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Chiming in late here... This past week I've been forcibly reminded
that while online storage *as one form of backup* may be a very good
thing, relying on access to online services (for almost any purpose)
can be dangerous... and not just for the potential of the service
provider suddenly disappearing.
Last Thursday afternoon, my broadband access (ADSL) abruptly stopped.
It was finally restored this afternoon, almost exactly 6 days later. I
still had dial-up access from my Windows machine, so I wasn't totally
cut off, and the Internet was working*, but I'm glad I didn't need to
upload or download anything big. My Ubuntu machine (primary computer)
can use my mobile phone as a modem (pricey), but my partner Eric's
various Macs don't have modems, nor does he have a mobile phone that
will act as a modem for them. (He could use my phone, in a pinch.)
We still don't know what's been going on with the ADSL, but we do know
that it's been a widespread problem in Australia for what seems like
-- but probably isn't -- a random selection of customers. (There's
probably a pattern to who got cut off, but we don't know yet what that
pattern is. Telstra's not saying.) Have any other Aussies on this list
been affected?
* "The Internet was working" is not always the case. A month or so
ago, the Internet stopped abruptly and was gone from our town for
about a day. The ADSL modem was getting a signal, but nothing was at
the other end of it! We never did find out what had caused that outage.
Aside: Eric got plenty of opportunity these past few days to explore
the possibilities of his brand-new iPhone -- which, unfortunately,
does not include functioning as a modem for any of our computers, but
does include access to newsfeeds, email, a browser, and a bunch of
other stuff, much of which is included in the monthly charge for the
phone account. Way cool, that iPhone!
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