3 weeks and 3 days, thats how long I have had to, and it was hard.
My server is government sponsored satellite, for areas that are remote or poorly served by land line.
40 klm from one of NSW big tourist areas yet land lines are unable to support more than 28kbs.
Try living without it!
it took ten minutes once the service man came but 24 days! to get him here
Is the government money well spent?
I have concerns in this world we do actualy have more need of our PC than we may want to admit.
No land line connection it would have cost a fortune to go back to dial up, not an option.
4 hours, thats how long it took to down load e mails 2713 of them, 90% spam, another concern for those of us who need our daily net life.
regards all, thanks for the concern and well done to the telephone Detective.

I had my 'puter, an old dinosaur, implode on me last year, it took just over a week to organise the new one. I didn't miss the net, and although it was nice to get back online, I really only use it to fill the odd boring hour or so.
I spent ten years living rurally, raising kids, good for them but lousy internet, dial-up only, often interrupted too, now I'm in the centre of Darwin, so don't often have connection problems, you have my sympathy there!

Welcome back old son we were wondering what had happened. Glad to see you survived your term in digital isolation.
On topic I survived before computers and certainly the internet. To me it's a handy tool but it is a discretionary item. I could survive before and would again.
Time upon a once I earned big $ and had power in the commercial sense. Today I choose not to and I "survive" just fine.
My point is that I've learned that all discretionary item is expendable and usually not worth the sacrifice to get anyway. 'Cept I would miss some posters. :-)

Welcome back, Belly!

Well, I could live without the net. I'm sure I'd get a lot more done in the way of gardening and home maintenance and other tasks which just don't have the same appeal as relaxing in front of the PC! I'd probably return to using the phone and going out more than I do at present.

I would miss the connectedness it gives me to several groups though, OLO being one of them, and also being able to look up things at the drop of a hat and just generally keeping abreast of what's happening in the wider world.

Once retired, I hope to be able to spend more time on the net, some of it in U3A study. I see the net as a great way to keep mentally alert without requiring physical effort, especially for older people. I just hope I can always afford to update the PC as needed and to remain connected at a decent speed. It's not as high on hubby's list of prioritites as it is on mine, so there may be some tough decisions one day when we have to prioritise a limited retirement income!

But I'd be prepared to sacrifice quite a few other things in order to remain online. Yes, it definitely adds to my quality of life.

I also hope my hands hold out. I'm trying to teach myself touch typing, which is interminably boring, but my old two-finger approach has resulted in several trigger fingers on both hands and lead to stiff and painful fingers in general! That probably says a fair bit about the time I spend on this thing!

Welcome back, Belly!

Well, I could live without the net. I'm sure I'd get a lot more done in the way of gardening and home maintenance and other tasks which just don't have the same appeal as relaxing in front of the PC! I'd probably return to using the phone and going out more than I do at present.

I would miss the connectedness it gives me to several groups though, OLO being one of them, and also being able to look up things at the drop of a hat and just generally keeping abreast of what's happening in the wider world.

Once retired, I hope to be able to spend more time on the net, some of it in U3A study. I see it as a great way to keep mentally alert without requiring physical effort, especially for older people. I just hope I can always afford to update the PC as needed and to remain connected at a decent speed. It's not as high on hubby's list of prioritites as it is on mine, so there may be some tough decisions one day when we have to prioritise a limited retirement income!

But I'd be prepared to sacrifice quite a few other things in order to remain online. Yes, it definitely adds to my quality of life.

I also hope my hands hold out. I'm trying to teach myself touch typing, which is interminably boring, but my old two-finger approach has resulted in several trigger fingers on both hands and lead to stiff and painful fingers in general! That probably says a fair bit about the time I spend on this thing!

Sorry about that. It definitely wasn't worth saying twice!

I could blame that little stuff-up on the stiff fingers, but in truth it was more a lack of mental alertness!

Welcome back Belly

During February the telephone exchange was burnt out by bushfires and for two long weeks I had no land line or internet.

While my agent contacts me by mobile for any auditions or work, they always follow-up with emails detailing set location, times and other pertinent info.

I also conduct my personal banking and other contacts with companies via the internet.

Not to mention all my friends with whom I keep connected with emails.

So I guess my answer is no, I require the net for business purposes and I need the net for my friends and the challenges of writing posts for OLO and other sites.

Hey Belly, glad to see that your absence was technology related.

I could live without it but would miss the freedom from geography it brings. I love the ability to exchange learnings with people who have similar interests it brings. I'm working on a couple of hobby related projects at the moment and neither of them are likely to be things where people in my day to day life are likely to be able to share idea's. The web lets me connect with others doing similar things and exchange notes, avoid some of the mistakes others have already made etc.

I love the ability to source bit's and pieces from around the world, rarely being constrained by "we don't have that but we might be able to get it from our supplier in Sydney, that will be at least 4 weeks". Now a short exchange on the web and a paypal transaction and a part from the other side of the world is here within a week or so.

I can live without it but I'd rather not.

R0bert

Dear Belly,

Welcome Back! We've missed you heaps, and it was Forrest
who managed to reassure us that you were allright, Bless Him.
Sorry to hear about your computer problems - but relieved
that things finally worked out.

Could I live without the web? Yes. I can live the web,
without books, music, art, the theatre,
all the things that make life interesting.
But would I want to?
No! Because I enjoy the mental stimulation -
having access to such a variety of information and people,
at the press of a few buttons. I can access a variety of topics
and communicate with people in far away places in an instant.
It makes life far more interesting,
as well as being educational.

