your techno Views

When you live in a rural area, sometimes getting a reliable internet connection can be difficult. It's a particularly trying experience to find a broadband provider since, in many outlying regions, users are still accessing the internet with dial-up. This is fine if you just want to check email -- it is decidedly NOT fine if you work in web page design or want to do a little buying on-line. Having a fast internet connection is a necessity and finding that broadband provider becomes an obsession.

Some people consider on-line shopping or buying on-line to be a little bit risky, particularly in terms of safeguarding personal information. When you have a slow internet connection, transactions may not complete efficiently or error messages will crop up, leaving the user to wonder what has been charged and what has not or was the purchase even accepted? This causes people to become skeptical about buying on-line at all until they succeed in finding a broadband provider.

In my case, I had to sacrifice my home in the country in order to keep my job. I work exclusively online and, when I first started, I was on a dial-up connection. I remember trying to establish my connection to get to work one morning and my computer was binging and bonging and making all its usual noises in pursuit of a merge onto the information highway. Needless to say, I noticed when the noises kept right on going - well beyond the normal amount of time it took to connect. I cancelled the attempt and picked up the telephone - to be met with horrifying crackling and static sounds. This meant, without a doubt, no internet connection for me at that moment. Not to mention the instant panic of being unable to do the work for which I had been contracted.

After a long conversation with the phone company (via my mobile phone because I couldn't hear them on my landline), I was told that the problem was buried "somewhere" underground but they wouldn't be able to pinpoint the exact location. They assured me that a project was underway to pull up all phone lines and put them on poles. I asked how long that might take and was told "oh, a few years." I did not have a few years to wait. I needed to keep my job. Long story short, I had to leave my beautiful farmhouse and move back to a suburb. I realize that was a drastic move but, when one finally establishes them self in the career they've always wanted, there's a driving need not to let it go without a fight.