm not really sure I am.  I can go away for days at a time and not check in without problem.  My emotional state was not just about facebook, email and missing NaBloPoMo for the first time ever.... we had bills to pay and things to organise and we rely on the internet to do that.  I've just started an online course.  My choir pieces are all online and I would like to practice them before our concert on Monday.  It's stressful not being able to complete necessary tasks that have big (and not-so-big) implications.

Call me shallow.  Tell me it's a first world problem.  I suppose I'll wear it.  But do let me know how you go when your internet unexpectedly fails for a week.