Excitement in the air...
Nov. 30th, 2001 06:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
robotech_master...or at least Excite is up in the air.
Excite@Home, the cablemodem provider that provides cablemodem access through various companies, and to 3.7 million users (of whom I am one) may be shutting down at midnight. The news is related in an article right here; I won't bother reiterating it, but I do like this quote: "The conflict over the bankrupt ExciteAtHome's broadband network is best described as a daring game of chicken between corporate interests -- with the possible victims being not the corporations themselves but their millions of cable-modem subscribers."
It's worrisome is what it is. Unlike some of my friends, I've almost always had excellent service through my cablemodem (with the exception of the annoying 128 kilobit upload cap, but I can understand the necessity of it). I even discontinued my phone service and pulled my modem from my computer, so I have no backup Internet access method. Even if I wanted to go DSL (my cable service has actually been substantially faster than DSL for as long as I've had it), I'm pretty sure there's already a long waiting list now, as everyone else hastens to sign up and switch over. And to top it all off, I'm not sure whether I'm getting my Excite cable service through MediaCom or AT&T, so I don't know who to turn to for backup service in case something goes wrong.
The article says that the cable companies and creditors are in talks to try to prevent a shutdown. I guess I'll know at about midnight tonight (or 11 p.m., if the deadline is midnight _Eastern_ time) whether they were successful or not.
It's not going to be a very pleasant five hours.
Excite@Home, the cablemodem provider that provides cablemodem access through various companies, and to 3.7 million users (of whom I am one) may be shutting down at midnight. The news is related in an article right here; I won't bother reiterating it, but I do like this quote: "The conflict over the bankrupt ExciteAtHome's broadband network is best described as a daring game of chicken between corporate interests -- with the possible victims being not the corporations themselves but their millions of cable-modem subscribers."
It's worrisome is what it is. Unlike some of my friends, I've almost always had excellent service through my cablemodem (with the exception of the annoying 128 kilobit upload cap, but I can understand the necessity of it). I even discontinued my phone service and pulled my modem from my computer, so I have no backup Internet access method. Even if I wanted to go DSL (my cable service has actually been substantially faster than DSL for as long as I've had it), I'm pretty sure there's already a long waiting list now, as everyone else hastens to sign up and switch over. And to top it all off, I'm not sure whether I'm getting my Excite cable service through MediaCom or AT&T, so I don't know who to turn to for backup service in case something goes wrong.
The article says that the cable companies and creditors are in talks to try to prevent a shutdown. I guess I'll know at about midnight tonight (or 11 p.m., if the deadline is midnight _Eastern_ time) whether they were successful or not.
It's not going to be a very pleasant five hours.
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(no subject)
Date: 2001-11-30 08:29 pm (UTC)why did you disconnect your phone? don't you need it for atleast some things?
(no subject)
Date: 2001-11-30 08:36 pm (UTC)Re:
Date: 2001-11-30 08:39 pm (UTC)cant you get an adapter thingy for your cell phone? most of them have a little hole on the bottom or someplace that you can hook up a modem adapter i think..