(Sat on this post for a while, but I still feel the same, even after sleeping on it)

Couldn’t stand my excellently non-responsive wireless ISP, GV.NET. They are so over-subscribed in my area that during the day, may throughput is about 20Kb/sec. I should just dial up at that point (at least my Bluetooth Treo 650 gives me 34Kb/sec)!

Since GV.NET never responds when I call them for outages, or any other reason, I decided to not take the abuse of a monopoly anymore (monopoly to me in the cheap broadband area). Since I cannot get either DSL or cable modem, and satellite is NOT a choice for ssh sessions (with its latency), I ordered a T-1 line, and it was installed last Friday. Although I only get 1.5Mb/s (symetrical, of course), my ping times are 10 times better than the wireless.

Is it expensive? Yes.
What is it worth to me? Approaching a body part.
What would I change if I had it to do over again? Get it as soon as I moved.
Is it worth the cost to not live in traffic hell? More than 10 times!

And in case you missed it, if you are living in the GrassValley area, and have the ability to purchase GV.NET wireless internet service, don’t do it! You have been warned. Until they can actually return phone calls, and tell you their policies up front (nothing like a $250 bill for downloading some ISOs one day), they are not a valid choice.

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