A little bit faster now
Saturday, 30 September 2006
While my day-to-day life might be moving too fast for my introverted tastes, my Internet connection, alas, was not moving fast enough.
So…, I switched to DSL today.
Yes, I finally succumbed to peer pressure, mass mailings, never-ending TV commercials, and the whining complaints of my children. (You can guess which one was the most wearing.)
I have now entered the 21st century as far as being online is concerned. While I have broadband at work and see on a daily basis how fast the Internet can move, I am basically cheap and did not want to fork out an unseemly amount of money for Internet. But then I slowly came to realize that because the Internet is now increasingly geared for DSL and cable connections, it was taking even longer for stuff to load via my anachronistic dial up than it had before. Plus, all of my techno hip friends and family were sending me video clips and massive photos files which I often ended up deleting because they took so long to download. The clincher, though, was when I found out I could get DSL for the same monthly rate I currently pay for dial up! Frankly, I am not sure how dial up companies can stay in business for very much longer.
Ordering was simple. A few clicks on my super slow dial up connection, and I was set. Then I had to wait two or three days for my “installation kit” to arrive in the mail and for the company to contact me either by phone or email (they actually did both!) with the news that my “service was ready.”
I eagerly opened my installation kit, but as soon as I saw all the wires and pieces and the little black box, I immediately called my teenaged son to come help me set up the DSL. It didn’t take much coaxing to get him to leave his attic lair as he was dying to get online and download new video games and check out YouTube with our new high-speed Internet connection.
Still, I was not amused at his whole NextGen approach to helping me set up DSL. While I was sitting at my computer, surrounded by all of these wires and boxes and unknown computer components, he was idly messing around with GarageBand on his school-issued laptop computer. He assured me that GarageBand “came” with his issued computer, but I have grave doubts and concerns. I pointed to my monitor, which now displayed the start screen for DSL installation. I had inserted the installation CD and was informed that I would have animated, step-by-step directions.
“See this happy African-American couple?” I pointed to the staged, cheery models on my “Let’s get started!” screen. “It takes TWO people to install DSL. You need to turn off that laptop and pay attention!”
He was non-plused. Didn’t I realize he could do about eight different things at the same time?
I, meanwhile, felt like we were a crack surgical team performing an elaborate operation. I was Doctor Kildare, my son the trusty nurse assistant who passed me all the scalpels and separators and surgical thingies.
The screen displayed the step-by-step instructions, and a passionless computer voice would then read them off. Plus, there was closed captioning, lest we were deaf or couldn’t read the installation directions higher up on the screen. I then would read aloud the directions again, step by step, and demand that my son pass me whichever wire or piece of equipment was being required. He seemed to be able to do this without even looking up from composing and editing the action/adventure/suspense theme music he was composing for a video game he said he was going to design.
Once you completed the directions on one screen, you were prompted to click on the “Next” button. When I complained that the computer was taking a looong time to move to the next screen, my son told me to relax.
“Don’t push the buttons over and over again,” he said. “The computer is thinking.”
“I’m not pushing them over and over. And computers can’t think,” I said.
He merely rolled his eyes and gave me that “what an incredibly simple woman!” look. (I get that a lot, and not always does it have to do with computers.)
We unplugged phone jacks and inserted two-pronged thingies and DSL filters. And then we set up the power cord and hooked up the DSL modem (a Model 6100, in case you were wondering) and installed a USB driver and oh, my! I was flush with my technological skills. I have no idea what ANY of these devices or cords does, with the exception of the power cord, but we seemed to be moving right along.
Once the hardware was installed, my son lost interest with both setting up the DSL and composing his alternative rock video game theme. He went off to watch TV, talk to his friend on the phone about video games, and play his Nintendo DS. I, meanwhile, was left with our patient in Post-Surgery.
It said DSL installation would only take “about an hour,” but it pretty much took all day. I did get several loads of laundry and a trip to the grocery store in during all of this, but the whole process, albeit not hard, was a lot more involved than “about an hour.” I mean, yeah, OK, the actual hardware set up and installation only took about an hour, but the rest of the day I was trying to figure out how everything worked: how to do email; how to transfer all of my old email account addresses over to my new email account; how to set up my “homepage” (the choices were dizzying and involved not only content choices but layout ones as well); how to listen to music (the choices were even more dizzying); how to set up security and run security updates and scans; how to notify everyone I have a new email address, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
It’s exhausting to be so high tech and hip.
But now, I am ready to face the world with my new and improved high speed Internet hook up.
I feel... empowered.
While my day-to-day life might be moving too fast for my introverted tastes, my Internet connection, alas, was not moving fast enough.
So…, I switched to DSL today.
