Yeah, I get that a lot. Personally, I think the translation for the former isn't so much "my lack of planning" as "you mean poor people use the Internet too?!" At least, the people I've gotten that "argument" from usually follow it up with some whining about how broadband "isn't that expensive!" or something that translates to "If you're so poor, how come you have a computer? Shouldn't you have spent that money on..." (Funny how a lot of these tech types love to try to tell you how you should spend your money, but they hate *government* intervention...)
Poor people (me) and people who live in places broadband is not available (at least three of my friends).
"Funny how a lot of these tech types love to try to tell you how you should spend your money"
I usually respond to that tone with, "Oh, you're offering to buy me an upgrade then? How sweet of you!" (Except that the last person to snark at my complaints of being limited by ancient hardware went on to buy me a faster computer in the next paragraph, before I had a chance to get snarky back, and I elected to graciously and gratefully accept instead.)
The group associated with the person who sent out the mail I complained about in this entry is a local association of performing artists, so the should understand the concept of "starving artist", I hope.
And then there are people like me, who do not live in a bustling heart of a metropolis. The telephone company was very iffy about getting even the ISDN for me, and definitely negative about anything wider. It is over five kilometers from my house to the closest multiplexer -- it is not exactly a "last mile" any more.
There are parts of the US where the local RBOC (regional phone company split off from the old monopoly) is required to offer ISDN but can get away with making it prohibitively expensive (more than the cost of a T1 unless you're using it less than thirty or so minutes per day) because they really don't want to sell ISDN service. (In other parts of the country ISDN is a quite reasonable medium to use, I've heard.)
I've got no idea how recent competitors to the RBOCs price ISDN.
"Whaddaya mean, you don't have broadband?!" Heh, yeah.
Re: "Whaddaya mean, you don't have broadband?!" Heh, yeah.
"Funny how a lot of these tech types love to try to tell you how you should spend your money"
I usually respond to that tone with, "Oh, you're offering to buy me an upgrade then? How sweet of you!" (Except that the last person to snark at my complaints of being limited by ancient hardware went on to buy me a faster computer in the next paragraph, before I had a chance to get snarky back, and I elected to graciously and gratefully accept instead.)
The group associated with the person who sent out the mail I complained about in this entry is a local association of performing artists, so the should understand the concept of "starving artist", I hope.
Re: "Whaddaya mean, you don't have broadband?!" Heh, yeah.
Re: "Whaddaya mean, you don't have broadband?!" Heh, yeah.
I've got no idea how recent competitors to the RBOCs price ISDN.