February to Today

So back in February I decided that it was time to upgrade our Internet Service Provider (ISP) from the on-again/off again wireless feed we have had for the past few years. I went high tech dude, $300 and a computer nerd later I had a high flying Norad satellite system on my brand new roof.

Sure it wasn't the same thing I had agreed to over the phone and it wasn't even technically hooked up and they didn't actually give me the new router (or any router) as promised in the ad. But I had lightening fast satellite internet dude! It worked great for 45 days, which was 15 days past the return date. Then it simply quit working.

We had exceeded our bandwidth limit, we were informed by the ISP. We should upgrade to the next highest package, our new ISP told us. Our son watched Youtube one Saturday Afternoon and ruined the internet for the rest of us... or so I told the others. So after a month went by without internet access we paid a little more and upgraded. Then another month went by and Still nothing. Not even able to access Email most of the time. "You're still exceeding the bandwidth limit" we were told. How in the hell we could exceed it without being logged onto the internet was never explained, but we were assured by the new ISP that if we upgrade to the very highest, most expensive package. And of course that never worked either. We were told neighbors were tapping into our feed and stealing the service, we were told many things and finally we were told that the ISP really "couldn't provide internet to everybody."

So we canceled and paid another $300 to buy out the contract we never used because of the service we never could access. For those of you keeping score... this means that while I paid for everything, I tried for months to get basic service, I kept upgrading to more and more expensive packages as advised until I was told THEY could not provide the service... IF you are keeping score... that translates into I BROKE THE DAMN CONTRACT?!!

SO the wife goes out and gets a 3G card from Verison. It's ok, not all that fast but it is OK. Then I get to looking at the contract she had and see it has... wait for it... w a i t for it........... a bandwidth limit! I refused to be trapped into the same situation as I was with the satellite, so after 30 of never being able to access our the website that shows usage, we canceled the service.

And I KNOW what you are thinking. "But Cris, if you canceled your ISP how are you able to post a blog entry two night in a row?"

Simple dear reader. For a mere $75 I called up my old on again/off again service and had it restored. The same service that I used for the nearly 18 months of uninterrupted nightly blog posts.

I'm BAAAAAACK!! ...mabe

OK OK OK in case you did not know I have been away because I spent over $1000 since February on a different ISP only to find out they were not a reputable company. Last Week Mrs. Cris got a 3G wireless (cell phone) card. Then we wondered of there were routers made for those things and KABAM! I am back.

Tonight the boy and I hooked up the new system and we are back in business. EXCEPT it turns out Verizon has a bandwidth limit like Wildblue. Soooooo I think I should go crazy and watch all the porn that I have been missing over the past few MONTHS and if Verizon can't keep up they can have their freakin card back.

If THAT happens we have to decide of we want to go back to the old system we had but were not happy with back at the first of the year.

OK enough bitching about the wilds of remotest Oklahoma. I can say I missed you. I did! But... not as much as I thought I might. I had a post in mind about Jr's Garden, our new kitten, the fire pit plans, my new hardwood floors and marble tile hearth, good friends, and a few other topics... which includes my potable of choice lately... a mixture I call my fruity gay drink.

OK OK OK you have drug it out of me. My fruity gay drink is a blender of ice, a packet of sugar free cherry limeade kool-aid, one cup of rum of vodka and water. No sugar, no carbs, no calories (except for the liquor) and one refreshing way to get "faced."

Blogging from Work

Where the hell have you been dude?!! Well, I have been tilting at windmills great and small. I have been saving the world on a daily basis before bedtime and I have been without internet at the house. After a four month failed experiment with Wildblue (DirectTV) Satellite, I finally cancelled the service they had failed to provide. My bill had climbed from the initial $50 a month to $70 a month to the final bill of $90 a month (unauthorized increase) and still we had little, if any service. Thus, after months of no home service and hundreds of dollars wasted and tons of loss of work... I cancelled.

This is where Wildblue (DirectTV) Satellite tells me they will now charge me an additional $15 a month for the next two years ($280 total) for the unpaid balance on the service they never provided in the first place, AND they were sending me boxes to take down the dish and ship back to them or charge me several hundred dollars more, in spite of the $300 I paid up front for the equipment.

FUCK THAT!! I called my Discover card and told them to cease all payments on that service. I told them the situation and the suggested I contest all past bills and they certainly understood why I was so impassioned and used the F word a lot to a poor innocent girl who doesn't even work for Wildblue (DirectTV) Satellite company. BUT... Discover has a policy that they never deny payment to a card, they will only contest the charge after they pay... regardless what you tell them.

Soooooooo I think I will have to cancel my Discover card, even though they didn't screw me over. I hear they will continue to take charges and will continue to bill me even if I cancel the card. You know there is a chance this Wildblue (DirectTV) Satellite clusterfuck could end up costing me $1000 for 45 days of service.

So the wife (who seems to have way more time at work than I do) filed a report with the BBB. Turns out they have pages of complaints on this company. All of them exactly the same complaints we issued. She also found a couple of other consumer complaint sites that had a fuckton of Wildblue (DirectTV) Satellite issues. She filed a grievance with the State Attorney General's Office in the fraud investigation division. I feel these guys offer a service they never intend to provide and then take pray upon the desperate workaholics in rural areas. We will probably lodge a complaint with the FCC.

So what did you do this month?