Back in Touch

Because of the terrible weather today I managed to get into the Telecom Shop at 10am.  It took the very helpful assistant there about 20 minutes completely sort the new SIM cards for both my T-stick and my cellphone.  It cost me nothing.

As a bonus the allowance of 2Gb of data is still on my T-stick.  So guess what.  I'm back on line.

Life's good.

The Saga's Continues

The saga continues.  The very helpful person at Telecom to whom I was talking just after 9pm on Friday said that the problem with my T-stick could be solved remotely by the Advanced Technical Team.  Unfortunately the ATT go home at 9pm.  I should explain that a T-stick is the thingy that you put into the laptop USB to connect to the internet via the cellphone network.   

Last night (Saturday) after hanging on for the inevitable 2 cut-offs which accounted for more than 20 minutes, I got through to someone at Telecom who reviewed my case and put me through to the ATT (another 20 minutes) the ATT member to whom I spoke explained that I had to go to a Telecom store and get new SIM cards.  After I had done this the I could have my new SIM cards activated by phone and the $50 I had loaded the card with would be activated.  Unfortunately this would be after I got home when I would no longer need the T-stick capability because I’d have my home broadband available.  Please could I have my $50 back.  No.  But I won’t want it after I get back home.  Tough.  Hmmmm.  So after a couple of hours on the telephone I was back where I started.

I’m writing all this without the benefit of being on line and it’s amazing me how much I have come to rely on internet access for both the obvious communications with family and friends and for so many more things too.  In the UK I have access to the internet on my smartphone but I don’t have an NZ smartphone.  Last night the number of times things cropped up which I would just have Googled amazed me.  The friends with whom I am staying during the tournament in Palmerston North have been joking that they don't have enough Prozac to keep me calm! 

Broadband!

Until now I have used an NZ Telecom T Stick over the cellphone network for my broadband.  For that I get 4Gb/month allowance for $81.  As I have to pay for 12 months even though I only use 6 that really means that I pay $162 a month for my broadband.  The 4GB limit means that I can't use YouTube or the full benefits of Skype and even updating my computer and iTunes etc can take me uncomfortably close to my limit.  I can, however, use my laptop when I travel which is useful.

Now an enterprising self-confessed computer geek/nerd has set up rural microwave broadband in our area and it's absolutely fantastic.  The basic allowance of 6Gb is less than $50/month and for the $80 I used to pay I could get 20Gb.  Not only that I also have WiFi so I can use my UK smartphone here too.  So I am well pleased. 

The receiving dish on the fence

The hill with the microwave transmitter in just to the left of the fence line

There it is!  That tiny feint post on top of the hill just under the wires under the branch of the nearer tree. Amazing.

Back From The Wilds

It's 1pm and I'm back in Napier again and, despite myself, I'm ensconsed in The Cottage safe and sound.  I've had a great weekend and there is lots to blog about.  However after having no internet access at all since I left here on Friday and no Telecom cellphone coverage where I was staying I have arrived back to a broadband outage in much of this area South of Taupo (2 hours drive North).  Apparently it went down around 3am and Telecom are treating it as a major priority but have no idea when it may be repaired.  In the meantime thousands must be without broadband.  One would like to think that it'll be a short time before we are re-connected but Telecom's record on outages is not particularly good.  On occasion huge numbers of people and businesse are without telephone connections for weeks.  In the meantime I've managed to hook up via a dial-up link.  I've tried my emails but haven't had much success so far.  Oh well.  I'll be back as soon as I can. 

In the meantime having managed to get all the washing done I just went out to put it on the line and large spots of rain fell out of what had been a beautiful blue sky an hour ago.  Oh.  I forgot the hood's not on the car.  Oops.

I said 'despite myself' because I forgot to take my car keys with me.  So Wendy and Martin put the car down to the Airport last night for me this morning because Wendy had to be at the School this morning to ferry children on a trip.  Anyway Wendy managed to get keys to the airport.  Another oops.

I wonder what else will happen today.  If I'm able I'll let you know.  In the meantime......

WOW! Fast Broadband!

