The internet curse
As most of you know, Andy and I own/run an IT company. We had been running it out of our house - with 12 employees, most of whom worked from home. We needed office space, so finally we got some. Great location, huge space, wonderful landlords. Middle of city of Falls Church, less than 20 minute drive to the heart of Washington, DC.
One small problem. No internet. Yes, really. No fucking internet.
When we first looked at the space, we specifically asked about what broadband was available. The landlords told us "DSL!" to which we replied - uh, dude, that isn't broadband. They were shocked - they really thought DSL was cutting edge.
We contacted Cox and they assured us that they could supply cable internet no problem. Fios was not available, of course.
We move in. Cox comes to install the cable. Cox leaves. No cable. The "node" is in the wrong place. They'll call us back to tell us when it will be installed. Oops, we have to move something. So it will be around 30- 60 days. WTF?
Okay, fine. I just signed a three year lease, the landlords built out the space just for us, and we have already told the entire fucking world we are moving. We can wait. Barely, but we can wait.
We investigate 4G. No, they stop service one block from our new office. But we can use this mobile hot spot that offers 5 people 4G connectivity in the office if we leave the hot spot in a top corner of one window, but not always on sunny days, oh and it won't work while on the charger, but don't let it run out of power because then it gets upset, turns off and won't come on again until recharged.
It works okay when there are only three of us in the office on rainy days.
Some of us start tethering our mobile phones to our laptops. And then get our phone bills. Ouch.
Oh, Cox calls back. More like 60 to 74 days. Depending on when the City issues the permits. Thanks for being our customer!!!!
Okay, we decide to call verizon to get DSL since we know the previous tenants had DSL, the current landlords have DSL, and all the other tenants on our floor have DSL. while we cannot get a static IP address, we can get better bandwidth than the 4G connection and we can network the fucking printer and even perhaps to a point to point VPN to the servers, which are STILL in my basement.
Verizon tells us it will take 7 days to install (wtf, just flip the fucking switch from the last tenant!). They mail us a modem. Then four days later, they send someone to install it. It doesn't work. Someone else comes out the next day. It doesn't work. Then, magically, it DOES WORK. 5pm on Wednesday, one month after moving into our new offices, we have internet!!!
which stopped at 10pm. Verizon decided that the DSL was working "incorrectly". So they turned it off. They are trying to "fix it" (where fix it presumably includes connecting us to the internet). But they are not sure when, as they have to reset our entire connection and do some magic voodoo. Oh, and this is only for us- every other DSL customer in our building, including our neighbor who had hers installed the day before ours, has DSL that works just fine, thankyouverymuch.
So here we are, 36 days after moving into our new offices, and we still do not have internet. The other tenants are an architectural firm, two therapists and a financial services analyst. They have internet. My firm, you know, the INTERNET COMPANY, does not have internet.
Seriously, people have better connectivity in Rwanda.