Fun With Landlines
Posted on June 7, 2011 Posted by John Scalzi 28 Comments
I was on the home phone with my agent earlier today when the line went clickity-click-click and then dropped out entirely — entirely being where the line was completely dead, no dial tone included… and no DSL, either. So now I am once again using the fallback of the cell phone mobile hotspot. But even that’s weirdly wonky: I can connect to it with my iPod Touch and iPad and netbook, but not with my desktop or Cr-48 (which means that particular piece of equipment is entirely useless to me at the moment). And the netbook connection is a bit spotty.
I am informed by the folks at my landline provider that someone will be out within 24 hours to fix the line. So until then, assume I am mostly out of pocket.
It’s savage living this way. Savage, I say.
I misread that as “landMines” at first. Was expecting a MUCH different post — but then, if these problems continue, you do have options…
Careful, the phone lines are the first things the smart monsters take out!
Light the torches, stock up on salt, wolfsbane, garlic, goopher dust, white candles and machetes.
Would hate to lose you, now.
Hold on to civilization. Man’s humanity is measured by how well he can handle the fall of civilization.
We’re both having fun with landlines, today. At work, I have two phone lines. Our main one will not close, no matter what we try. I have unplugged and replugged, checked the actual lines, and even threatened the phone with a hammer, but nothing will get that line to close. Meanwhile, any clients calling us on that line gets a busy signal.
Somebody back-hoe your line or are the switching stations overheating?
[ominous] Has anyone else noticed that the sun is *really* bright today? [/ominous]
Sounds like whatever is ailing your daughter is spreading…
Have you considered an exorcism?
My Cr-48 doesn’t want to connect to my hotspot, either… I think it may be a recent update to blame.
Didn’t they tell you? The minesweeper attachment for that new mower of yours plays hell on underground utilities. You’re lucky Krissy didn’t hit a gas line.
I’ve run into glitches with the mobile hotspot feature on my phone, mostly related to the fact that it only does WPA/WPA2 security protocol. Almost nothing else I own that could be considered portable will connect to it.
… and you recently acquired a ukulele. It’s DESTINY.
It’s the first sign of the Amish Revolution. I wondered why they were out in force this morning, all wearing their Sunday Clothes. I figured it was a marriage or funeral, but now I know. They’re out to take over the world.
Yeah, I thought it said landmines too =/
And I have way more experience with landlines. go figure.
Good luck on the repair; we really are a technology dependent group, aren’t we? =O
Is actual line missing, i.e. been stolen? That’s what happened to me. My landline was out for a week before I noticed it and then another week before it got fixed (online report didn’t go through). Obviously I’m not as popular as the almighty Scalzi.
I read something a couple of years ago where a woman’s teenage daughter couldn’t find her cellphone. The teenager lamented to her mother “I wish phones came with a cord and a base–so you couldn’t lose them!”
We do have a landline, but the phones themselves are cordless. Hubby has a habit of leaving the sofa handset next to him, because the phone base is on the other side of the sofa from where he likes to sit. Every night after he goes to bed, I have to go put the phone back in its base to let it charge back up. Forgot to do that a couple of nights ago, and the phone was deader than a doornail when I got up the next morning. I’m just glad that only affects the individual handset, and not the whole landline setup, or I would’ve been royally PO’d at my husband.
:-)
We are WAY out in the sticks and we still have a landline. Most folks out here have cell phones but given the vagaries of reception most still have land lines. And the worst cell carrier is AT&T which means when my old hipster friends visit from the Twin Cities they are apoplectic when their precious iPhones don’t connect.
Scalzi, when are you going to review Game of Thrones on HBO? Are you just waiting for the end of the season to comment?
Some are noticing a hotter sun today as well as numerous techno failures…..This reminds me of the Larry Niven short story “Inconstant Moon” Maybe you could read that, as long as it’s not on a Kindle. I’ll be loading up on sunblock SPF50 and extra long shelf life Twinkies.
It’s the machines! They’re starting to take over!
Ah, First World problems!
There’s a sub reddit for that…
If only we stuck to pigeons and paper, and we’d never have this problem. Though we’d have to be far more patient for your blog updates, though.
Maybe the gods are trying to tell you something. It’s time to take a break. I’m in the middle of the week from hell myself, and what makes it all bearable is that I’ve decided to drop off the face of the Earth on Sunday. Phone unplugged, cell off, internet use for gaming only. No commitments, no working, no studying, no coding, no bloody Facebook or Twitter, NOTHING planned more than four seconds in advance. In your case, stick to offline gaming, curl up with a good book or two, and catch a movie that you’re not being paid to review.
Just take a day to recharge! Everyone should do it once in a while, even if it’s enforced by the phone company and/or the Second Law of Thermodynamics.
I’d like to add my support for a Game of Thrones post, John. I love the HBO series so far, and haven’t had a chance to read the book yet….BUT I WILL.
You have an Android phone, right? If you need to use the other machines, consider installing PDANet on the phone. I personally use it because I need a mobile hotspot so infrequently that it would be silly to pay $20 extra a month, but it should work to let you connect those machines to the tubes until your landline is resurrected. Unless of course it doesn’t, but I’d figure it’s worth a shot.
Did you read the opening of Robopocalypse? We’re in for it now. Just a matter of
Ignore the statement above. The meatsack is clearly delusional. End of line.
Once again, John, I point you to Louis C.K. For perspective.
Rural living – all fun and games until a cow takes out the phone exchange with the entire town’s ADSL connections (no lie, happened two weeks ago)! And the floods last year took out one of the two mobile phone towers so mobile reception is very dodgy indeed!
FYI, the cr-48 in out of the box mode will only connect to “infrastructure mode” connections, while the basic hotspot app (at least the rooted version) will create the hotspot in ad-hoc mode. However, I believe you can connect to wifi in developer mode. It is best to search for how to switch to dev mode – it’s not hard, but it is hard to describe off the top of my head
I love my cr-48 except for the touchpad
I am going to show my ancient geek credentials and reference “Dial F for Frankenstein” by Arthur C. Clarke, who was writing about the Robocalypse when most of us could barely even dial a phone.