Late last night I received a text saying that I had used 70% of my allocation of my 1Gb of cell broadband this billing period.  Oh dear.  So I went onto the NZ Telecom website to see what I could do about it and how much I was going to be billed for the excess.  I discovered that my plan no longer existed.   No surprise there then.  But on the new plan for the same amount I could get 2Gb a month fora similar price.

But (there always has to be a but) the old 2G network I am on wouldn't deliver (and is soon to be closed down) so I had to have a new USB stick for the 3G network.  But the speed of delivery would increase if I went for the top end of the range stick.  

A phone call to Telecom confirmed that I had had my contract long enough to upgrade.  Great.  But I could get the necessary USB device from the local Telecom store immediately if I popped into town instead of waiting for it to come through the post.  The thought ocurred to me that I shoul just do it on the phone there and then but no, I decided to go to the store.

Big mistake (Love that film!  Love that line).  I won't give you the details (see last posting) but suffice to say it ended up costing me megabucks and a great deal of hassle.  The sales assistant was absolutely charming I have to say.  She was a model of helpfulness drowning in a sea of the incompetence of those around her.  Eventually she phoned the person who had said I could have it and, guess what, I am entitled and I do now have it! Albeit at a price.

However when I eventually got home after a wonderful afternoon's croquet there was a long and incomprehensible message from her on the answering machine.  And the USB stick didn't work.  After 40 minutes on the phone this eveening to Telecom it now works.

And gess what?  Instead of the 7Kb/sec I got on the old network I get 3 times that and it seems instant by comparison. Hopefully I can now look at the photography blogs again.  I've been missing them because they just took too long to download.

I suppose I shall have to ring and find out what Erin wanted to tell me about the contract.  But, hey, I'm away tomorrow until Sunday night and I may have forgotten by then.

A Few Anticipated Problems

Hello fellow Bloggers.  I'm having a bit of a problem.  As some may recall here in New Zealand many of us in rural areas (even here just outside Napier) do not have broadband.  I can get dial-up but it tends to time out before I have downloaded any large blogs or photos.  So last year I got N Z Telecom mobile broadband which uses the mobile phone masts and network.  It's expensive but adequate.  Well almost adequate.  Unfortunately apart from the general slowness it is refusing to download some blogs which use large photos.  Heather's blog and Dawn Trader's picture blog are two which have just caused me problems this evening.

I haven't yet tried but I may also have problems with Soaring Through the World With Pictures. 

I know that Adrian uses mobile broadband but I suspect that he has stronger signals.  I have a constantly weak signal.  There's little I can do but please do be aware that just because I'm not commenting on your blogs doesn't mean that I'm not commenting and appreciating them.

Broadband

Perhaps the only irritation to living in New Zealand and at The Cottage is the lack of availability of terrestrial Broadband. So if that's the greatest irritation what on earth am I complaining about? Well I suppose that that's a very valid point. However when one lives in the current environment of instant communication, blogs, internet, computer programmes continually updating, people sending large picture files and so on it's actually quite important to those who are involved in that environment. It's a question of time as well. Ironically now that I am in New Zealand my time is more regimented and taken up than ever it is in Scotland. So if I am to blog and get emails before I go out in the morning dial-up is dire. It has also been one of the first questions by people considering renting The Cottage during the winter.

Vodafone promised last year that by March 'everyone in New Zealand' would be able to have mobile Broadband for $40 a month. Leastways that's what the posters said. What they meant was 'everyone who can get a Vodafone 3G signal can get Vodafone Mobile'. but that's not quite as catchy. At The Cottage I can only just get a Vodafone phone signal never mind 3G so, 7 km from the centre of Napier I (and all the people round here) cannot get Vodafone Broadband. And that, I have discovered, goes for about 20% of the population - perhaps more.

By a quirk of luck I discovered that Telecom mobile phones (mine, Wendy and Martins are Vodafone) work at The Cottage and we can get Telecom 3G. So I now have Broadband - at a rather steep $60 per month for 1Gb. But I do have Broadband. And what a difference it has made. It's still not very fast Broadband but it is like lightning compared with dial-up. And I can take it with me with my laptop. And my phone line is not tied up for hours on end. Great.

What is really amazing, though, is the fact that all the hardware that I need to achieve this is a tiny dongle stuck into a USB port: