Just got broadband.

I’ve been thinking of creating a blog, but haven’t really had time as I could only connect online in the office and usually don’t have enough time to go online for personal reasons… That’s why I finally took up Bayantel’s DSL offer - 384 kbps for P899+P300 for a phone line (http://www.skydsl.com.ph/Omnibus.htm). So far, I’ve had no complaints… It’s fast, affordable (had PLDT landline cut because it alsmost costs the same) and their service I hear is superb… though it never gets up to 384kbps according to my online Verizon bandwidth tests (http://infospeed.verizon.net) but it sure beats PLDT’s unlimited 56 kbps (or should I say 5.6 kbps) dial-up connection. It’s also a long way from back in 1997 when I was leeching off illegal dial-up passwords. (My apologies to all the people I may have leeched off of. No chance for payback though as I’ve secured my wireless router with a password! Ha!) I remember it would take at least an hour to download just one 3MB song… And I remember the first ever MP3 I downloaded online. Usher’s “Nice and Slow.” Second was Uncle Sam’s “I don’t ever wanna see you again.” (Yes, I am a big fan of slow jams…) I even used Winamp v 1.0 to play these back in the day!!! That was the only MP3 player around! Wow, I am getting old…

My beef with having broadband access at home?

1. It’s hard to find cool sites these days. All this bandwidth… but where do I go? Does anyone know where to find new cool sites? There used to be a “What’s New? and What’s Cool?” link in Yahoo back in the 90’s which I found to be very helpful. Now, I’m lost without it. I want to discover the next big thing BEFORE Google buys it.

2. My Linksys Wireless G router signal sucks. I hate it that the wireless connection to my laptop reads “very low” when I’m sitting on my poor man’s Lazyboy but “Very Good” on my bed, which is only 0.5 meters away. With my chronic back problem, it’s impossible to work while sitting on my bed. So I have to settle for dial-up like speeds sometimes. Maybe that’s why my Verizon Online speedtest reading’s that low… Well, what do you know… It actually shoots up to 512 kbps when I put my laptop on my bed.
3. Company-issued laptops need administrator-level access for personal software installation... which means I can’t download songs on my laptop!!!! I have to go upstairs to my brother’s room and D/L songs on his PC. Boo.

4. You can only have enough Youtube… I don’t know about you, but it gets boring after a while… I did have fun watching old Sebastian Telfair videos before he turned out to be a bust in the NBA... Another question… Does anyone know how to download vides off Youtube? Is it possible?

5. I end up opening my corporate webmail and working at home. Someone please remind me to remove that from my Favorites list.


But that's about it. I love having broadband at home. So far, I've already downloaded ten albums. That in itslef makes my first payment to Bayantel worth every cent!