(obscenity) Comcast Triple Play (obscenity)!
Our little corner of Massachusetts had an ice storm the other night--Thursday, to be exact. The last Major Storm of that type was about ten or twelve years ago, and it was definitely not fun. Our power was out for five days. Luckily, it wasn't very cold out, once the storm had come and gone; we have a gas generator which we could run periodically, to keep freezer and fridge contents from thawing out; our water heater is gas fired, so we had hot water; and I could cook on the gas cooktop, lighting the burners manually. And the phone lines did not go out (I've never understood that, but generally the land line works even in a power outage).
This time, our power was only out for about twelve hours, which puts us in the lucky minority. Even last night, I drove through a lot of dark neighborhoods in the 3 miles between church and home. But oh joy, not only do we have no cable TV (and network TV has become really HORRIBLE in the interim), and no Internet connection--a major nuisance, but the library's wireless connection is working--but NO LAND LINE. I'm one of those dinosaurs who owns a cell phone, but hardly ever uses it. I'm terrified I'll lose it by putting it down absentmindedly, which I do to many things, and don't always find again for a long time. (My good prescription bifocals disappeared into a black hole about a month ago, for example) Both of us are such scant cell phone users, normally, that we have a really cheap plan we got years ago when Norm still worked for Boston Edison. It was $9.95 monthly per phone then--up to a big $14.95 now. But no free minutes included. And frankly, the voice quality on cell phones isn't always the greatest, which is an issue during conversations with old people! When my dad finally got a cell phone, when he became ill, he would call me on weekends when it was "free." I'd end up calling him back on their regular phone line, because between the cheapo phone and the spotty coverage where he lived, he always sounded as though he were gasping his last!
So here I am with the trusty Apple laptop, kicking myself for putting all my eggs in one basket, so to speak. Yes, it was a major storm. But if they wanted to keep their phone customers, Comcast ought to have invested in more personnel, more tree limb trimming, and/or more preventive maintenance.
When there was a prolonged power outage in my parents' area, we dubbed the utility company "Putrid Power and Light" (aka Puget P&L)--there will be a prize for whomever discovers a similarly insulting distortion of Comcast:-).
Just to make life really interesting, the laptop's power cable keeps threatening to croak. The battery barely holds a charge anymore--well, it is quite geriatric for a computer--over 5 years old! But, I did manage to pay a bill online that was due by 7 PM tomorrow.
Now, off to do some online Christmas shopping...
This time, our power was only out for about twelve hours, which puts us in the lucky minority. Even last night, I drove through a lot of dark neighborhoods in the 3 miles between church and home. But oh joy, not only do we have no cable TV (and network TV has become really HORRIBLE in the interim), and no Internet connection--a major nuisance, but the library's wireless connection is working--but NO LAND LINE. I'm one of those dinosaurs who owns a cell phone, but hardly ever uses it. I'm terrified I'll lose it by putting it down absentmindedly, which I do to many things, and don't always find again for a long time. (My good prescription bifocals disappeared into a black hole about a month ago, for example) Both of us are such scant cell phone users, normally, that we have a really cheap plan we got years ago when Norm still worked for Boston Edison. It was $9.95 monthly per phone then--up to a big $14.95 now. But no free minutes included. And frankly, the voice quality on cell phones isn't always the greatest, which is an issue during conversations with old people! When my dad finally got a cell phone, when he became ill, he would call me on weekends when it was "free." I'd end up calling him back on their regular phone line, because between the cheapo phone and the spotty coverage where he lived, he always sounded as though he were gasping his last!
So here I am with the trusty Apple laptop, kicking myself for putting all my eggs in one basket, so to speak. Yes, it was a major storm. But if they wanted to keep their phone customers, Comcast ought to have invested in more personnel, more tree limb trimming, and/or more preventive maintenance.
When there was a prolonged power outage in my parents' area, we dubbed the utility company "Putrid Power and Light" (aka Puget P&L)--there will be a prize for whomever discovers a similarly insulting distortion of Comcast:-).
Just to make life really interesting, the laptop's power cable keeps threatening to croak. The battery barely holds a charge anymore--well, it is quite geriatric for a computer--over 5 years old! But, I did manage to pay a bill online that was due by 7 PM tomorrow.
Now, off to do some online Christmas shopping...