telco rant

[OT from cottage renovations]

teh interwebs is broken in the cottage. 

it's not even a technical issue, an administrative error on Verizon's part which has gone on for a day and half now and which they are in no apparent hurry to actually correct (according to their web page the ticket is already closed and the fix already applied - but that same web page carries a note advising the viewer that its content is generally at least 24 hr out of synch with reality, a point on which I do agree). 

it has provided the opportunity to consider a couple of things: one is the extent to which I have become bandwidth dependent.  not just for amusement and the ability to put images and text in this space, but also for other running processes.  the other, consequentially, is that it would make sense to set up a second path for carrier and route diversity.  perhaps something as simple as a dial-up connection out.  for the nonce the occasional connection via laptop and wireless will do; everything on the internal network is just going to have to wait. 

one option I'm not considering is cable.  Comcast customer "service" has even more -- and worse -- horror stories than Verizon.