So... anyone get their plug pulled? Now that the service has FINALLY become available in my area, the company goes belly-up. DSLreports already has stories of people losing their service in various portions of the US.

It's funny because it's not me.
-Homer Simpson

Sorry, I just had to use that quote. I actually had my own broadband sob story.

So... anyone get their plug pulled?

Well, how would they post about it here?

Anyhow, I am on "Adelphia@Home" here in Colorado Springs. Adelphia also has their own service called Powerlink, and they are converting this city over to it. A friend of mine in the south end of town is on it now, but my traceroutes still show the home.net routers. ETA I last saw for the entire city is December 3. On the news they said that negoiations on keeping the @Home network online will be going down to the wire tonight. If it falls through, I loose connection probably in about an hour, and will have to wait till Monday to be back up. (Not to bad considering the alternates...)

Well, how would they post about it here?

Rumor has it that before broadband, people used their *phone lines* to connect to the Internet. I have no idea how this worked but allegedly some people still have these "modems" around in case of a broadband outage.

Yeah what I'm seeing is the cable providers are slowly trying to switch to their own service, but think about it, they need staff to run those things and take over all the duties formerly performed under the auspices of Excite@Home.. I see troubles ahead for anyone who gets switched. I'm sure it'll be a YMMV thing but I expect bad things in general.

Whereas those of us with DSL will notice no change from our normally shitty service.

Rumor has it that before broadband, people used their *phone lines* to connect to the Internet. I have no idea how this worked but allegedly some people still have these "modems" around in case of a broadband outage.

Hmm, I think I know what those phone lines are, they have some digital ones at work. And looking here, (/me turns his laptop to the side), I think this is one of those old "phone line" modem connectors.

The last time I regurarly use dial up for net access was back when 56kflex was just getting out of beta. I spent a bit of money on a firmware upgradable modem to help my ISP test their 56k service. Then they canned me a few weeks later, I moved to fixed wireless, and never looked back.

I've been phone-line free for a while now as well. GSM cell service has been my single number now for 4 address changes.

--Update--
Well, it's past midnight Pacific Time, and I am still connected on the @home network. Hopefully the shutdown was held off till after I get switched.

My service is out in Seattle, WA. I read about the possible outage yesterday & sure enough... this morning, no service. I got a phonecall today from an automated system telling me that they are working on the service in my area & I would receive two days credit for every day of the outage... little good that does me for all my missed email. The message also said that I would receive another phonecall later this week describing the progress they have made.

Unfortunately, I handle all my own email & have my own domain, so ALL my email will be dropped during the outage. Plus, I can't access any of my own files from work like I normally do. Really crappy situation.

-Jeremy

Yea, our plug was pulled Saturday morning. I think we're pretty much screwed, since our service was with AT&T and there isn't the slightest chance of them making nice with Excite@Home. Guh....broadband access the last two years has been an unabated hell (albeit one of the lesser circles ). Luckily, being in college I have plenty of access to computer labs.

-Adam