As Samual Clemens said……..

….The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.

Back in November ’14,  I went great guns/flat out/full steam ahead during the ‘NaPoBloMo’ knocking out a ‘Blog’ every day; since then virtually nothing! Strangely enough I have not been missed, perhaps unsurprisingly would have been a better adjective to use.

Come December I went flat lost interest and became remarkably down and depressed, I still feel pretty much the same way but hopefully I can shake off the ‘blues’ and knuckle down to some ‘blogging’ . I had high hopes for this year and upgraded my WordPress account which half way through seems to have been a waste of money, who knows I might come good.

To make matters worse back around Christmas last I started having many and serious problems with my ISP and over the next 5 months I seemed to have spent more time off the Internet than on, which exacerbated my down in the dumps feelings. My server at the time, TPG, tried to shift the blame to me and my equipment, when they did eventually agree to send  technician to try and resolve the problem, the techie assured me and TPG that my equipment was better than his and the problem was not in anyway caused through my negligence or lack of knowledge but in the ADL2+ connection.

Three times the technician called on me and the result was always the same, the connection would last a couple of days and then drop out.

Why didn’t I change servers I hear you all ask, simple, I knew that I would be leaving Newport (that’s Newport, NSW) in a few months and I was not about to lock myself into a contract at the time with a different server. The ISP I had in mind and with whom I’d discussed my TPG problems suggested I hold off ’til I made the move. I am now with this all Australian company and am more than happy.

What annoyed me most I think about TPG was their lack of concern or interest, supposedly an Australian company located in Ryde NSW, but the chance of speaking to an Australian was non-existent all phone calls went through to the Philippines, never, not once was I able to speak to anybody in Australia.

Now these Filipino’s are doing their job, exactly what they are paid for, and obviously follow a written script and/or program as the questions are always the same in strict order and they will not deviate. The number of times I rang the service line and each time had to go through the same old rigmarole I’m sure must have reached more than 100.

As my reader (if I still have one) knows I am somewhat hard of hearing; I have a hearing loss of over 65% and I found it very difficult to understand the Filipino accent, they seem to speak very quickly with some sort of American accent and insisted on calling me by my given name which I objected to on many occasions; I believe they are told that we in Australia are friendly people and like to call each other by our given name.

This may be so, but not among strangers and I asked them  every time to desist from being personal, but my request fell on deafer ears than mine. Not only that the pronunciation was always the same which grated even more “Bri-yan” always Bri-yan I felt like screaming, it’s not a particularly good name under normal circumstances but Bri-yan….

Too they all knew my age as I had to give me D.O.B each time; they all seemed very young one so would have expected a certain amount of respect but that was never the case. I don’t think that’s being unreasonable.

Anyway no more TPG!  I now have what I believe to be the best ISP in Australia and my Bandwidth speed is now double what is necessary for my use, so happy days are ahead; I hope 🙂