As I sit here with a terrible sore throat and stuffy sinuses, I'm thinking about the poor souls who are living on base right now, a mere 2 miles or so from our house. I'm typing away on lighting fast internet provided by a Japanese company (HeroNet). It's the best internet service I've ever had by a long shot. Fast and reliable 100% of the time (unless you don't pay your bill...), and we pay maaaaybe $30 a month for it (if that).
The poor people living on base have no such luxury. As of 2 months ago, Verizon took over as the sole internet service provider on the base (no other options available). Since that time, people are getting an average of maybe 2-3 hours of working internet a day, often going days at a time with no service. Even when the internet IS working, they can't get onto social networking sites like Facebook or Myspace, can't play online games (think of all the poor WoW kids going crazy with withdrawals), and can't use internet-based phone services like Skype and Vonage. Basically, they can't stay connected with their friends and family back home and have a helluva time managing their online classes, banking, etc. This has been going on for 2 months now! I'm completely internet dependent and I would DIE of frustration with such limited access. To top it off, they're paying $60 a month for this "service."
The worst part is that nobody from Verizon cares AT ALL. They have many HUNDREDS of complaints, online forums full of people absolutely desperate to have somebody from the company answer their questions and get things fixed, and no one has gotten a single response from those Verizon buttheads. People are starting to file lawsuits, and it's getting rather ugly.
Basically, this is a rant to state that Verizon sucks. It's not even affecting me, and I'm pretty aggravated. Hurmph.
Add this to the ever-increasing list of reasons why I'm so very thankful we don't live on base.
4 comments:
WOW!!! ...and by WOW I don't mean World of Warcraft, I mean WOW like....WTF that totally sucks!!!!!
You sound like us in that you are completely internet dependent. Pete needs his WoW time and I need my blog/facebook/write millions of emails and send photos time.
The problem is that we don't want to get snowed in when I'm in labor in December...so that is why we want to live on base for just a year. Also, it would be nice to be able to walk to the store and everything since we will only have one car. But geeez, is it even worth it if I can't connect to my friends and family!? No way!!
BTW, how long are the two of you going to be in Japan? Is Cory staying with the Air Force after? What does he do in the AF anyway? Sounds like he is one of those top secret dudes!
Peter and Stephanie, I gave birth to my first child 30 years ago in Misawa in November. It was the middle of a snow storm and we had no trouble getting to the base hospital with plenty of time to spare -- and she was a quick delivery. We loved living off base.
I can understand feeling a bit more secure living on base in your situation. Hopefully by the time you get here the internet won't be an issue any more.
We're on a 4 year tour (so another 3.5 years in Japan). Corey's sticking with the AF for 20, so we've got at least 11 years left (oh boy...). He's a Chinese linguist, and yeah, does some top secret stuff. I think it sounds more exciting than it actually is. :)
We are sticking with it for the full 20 too...and it looks like we will be leaving Japan around the same time as you because we are there for 3 years. Find me on FB...Stephanie Vandewalker
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