So there I was last Saturday. One of our servers was spinning out of control. I had to stay on top of it. Something on one of our hosting accounts was causing a server load to spike so that at moments the server would become unavailable. But I had to get my daughter to a softball game in Arcata. What to do, what to do?
Then I remembered the Arcata Community Center, right next to her ball field, had finally gotten in Wi Fi access. This had been put in to accommodate the recent Broadband Forum. Hoping beyond hope that the access was still running, I packed up my laptop and got my daughter to the game.
While she was warming up I trudged over to the community center and sat on the bench outside the locked doors. Yes! I was able to shut down the account, test some things and monitor the server. I got back to the ball field for the start of the game. And only once or twice stole off to the community center to make sure everything was running fine. Thanks to everyone who helped get this resource up and running.
But this is more about my story. Even though this blog is all about me! The fact is, if we want to attract and keep more high tech businesses we need to keep building and improving the telecommunications infrastructure. That means getting that alternate fiber in place. That means creating more Internet access points like the Wi Fi network at the community center. That means getting broadband to the far reaches of the rural areas of the region.
The good news is that this is happening. There a many people working to get this done one way or another. We will not be left behind.
I made the decision to switch today after the latest SuddenLink outage. DSL activation takes 3 days, so I’m back online with dial-up service in the interim. Humboldt Internet sells DSL and provides the dial-up back-up for emergencies.
Speaking of WiFi… My Suddenlink has been out for the past day, and was very lousy the previous few days, rivaling a 14.4k telephone modem connection (that’s a guess, as I couldn’t fully load any speed check web sites). I call Suddenlink and get a generic recording about e-mail and Internet troubles in “the Eureka area.” I’m in McKinleyville.
The kicker is that I’m sending this comment via an unsecured WiFi connection from someone in my neighborhood who is… you guessed it… using Suddenlink without any trouble.
I guess I have to wait for the Eureka area troubles to resolve before I can talk to a real person on the phone.