Yes, I finally succumbed to peer pressure, mass mailings, never-ending TV commercials, and the whining complaints of my children. (You can guess which one was the most wearing.)
I have now entered the 21st century as far as being online is concerned. While I have broadband at work and see on a daily basis how fast the Internet can move, I am basically cheap and did not want to fork out an unseemly amount of money for Internet. But then I slowly came to realize that because the Internet is now increasingly geared for DSL and cable connections, it was taking even longer for stuff to load via my anachronistic dial up than it had before. Plus, all of my techno hip friends and family were sending me video clips and massive photos files which I often ended up deleting because they took so long to download. The clincher, though, was when I found out I could get DSL for the same monthly rate I currently pay for dial up! Frankly, I am not sure how dial up companies can stay in business for very much longer.
Ordering was simple. A few clicks on my super slow dial up connection, and I was set. Then I had to wait two or three days for my “installation kit” to arrive in the mail and for the company to contact me either by phone or email (they actually did both!) with the news that my “service was ready.”
I eagerly opened my installation kit, but as soon as I saw all the wires and pieces and the little black box, I immediately called my teenaged son to come help me set up the DSL. It didn’t take much coaxing to get him to leave his attic lair as he was dying to get online and download new video games and check out YouTube with our new high-speed Internet connection.
Still, I was not amused at his whole NextGen approach to helping me set up DSL. While I was sitting at my computer, surrounded by all of these wires and boxes and unknown computer components, he was idly messing around with GarageBand on his school-issued laptop computer. He assured me that GarageBand “came” with his issued computer, but I have grave doubts and concerns. I pointed to my monitor, which now displayed the start screen for DSL installation. I had inserted the installation CD and was informed that I would have animated, step-by-step directions.
“See this happy African-American couple?” I pointed to the staged, cheery models on my “Let’s get started!” screen. “It takes TWO people to install DSL. You need to turn off that laptop and pay attention!”
He was non-plused. Didn’t I realize he could do about eight different things at the same time?
I, meanwhile, felt like we were a crack surgical team performing an elaborate operation. I was Doctor Kildare, my son the trusty nurse assistant who passed me all the scalpels and separators and surgical thingies.
The screen displayed the step-by-step instructions, and a passionless computer voice would then read them off. Plus, there was closed captioning, lest we were deaf or couldn’t read the installation directions higher up on the screen. I then would read aloud the directions again, step by step, and demand that my son pass me whichever wire or piece of equipment was being required. He seemed to be able to do this without even looking up from composing and editing the action/adventure/suspense theme music he was composing for a video game he said he was going to design.
Once you completed the directions on one screen, you were prompted to click on the “Next” button. When I complained that the computer was taking a looong time to move to the next screen, my son told me to relax.
“Don’t push the buttons over and over again,” he said. “The computer is thinking.”
“I’m not pushing them over and over. And computers can’t think,” I said.
He merely rolled his eyes and gave me that “what an incredibly simple woman!” look. (I get that a lot, and not always does it have to do with computers.)
We unplugged phone jacks and inserted two-pronged thingies and DSL filters. And then we set up the power cord and hooked up the DSL modem (a Model 6100, in case you were wondering) and installed a USB driver and oh, my! I was flush with my technological skills. I have no idea what ANY of these devices or cords does, with the exception of the power cord, but we seemed to be moving right along.
Once the hardware was installed, my son lost interest with both setting up the DSL and composing his alternative rock video game theme. He went off to watch TV, talk to his friend on the phone about video games, and play his Nintendo DS. I, meanwhile, was left with our patient in Post-Surgery.
It said DSL installation would only take “about an hour,” but it pretty much took all day. I did get several loads of laundry and a trip to the grocery store in during all of this, but the whole process, albeit not hard, was a lot more involved than “about an hour.” I mean, yeah, OK, the actual hardware set up and installation only took about an hour, but the rest of the day I was trying to figure out how everything worked: how to do email; how to transfer all of my old email account addresses over to my new email account; how to set up my “homepage” (the choices were dizzying and involved not only content choices but layout ones as well); how to listen to music (the choices were even more dizzying); how to set up security and run security updates and scans; how to notify everyone I have a new email address, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
It’s exhausting to be so high tech and hip.
But now, I am ready to face the world with my new and improved high speed Internet hook up.
I feel... empowered.
posted by delta at 9:33 PM
2 Comments:
I remember many, many years ago when I was the office "power user". I was the person most likely to wrestle a pc to the ground, flip off the case and re-arrange internal parts. Now I'm satisfied to barely maintain a need to know level of interaction.
I do love my broadband though, and I'm flirting with VOIP.
he is a man. he cannot possibly multitask regardless of what he claims.
i am glad you speeded things up; it will make your life much more pleasant.
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