As for OLO - well I definitely would
miss so many great posters that It's been my
privilege to connect with in cyber space.

I'm glad you're back Belly, and may we
all continue posting for years.

I could not live without the web. I could exist but it would not be a life. The ability to show what can be done and make friends that the web affords, the way that ideas can be shared instantly, immensely enhances the quality of life, and raises the levels of enjoyment to be had from life. Living in Sydney the place is full of very smart technical people so a simple phone call to a mate and the doctor fixes my PC. Having been a professional manager all my life, I have a backup PC for when I travel so that I am never isolated.

I have not as yet been able to turn it into a fortune, but if the group I am involved with in Sydney knocks off Land Tax, as I believe they will, Nathan Rees will either have to sack his lawyers and restore the Supreme Court as the High Court has said he must, or leave like Iemma did. The States have a way of making heaps of money, even without Land Tax, more than enough to make up the two billion dollar black hole they are facing when it goes, but a few sacred cows and bulls are going to have to be sacrificed.

How many of you know the story of Elijah and the bulls. Elijah was one Prophet, and Baal had four hundred. Elijah was told to have a competition. Two bulls were killed and placed upon a pile of sticks, and the two competing Gods, were given one each. The Baal prophets worked all day, but nothing happened. Elijah said, Are you finished. When they said yes, he took water and soaked the wood. He stepped back and Zappo. The whole pile was turned to ashes. He then had the four hundred prophets killed for pretending. ( I Kings:17)

The story continues but the moral remains. Don’t mess with God. My job, tying the Australian Constitution back to its roots in the Holy Bible is possible because of the web. I am blessed as promised in the 23rd Psalm

i used to be one of them protestors you see on the news[occasionally]camping rough..doing politics ,govt lobby and law[as the..'defendant']it was a huge pain..[but i was with 'real' people]

in my two years of web activism.. i like to think i do what i chose to do more affectivly than doing the real activism on the road,..but that might just be because i sleep in my own bed at night,..dont need to buy masses of news papers,books and magizines to get my info,and can comment in real time now..[straight from my bed...lol]

yeah i would miss the net..[but arnt prepared to pay the earth for acces to it]..am sort of looking forward to net 2..so i can hit the road again..[and face of..face to face with those criminals we elect].

yeah i lived without it before..[and am well prepared to do it all again]..but this time i will do it better..now im..[sort of]..web literate,..i know anything i need is as near as a web cafe,next time i will be ready to do my own publishing and vidio straight on to the web

It is good that you're back, Belly. You were such a regular poster, that it became a valid concern that something was amiss. I too had started to wonder what was happening. But Poirot was on the job!!; and all is good.....well, sort of.
____________

I can live without the 'net and plan to do so if this contraption gets mortally ill. I won't replace it.

I know the merits of it, they are undeniable. Thankfully we can 'compare notes' with folk all over the world. That has been a gigantic step for democracy in my view.

But it has allowed pedophilia to flourish. I HATE that more than anything else.

And I also believe it is literally addictive. It certainly is for me, and takes up far to much of my time, which could be more valuably spent elsewhere.

I also rate it as the most flawed technology of any modern day invention.

So when it's time; time is up!

18 years ago I ran a Bulliten Board System in NZ, like a mini internet (there was no internet)in my office, message sub boards, we used to import messages from America daily and argue with the yanks about wether if you ate fish and chicken you were still a vegetarian (the believed so). Couple of phone lines, could "chat" to other users. Play online games that got exported to the other BBS's every few hours.

We never heard from Aussie but sometimes would get the odd dial in from England.

Did that for a few years then had a break for about the last 13 years and now in the last couple of months I have discovered computer conversations again.

It is weird how addictive it can be. All those years ago you would go and meet everyone once in awhile. Kept the abuse to a minimum knowing you'd probably have to face someone and say it all again.

My BBS was called The Pig Pen.

Could I live without the Net? Short answer: no.

Longer answer - well of course I could actualy live without it: one can live without anything apart from water, food and shelter if one is going to be literal.

But I couldn't work without it, couldn't research without it, and could not live as we are now doing, our little family, with each of us on a different Continent. I also would find it very difficult to control my bi-polarism without it.

So, while I guess I could exist without it, I certainly couldn't live without it.

warning! spelling may get bad, have new browser[firefox] not yet found out how to get a spell checker.
Like most I do not want to live without the net, or the OLO familly, thats what we are in my view.
Hang on I have spell check! you lucky people.
forrest you are a wonder thanks.
Back to subject, its not good enought, the service man admited he only works Fridays! has another job.
What about true outback people?
They now have PC for every thing, the installation took days, but once gear is yours?
12 months into your contract it is yours, still under warrenty and you pay for insurance but is this the best way governments can help remote people on the net?
I am not in any way remote but poorly served by long term lack of concern for poor service to small comunitys

@ Belly

** warning! spelling may get bad, have new browser[firefox] not yet found out how to get a spell checker. **

If it's the latest version 3.? Should be enabled by default. Try right clicking in the comments box and check the little box that says "Check Spelling"

Welcome back to the virtual land of the pixel.

Thanks RM and thanks to all those who worried about me.
FG? what can I say? regards bloke.
I struggle still with my new browser but will get there.
No one took up the idea, just what is a way people who can not get fast speed land line can use?
I note that concern in keeping me on line faded after the government funding, what if I had been in remote NT? or WA?
I have home phone that is based on mobile service, chances are for far less money we all could have both, instead of land lines.
Repeaters cost far less than hard line installation.
Just maybe the future will bring other ways, we need something better than 3 weeks and 3 days for ten minutes work, and 40 klm travel.