Almost catatonic without wifi

[Suzanne]

Have always said that because I was born when internet was not around and it took some years for me to actually get involved in tech, that if wifi went down, I would be able to function well, sadly that did not happen.

Our wifi started going crazy. On and off day after day! And then, finally would not go on. So, we decided to reconnect with our old service provider and was told we had to wait 8 days.

Unfortunately, before we decided to swap back, I had a meltdown. I felt completely LOST and worse, my data roaming stopped working too. I was MISERABLE and felt LONELY. I could not even reach for a book! It has also affected me physically. Suddenly so tired, cannot function and had no desire to be around anyone.

Finally, today, our new live box arrived and we are connected again. But, I feel that I have been burnt and no longer trust it.

I have to face facts, that despite my age, I am very modern girl. I LOVE technology and whilst many my age wish for a time with tech. I shudder at the thought of it lol

My smartphone is far superior to the Walkman I struggled so much with! As one example.

 

[WhitewaterWoman]

I have a huge library of old-fashioned paper books. It kind of feels like relief to me when the internet goes down.

 

[FayetheAspie]

I still have a lot of paper books too (even multiple old encyclopedia sets).

 

[Gerontius]

I still have a lot of paper books too (even multiple old encyclopedia sets).

ohhhh goodness, I was raised on the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica, all 29 volumes of Edwardian weirdness. What wouldn't I give for another copy!

 

[FayetheAspie]

You don't have them anymore?

 

[Gerontius]

You don't have them anymore?

Family pressured me into donating them, kind of like how my dad destroyed my 78rpm record collection. I got a lot of pressure from my parents for being "weird" so -- yeah. They thought the old books and records were what did it.

I am now living alone and can have all the books, wax cylinders, gramophone records, and alone time that I'd like.

 

[Judge]

I'm always a bit apprehensive if I see all the wrong lights flashing on my router and modem.

Luckily it seldom happens. But then I'm also fortunate enough to rely only on Ethernet rather than WiFi. (Still don't own a cellphone.)

One thing I did learn over the years was not to immediately react in any way if it happened. Odds were that my provider would fix the problem, rather than me thinking I could change something that might make matters worse.

 

[tlc]

I first got my own internet in 1997, but couldn’t get anything but dialup until December 2020. So I got used to the restriction of having most of my life offline. Raised my kid that way, art, music, playing outside... Once I got real internet, it was beyond good, 100MB fiber. But still never got into social media or making videos or really anything more than what I used to do. Kinda feel like I missed its prime anyway. I’ve got shelves of books, hundreds of CDs, my basses and keyboards, old satellite dish, to keep me occupied and that’s just when it’s yucky out. When it’s nice I like to tinker with things outside, go to the park, bridge, take my bike out, go exploring, whatever.

The only thing that would bother me now is if had an emergency and no way to contact anyone, but my phone works that way without WiFi. As long as we don’t have another massive ice storm to take the network out.

 

[oregano]

Oddly enough, I found this at Coastal Farm and Ranch Supply in White City. No matter where you live, internet is nonnegotiable. My area has a local wireless provider that piggybacks on the Verizon system (Verizon owns most of the actual fiber cables and switches and other cell hardware west of the Mississippi River) but which has its own infrastructure to extend wireless internet over much of the northcentral county. Their fees are way cheaper-I was looking at $110/mo a couple years ago for Starlink which is owned by That Zillionaire, compared to $40 for the cheapest tier of the local guy.

 

[Lemon Zing]

Yeah. I know the feeling.

Can you maybe just go to your nearest mall and use their public WiFi? It will be relief for the time being.

Smarty in the UK does a monthly unlimited data deal for only £18. So if you aren't in the UK, another region may provide a similar service.