Rural Life

We're kind of out in the country - down a dusty road around a curve so you can't see the house from the paved county road that's located a mere two tenths of a mile away. I think Internet and wireless telephone signals don't care for the dirt road. They refuse to come to visit our computer and sometimes ignore our wireless phone.

The nearest DSL connection is about 6 miles away and apparently the different services have no plans to advance any further than that. Go to a telephone service website and they invite you to click to see if DSL is now available In Your Area. Whenever I try this option - I can almost hear the snickering at the other end of the dial-up connection. I imagine the voices calling for fellow workers to come and observe the poor victim of 26.4 speed as she tries to upgrade her computer to something faster. The answer is always a definite Not Going To Happen!

I always try, though. The eternal optimist in me believes that some day the DSL fairy will flutter by outside the window and I'll be online at blazing speeds. Screen draws will be instantaneous and I can download huge files and update my antivirus software in only minutes instead of the 6 to 8 hours currently suggested. I can't leave my computer running that long - surely someone will want to call me in that length of time. Or, someone in the house will forget I'm using the phone line and try and call out - thereby breaking the connection so I'll have to start over from the beginning.

There is always the satellite option for high speed Internet and the longer we struggle with dial-up, the more attractive it looks. Someday I may surprise myself and T. and just make that phone call to have the equipment sent to the house and have the technician come out and install it. Then I can talk on the phone while I pay my bills. Fast. Speed. Blur.... meanwhile, I'm still waiting.