The Essential Internet

DSL Modem, Wi-Fi Router and 50 ft of cable

I guess the internet has become one of those things we take for granted. Back at BLMH, I understand some of the neighbors are unhappy with the Cable Service Provider. The City of Wheaton has a contract with one provider and the only other TV options are satellite and over-the-air.  The HOA being a PUD does maintain the water mains and sewers on the property. That's all. Electricity, natural gas, telephone, internet and cable TV are all the responsibility of the various utilities. The HOA is not involved.

That's not unusual. Arriving in my alternative location on December 22 I had only a few days to make utility arrangements before everyone "made merry" for the holidays.

I had little time to contact the various utilities and get things hooked up. First, I had to get a phone line, because you can't have DSL without one. This facility is a hard wired "PUD" sort of like BLMH. But they have their own cable TV system and phone system! There are some advantages to that arrangement but it isn't "free." Local telephone service costs about $25 per month, but onc can call anyone on the property for free. There is no cost to me for incoming calls or calls on the property.

The ISP provider is on a contract basis, just as in Wheaton, and BLMH has AT&T DSL or cable. However, the ISP here is a DSL system and one must have a phone line to get internet service. This service is slower than the high speed cable at BLMH.

Upon arrival I did all of those things necessary to get back into communications. My arrival was delayed and so we were right up against the holidays. A lot to do in only a few days. But everyone came through. I had brought a plug-in phone with me and 100ft of telephone cable, so I could connect to the pole. I got signed up for the phone and then after it was "turned on" I was able to hook up to the jack on the pole and verify it worked. Then I could call the ISP to order a DSL account. In between all of this there was the Christmas holiday.

I'd been running on my Verizon jetpack hot spot since the 22nd or using one of two internet "chat rooms" with wi-fi for residents. To get around one of the other things I had to do was get a bicycle. So on the 23rd off we went into shopping madness. But we found two bikes and now I had additional transportation.

The tech was scheduled for the afternoon of the 28th, but at 6:30pm we decided to postpone until the 29th. We finally got the DSL modem and a tech that evening. He hooked it up and I connected my laptop to it. Communications didn't work and he concluded their port was bad, and so it took until the following morning to get an account established. Finally at about 11:00 am on the 30th I had a working internet connection. But I needed to set up Wi-Fi to get my technology to work. I drove to a local electronics/computer store and purchased a Wi-Fi router and hooked it up and set up security, etc. I also purchased 50 ft of telephone cable to replace the 100ft spool I brought with me.

On December 30 we finally had functional internet here and I was able to enable the security on our tablet, two laptops and three smart phones.

Haven't had a lot of off time yet. Currently planning the CA business trip. ­­­‪­‪­­­‪­‪­­­‪­‪‪­­‪‪‪­‪­‪‪­­­­­‪­­­­‪­­­‪­­‪‪­‪­­ ­­­‪­‪­­­‪­‪­­­‪­‪‪­­‪‪‪­‪­‪‪­­­­­‪­­­­‪­­­‪­­‪‪­‪­­