Problems with an Internet Upgrade

What can we do?

I have decided to write this weeks post for this blog on Friday as I have some problems with an Internet Upgrade . Currently I have no internet connection at home and quite honestly, I have little else to do.

Reliant on Modern Technology

This brings me to the thought that we are all now so reliant on modern technology that it is hard if not impossible for some people to survive without it.

Roll us another joint, Jerry, This one’s gorn Owt!

The situation reminds me of a drummer that I used to know when I was working as a musician. I picked him up from his house one day and on the way to rehearsals he started panicking and saying “Oh Shit! I forgot my tin”. It turned out that he was so reliant on smoking dope that he could not operate without it any more. Of course, we had to go back to his house and collect his stash or that day’s rehearsal would never have happened.

Possibly 40% Addicted in the UK

Now I have noticed that at least 40% of people in the UK are totally reliant on their mobile phone and the internet. Not quite as bad as Asia yet where even 10 years ago the percentage was probably double that.

Wait until you get home!

Even when I pick up my boy from school, I’ve noticed more and more parents are frantically looking at their phones while waiting for the kids to come out. Often, I think “What the fuck are they looking at?” or “Why can’t they wait until they get home?” The answer to the first question is probably Social Media. Secondly they seem to have a serious psychological problem and are addicted to it.

Let’s do some real things!

It’s actually nice to get away from the internet to do real things and visit real places as I keep telling my son who is obsessed with gaming. Addiction has been a problem for me in the past with many things which I don’t mind admitting to, but it has hardly ever been technology as I have mostly worked with it.

Don’t be Dependent or mix business with pleasure.

Now as my job involves the internet, I find it a pleasure to get as far away from it as possible. However not having internet at home for a few hours has made me realise how dependent I am on it myself. Even for little things, I use Google to find out on demand, answers to random thoughts that spring to mind or  to resolve simple questions that my boy might ask me over breakfast.

Free Broadband Upgrade!

This has all happened because my internet provider has decided to give me a free upgrade to my broadband connection. Last week an engineer visited my house to install a new box and yesterday the new connection was activated. However it didn’t last for more than a few hours and I went back to using the old connection. That too stopped working a while later and now I have had 2 routers flashing away all morning so far to indicate that there is no broadband signal.

Visit the local library

It’s not a major problem at the moment and I could always visit my local library if I really needed it. However it is just nice to have the opportunity of using the internet whenever I want. It has made me realise that we are all dependent or addicted to something.

News media cannot be trusted

In my case it is now probably work. Even the BBC for what it’s worth. I didn’t know that the UK Queen was dead until I saw the tabloids in the petrol station this morning and was even tempted to buy one myself. I cannot see the BBC website at the moment for the reasons stated above. Yes I do still look at that on a daily basis even though I believe very little of what they publish.

The end of the world?

Living in Asia has probably made me more cynical as I have grown older. During the Tsunami of 2004 I lived very close to one of the beaches that was allegedly badly affected. My whole family was evacuated and we drove away from Phuket after securing the house as instructed. Thinking that it could be our last day on earth, we travelled to the mainland and ended up on the top of a nearby mountain with only mobile phones for communication. An old friend in the UK called me in the afternoon and told me what the problem was as he had seen it on the BBC. Previously, all I knew was that a huge tidal wave had destroyed much of the coastline and a much bigger one was expected later. Since then, I have almost religiously visited the BBC website to check that nothing similar was going to happen.

Exaggerating the truth

It is really not as reliable as I first thought and having checked several stories, the online media are often guilty of exaggerating the truth for their own benefit, like most news agencies. However it can be a useful reference if needed.

Don’t give money to Charity Organisations

As a local tour operator, John Grey kindly stated that only 260 people were killed during the Tsunami in Phuket I know that seems a lot but it’s not as bad as many people imagine, because they have been brainwashed by online media. What Phuket really needed at the time was more tourists to spend money and not the charity which never seems to get to the people who most deserve it. Tourists never arrived because they listened to the media and thought it was too dangerous.

I myself bought a load of clothing at a Bangkok market and sold it on Ebay. It was originally sent to Thailand as gifts for charity. As the clothing was mostly too large to fit Asian people, it ended up being sold on the markets and was never given to the people that it was intended for.  That is only one reason I don’t give money to charity.

Oh Shit, I forgot my tin!

It’s now 1:30 pm and on about my 5th cup of tea at the moment, wondering what the hell the phone company are up to. And then I remember “Oh Shit! I forgot my tin”. I hope I haven’t become one of them.

Sunday Morning and it was all my fault.

After only 2 days without home internet, I decided to check the connections to my router and guess what? The main cable fell out of it’s socket and onto the floor when I picked up the router. So it was my fault all along and I was supposed to be an electronics engineer. I was beginning to wonder if the telephone engineer had told me the wrong information and I had plugged the cable into the wrong socket. But No! In my rush to get connected to my new upgrade, I had not plugged the cable in far enough. This would explain why the thing worked for a while and then stopped. It was just a coincidence that it stopped at the same time as the old system being disconnected. So now I am the proud user of a fully working Fibre broadband connection and I have no problems with my new internet upgrade. I hope that all will be OK in future and can now get on with checking and answering 3 days worth of email of which most is SPAM.

Are you addicted to Anything?

If you think that you or anyone you know is addicted to the internet or anything else, you can get help at The Priory Group