Bermuda Triangle of Greenwood

[stephbg]

Tired of at least 5 days of continuous poor connection speed I finally girded my loins to call 3 technical support to find out if it was just me. The good news is that there's a known coverage fault in the local area, it's been escalated, and that they're working on the problem. The bad news is I was offered a discount for the next six months which makes me think it's not about to get better soon. YouTube is off the agenda for a while. Again.

We have bad landlines here (no ADSL and scratchy dialup), and the mobile coverage is laughable, so this doesn't surprise me particularly. The TV reception is OK but not flawless. Next stop: satellite dish. Or tin cans with string. I could borrow Dad's ham radio gear...

As time goes by and the problems seem to get worse I can't help but wonder what this isolation is doing to the real estate value of Sector 7.

Comments

[chaosmanor.livejournal.com]

Our TV and mobile phone reception is poor because the high voltage power lines for the entire northern hemisphere run past our house, but at least the broadband works.

I reassure myself with the thought that, when the apocalypse comes, there will be a military presence here, guarding the power lines. Also, I could probably make toast by putting bread on a stick and holding it out of the front door.

[stephbg.livejournal.com]

In my real estate dealings I have failed shockingly to account for the strategic value of my property come the apocalyse.

Have the lines been humming spectacularly in the humid weather?

[kremmen.livejournal.com]

I have wondered in the past why Perth's comms infrastructure is so lousy. Back when I used dialup, the second worst quality I ever experienced was in Perth. (Worst was Okinawa.) I'm not aware of anywhere in Melbourne that can't (theoretically, if your ISP has the equipment in the exchange) get ADSL2+, so the concept of no ADSL at all is foreign to me. With the huge wealth in WA, you should have better infrastructure.

[stephbg.livejournal.com]

The phone line issue is mainly one of suburban sprawl. I live in a cul-de-sac off a minor road, which is off a slightly bigger road, which is off a medium road, which only then connects to a major road. We're 5.5km from the nearest exchange so the signal is just too noisy by the time it gets to us. It could actually be a lot worse: we still have a lot of the original single family 70's houses in place rather than the duplex/triplex/etc redevelopments that strain the infrastructure of other suburbs.

As for our huge wealth, WA's been subsidising the parasitic eastern states for decades :P

[kremmen.livejournal.com]

Nobody in suburbia should be 5.5km from their nearest exchange. They should have built more exchanges. (Or, from the pure capitalist viewpoint, people should have just not bought houses built in such places, so then developers would be forced to build sufficient infrastructure. "Distance from nearest phone exchange" is certainly on my list of house buying requirements.)

[stephbg.livejournal.com]

It might be only 4.5km. Too far anyway.

[bunny-m.livejournal.com]

Yes, but that's relying on Telstra to build new exchanges, and they don't spend a cent if they can avoid it. Might cut into their 'profit'.

Greedy, short-sighted fools.

[prk.livejournal.com]

As time goes by and the problems seem to get worse I can't help but wonder what this isolation is doing to the real estate value of Sector 7.

Sounds like the houses in your area will be a bargain to snap up, just before the NBN gets here in 10 years!

prk.

[stephbg.livejournal.com]

I have a working assumption that the NBN just isn't going to make it to my street. We're Special.

That said, this is a very good area for investment if you'd like to join us. A couple of blocks away the signal strength is probably OK.

[baby-elvis.livejournal.com]

at the other end of Greenwood our broadband drops out at strange times, for no reason we can tell. Also, tick the crappy mobile phone reception. And you need a satellite dish if you want Foxtel.

[bunny-m.livejournal.com]

Mobile broadband: If you have any other option, just don't.

Sadly it seems you don't have any other option. ;_;

And I *loathe* dealing with MBB problems at work, 'cause most of the time the options are: try it somewhere else, or give it up as a bad job. I hate that.