Friday 26 August 2005

Pic of the day: Today was the last straw. The straw that broke the camel's back, as they say a bit south from here.

The camel's back

My DSL line is down. On Monday morning, my ISP (Telenor) should look into it at once. Later that morning they told me they would fix it before Wednesday at 20 (8PM). On Wednesday evening they told me they would do it on Thursday. Now on Friday, some guy stopped by my apartment when I was at work, and put a note on the door (the upstairs neighbors' door at that) to the effect that he had been here and not found me. I also got a text message to contact them. So I contacted them. Now they are supposed to come on Monday between noon and 4PM. I'll have to take the day off from work. And I'm not at all convinced that they will show up this time either. After all, it has been nothing but lies from the beginning till now. Well, misunderstandings perhaps, but they have the practical effects of lies.

I have contacted the local el. Utility, which for some obscure reason is called LOS, and who also happen to sell DSL. I have ordered DSL from them instead. It is cheaper, nominally faster (although this would depend on the line quality of the copper wires) and at least it is not Telenor. I cannot in good conscience continue to use a supplier that is either totally incompetent or lying out of all orifices. Perhaps the competitor is just as bad, but it is undeniably cheaper at least, and I don't know how bad they are until I have tried. But I know how bad Telenor is, and it is really really bad.

The sad thing is that my primary web site is tied to my ISP, so from roughly a month into the future, the Chaos Node will no longer be found at online.no but rather at Chaosnode.net where my archives and novels are today. It seems like the logical place to move it. LOS will also offer homepage space, but I don't want to be tied to an ISP anymore. Dreamhost has been active for quite a while, and even when they eventually get bought up or go bankrupt, I should still be able to get my domain back. Likewise my e-mail address will no longer end in online.no, but in chaosnode.net. This address is actually active already, although I have only given it to a few. I still haven't gotten any spam on it, whereas I get almost only spam on the online address. Thus I have decided, with a somewhat heavy heart, that after the move I will no longer have a functional e-mail link on my page. After all, it is not like my web site is read by people who are too dumb to assemble an e-mail address from a list of clues.

I am lazy, and I would dearly have wanted to save my readers the hassle of my moving about too. But I cannot in good conscience be used as a doormat by Telenor anymore. And talking to the underpaid customer service guys won't help: The bosses have never been sitting there listening to customers. They only see the money. And I'm doing my best to ensure that they won't see my money anymore, at least until I know from experience that there is no decent ISP in the country.