it's this 'air card'.
bought a little over a year ago, so i could have internet service for my laptop wherever i am, as, at the time, i was doing a fair bit of traveling with the job. it's always been a bit twitchy, but now it seems to last only a few minutes before it disconnects itself and i have to reconnect.... which becomes of shorter and shorter duration till it won't connect at all. and, of course, the warranty is up. the thing retails for $300 so getting a new one is out of the question just now. and they don't repair things anymore. if the service provider even cared. i recently had other issues with it, and was told by Telus Mobility (after nearly a week of back and forthing over the issue, with no satisfactory resolution) 'Well, Telus doesn't support Macintosh' (my laptop is a MacBook) but, i reply, you sold it to me specifically for a Mac. you set it up on my Mac. 'Well, Telus doesn't support Macintosh'. robotic response. i guess they don't get paid enough to think.
so.... the stick is not reliable.
i noticed that it's always quite warm to the touch when it stops working. so i tried letting it cool, then plugging it in for another go. and it worked fine.... till it got warm again. hmmm. there seems to be a temperature factor. with time, the warming seemed to happen sooner, till it was all i could do to open my email and get out a reply or 2 before it was shutting down.
hmmm.... maybe if i chill it first. so i put it in the freezer compartment of the fridge for a 1/2 hour..... and it did work a little longer before it shut down. hmmm... chilling it seems to be an improvement.
so, picture this. i'm on bereavement leave, and completely vegging out. doing the hermit thing bigtime. still in my plaid pajamas, barefoot and gritty eyed, with magnificent bedhead, i'm seated in a 30's style big, soft armchair that i've recovered in a floral tapestry fabric. the laptop is on my lap, a bowl of gluten free peanut butter comfort cookies i baked yesterday is near at hand. there's a home made quilt containing ice packs carefully arranged around the air card attached to the side of the laptop. the dog is fascinated by the ice packs, and doing his best to unobtrusively get his nose inside the blanket to lick them.
all a bit ridiculous, but, miracle of miracles, i've been on the air card for nearly an hour and it's working fine.
thankfully, we have wireless at work. i won't need to bring my quilt and ice packs.
13 comments:
I'm not quite awake, on my second cup of coffee of the morning. this is typical of electronics and customer care. well it can't possibly be their fault!
there is nothing wrong with discussing it with the dog, he'll make more sense than the person on the end of the phone anyway.
claire LOL!!!!! the dog is certainly more interested than the techies. i raise my mug to you, in toast of the wonders of technology. (and the love of a good pet)
oh this is hysterical and i wouldn't doubt you are absolutely right...they do overheat...my son gave us one of these things for xmas and tho it is nice, one gets rather used to it quickly and then, when it gets all spazzy, which it does very often, then i am swearing at it and all impatient and upset...so not sure what i think but maybe it's good when it's good and when it's not, well, it's very not... :) my win? well...hmmm....take care of you, don't give a damn for the hair or the pj's, just do what you need to do.xxoo
That's pretty damn funny and an excellent solution even if it's only temporary.
The problem we have at this end of the country is that our highspeed cable service conks out fairly regularly. I can be in the midst of reading an article, a post, or writing a comment and discover I've gone off-line because the service seems to think I'd stopped using it. Just for safety's sake I now write everything in text edit.
Enjoy your pyjama time and watch out for cougars :-)
In a sometimes futile attempt to stay connected with my 'normal' world up in the States while I'm down here in Honduras I have 3 laptops (and a desktop computer), cable modem and a stick. I try different combinations until I find the one that will work.
I was wondering about getting one of those sticks for when I'm at the coast as most of my friends are computerless for some strange reason. I have internet at the condo but a lot of good that does me when I'm not there! I'm not too keen on Telus ... I wonder if a different company would make a difference ... probably not.
I talk to Mingus all the time ... I don't think I'm a weird old lady. Heck, I talk to myself as I walk through the grocery store. People can think I'm eccentric if they like!
Hi Granny F,
Talking to your dog sounds better than talking to yourself because your dog can tell by the sound of your voice whether you’re in a good mood or not and you never lose an argument. The dog’s sure to be empathetic to your connection problems with the internet which can’t match the dog’s 100 % connection to her master’s voice. Glad to see you’re now connected to both and seem to have been able to otherwise relax during your time off.
best wishes for work -
It's been quiet over here. I just thought I'd come by and wave through your nicely decorated window :-)
linda - i'm all about comfy these days, even when i dress up.... so it could be no one would even notice i hadn't made any effort (though i HOPE NOT) have bit the bullet and am working on getting a landline for better service.
su - i'm taking your tip and doing my blog 'composing' on a word doc from now on. and i'm waving back through my painted window..... but you're so far away i can't invite you in for a cuppa tea. sigh.
shadow - well howdy! now i feel like a complete techno - dweeb.... no way could i juggle technology like you do..... well, i suppose i could if i HAD to.... but i'm glad i don't. -25C here today. wish i was in Honduras too.
cicero - the wireless sticks are wonderful when they work. i've taken mine all over north america and i love that about it.... but shop around and talk to people who are clever about these things.... like, maybe Shadowmoss.....
lindsay - well i may never lose an argument, but don't try to tell me the dog doesn't sass back. i had to use a citronella bark collar on him when he was small because he was SO opinionated. So now he knows 'shush' .... but it doesn't stop him from voicing his opinion when it suits him. he even mutters.
If you ever feel the need of a little salt sea air you know you'll always be welcome here :-)
su - i'm plotting a cross canada HFH build site-hopping trip in a few years.... we'll talk.
We have Habitat builds down here, the soldiers on post go out and help sometimes. So, you could possibly work a trip down in for work. :) I would make room for you in my apartment. You should bring summer clothes, though. It's been in the 90's during the day here. Yes, I'm bragging. :)
I had AT&T mobile wireless in the States, and will probably go with Verizon when I go back. Not a lot of difference. Here in Honduras I noticed last night that my Tigo stick was getting hot, and it's normal for it to turn off at least once an hour. I just reconnect and go on. Guess I'm getting used to making workarounds down here.
shadowmoss - the potential is nearly endless, for travel opportunities with HFH builds. i'm hoping to take global village team leader training in September in Guatemala.... who knows where that could lead?!
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