A Writer’s Technology After the Move

I’m in the process of moving, spending the last several weekends cleaning and painting the new (old) place. It has been a lot of work, even affecting the posting a bit on the blog.

Interestingly, one of the hardest jobs in the move this time around was getting the right technology for Internet access.

My current setup is DirecTV for Cable and Qwest for both local telephone service and DSL.

Moving three miles away yielded no DSL access from Qwest at the new home location. So now, we have the conundrum: What fast Internet service to get?

The logical option for most people would be the local (national) cable company which, in my case, would be Comcast. A lot of people select this option. I didn’t for several reasons:

• DirecTV has the NFL package and I am a die-hard Green Bay Packer fan and get to see them every week even though I am nowhere near Wisconsin to see them on television. My point: not all technology decisions have something to do with the logic of the blog; but, instead, the logic of the person needing the service.
• Comcast, in my opinion, has some disadvantages when it comes to recovering from a storm out here last December, where there were widespread power outages. Including my house for five days. They had to come back through behind the power crews and reinstall their cable lines. In the meantime, my DirecTV was just fine working with the home generator for power to the units and a dish. As a side note, many people also have phone service via the Internet and Comcast pushes this option heavily…but failed in the service with the power lines being down and not getting cable back up and working even later.
• I also had some serious reservations about changing my cable company — which I am very happy with — just to get high speed Internet access for the new place. It’s like saying I need a new RV just so I can get a sports car to run on the same road. One doesn’t really have anything to do with the other.

Now, I was perfectly happy with DSL from Qwest. I’ve had good experiences with them and good service when needed. I’m just stunned that in suburban Seattle-land with expensive homes in a densely populated area — well established neighborhoods and not new construction — that DSL would not be available. But, it’s not, so there’s my reality.

So, what did I end up doing? I used a new broadband wireless service called Clearwire. DSL speeds over the air using encrypted technology in licensed bandwidth.

I have to tell you, it has been the simplest, most pleasurable customer experience I have had in a long time.

I’ve used Internet for the ordering. They set up the account, the payments, and automatically shipped the equipment all through one ordering process that took about a half hour.

The equipment arrived FedEx the next morning. After unpacking the one box, the total time to install the service was a whopping five minutes. Plug in modem. Plug in Ethernet cable from laptop to the modem. Turn on PC. Have DSL speed on the Internet. I mean, that was it.

Oh. You can also take the wireless unit with you and as long as you are in their coverage area, you can have Internet access from wherever you are. Camping in an RV in their coverage area? You have DSL speed access there. Traveling to your home town and there is coverage (I was stunned at coverage in Eau Claire, WI, my home town…)? You have access there.

DSL speed is becoming technology that is a necessity for writers to do their work. Selecting the vendor for your home is an important decision to help make your writing, research, and accessing your other technology an easier job for you.

Scot