So it all started on a lovely early winter morning. okay, not really, it was actually a crappy winter morning. Moving on... this is the general deal in romania: 56k. dsl's expensive. there's cable internet, anywhere from 8 to 200 bucks a month, but unless it's 200 (dedicated), anything else is shared with other people. so basically most deals suck. i wanted a 30 bucks program (256kbps with 6 ppl). so i go to this neighborhood internet ISP dealy. and they tell me sure, sign this pre-contract, and we'll have you up and running in 2 weeks max. in order to do this they have to get permission from 3 or 4 buildings because they have to get the cable from building to building (Rooftop to bloody rooftop, i **** you not). 3 weeks later and I got permission from 2 of those buildings myself, as they've been too bloody busy. the building next to mine is a state-run glorified motel/former russian embassy residence. and they wouldn't give it to me. no problem, a printing works building is behind it, so it'll zig zag through that. BUT unfortunately in order for the cable to go from one building to this one, it passes over a parking lot that no one knows who's owned by. and i still have one more building to get permission from. i'm going to go absolutely insane. drac (for 30 bucks in romania, they should kiss my ass and be there in 2 hours flat with bells and whistles)

:-( wow that sucks. Makes me very glad to be where I am.

I lived in Kharkov Ukraine for a little while several years back. This story doesn't suprise me!!! LOL. Although I do feel for you. Hang in there man. Maybe some of us should come visit with our foreign passports and you could introduce us to the local officials. They always seemed to want to "impress the foreigner" when I was over there and got things done much faster...that worked in Bulgaria too.

heh... hey, i speak perfect english, i mean i could pass for a canadian any day... but i'd still have to give my name. plus, romania's different. if they see you're a foreigner, they rob you on the price since they know you can't figure out the funny money :D

You can pass for Canadian, the question is, why would you want to? You're really going all out for DSL then. I admire your resolve. Sorry, can't offer any advice... Only my sympathy. OK, must get back to watching my 300k streaming videos while playing Medal of Honour online and downloading (legal) MP3's.

GET A JOB PHIL!!!! lol

Nice system Phil. For my DSL with Linksys 802.11 wireless networking setup, I prefer WinAmp Streaming Shoutcast Video on the Family Guy Virtual Network, Delta Force Rising on Nova-World online, and downloading (legally) Palm applets from my friend in Tennessee. Just my style I guess.

Bryster: "Hi, could I speak to someone about broadband?" Tiscali: "Oh sure thing! How can I help you?" Bryster: "I'd like the Tiscali broadband 15.99 a month deal you're offering in Blah-Blah magazine" Tiscali: "OK! Fine. Can you get broadband in your area?" Bryster: "Yup! I just checked with BT (British Telecom) and they've confirmed that I'm in a broadband-capable area." Tiscali: "That's great! OK, if you can just give me your postcode, I'll get you connected right-away." Bryster: "Excellent! My postcode is Blah-Blah-blahblah!" Tiscali: "I'm sorry. We cannot supply our 15.99 a month broadband package to you." Bryster: "Why?" Tiscali: "Because we have all the customers we want in that area. Goodbye" (Click)

When you get a diplomat job will you negotiate broadband internet as part of your benefits package?

Hmm sounds like the good old Romania. Romania is getting more privatized, so it will be harder to get stuff done there. I sure hope U get your connection, but your story sort of reminds me of my old place. I call Adelphia to get cable and they do the same crap to me too. Cant do this, cant do that, blah blah blahhhh, I gave up and went to Bellsouth. Hmm as Groingrinder said, since U diplomat, give em hell and get your connection. I mean heck U diplomat, stomp on some !@#$%^& and get your internet. Dracula, I will see U soon buddy. I will be there next year in Feb. Got everything set, just looking for the best days to go and buy that ticket. Hope U get your connection buddy.

That's terrible, all I had done for DSL was get the box, that was that, plugin and go, Drac, you can always come over here and live...think you might like Colorado?

arent they gonna install a satelite based internet soon then there will be no need for cabling from roof tops and you could probably buy that service abroad

i live out in kansas. that's about Romania with no snow. in the part i live in (the countre, not a house for bout a mile) the fastest internet you can get is 36.6k (at $29.99 a month) so i have to wait till i get to Star-Bucks or High School to get on Renderosity, let alone anything else.

Try to find someone who has access to cable in the area. Convince them to get a wireless router (801.11G or whatever). If the thing has enough range for you to get connected, then split the cost of the router and the cable. (Of course you'd own the wireless card on your end.) I've found that the range of mine is about 150ft (approx. 50m)or so (less depending on obstructions.) Might be able to get it from a building down the road. Might not be technically legal, but if you manage to encrypt the network (so nobody else can get on, etc.) who'd know? Throughput of the wireless isn't bad either, a decent one has around 50Mbps throughput which is much faster than the 3Mbps throughput of my cable modem. :)

Sorry to hear about your lack of broadband. I'm in Benton California poulation about 200. In the sticks ( But hey at least I have sticks ;) No broadband, just dial up that on good day hits 40.0k but is normally around 26.0 with downloads around 3 or 4 k I'm in the USA. To try and improve my situation I Got a Direcway twoway Dish sattelite system upfront $650.00 US non refundable to start then $59.00 a month. It's very slow and unreliable on secure sites like ebay and sucks for ftp, paypal and such so I have to keep my dial up. If I knew how bad it was I would not have done it. The upside is that Pix at renderosity load pretty quick some downloads just crank really quick:) others won't download at all.:(

Ewwww. A colleague and I ordered DSL at the same time, a month and a half ago. I got it ten days ago, he's still waiting. What's funny, they sent a technician who was supposed to "install" it. All he did was to tell me about the splitter and test the modem. I didn't have the network card at the moment, so I had to do that myself a day later. But he probably took a look at all the software boxes and peripherals, and decided to give it a miss. :-)

You can pass for Canadian, the question is, why would you want to? I could name a hundred reasons why. But I'll give you just a few Phil. 4.0 mbs DSL for $24.95/mo. including free modem. 3.0 mbs DSL for 21.95 and 1.5 mbs for 15.95/mo.

bandolin, thats not fair dude. I pay $60 for 3 MB DSL, and U pay $25.00? Hmmmm something not right here. I gotta give a call to Candadian Internet Services to hook me up, lol. I have a friend in Canada too, and she pays the same thing, $25, and when she heard I pay twice that plus, she started laughing. Since U have all the bandwidth, give half of it to Dracula. Dracula, I think someone had a good idea, make it wireless, no cables no hassles bud, just plain old wireless. May not work well for games but heck, U can get renderosity pretty good. I hope U get your connection SOON, now that would be a nice Christmas Present.

I guess mine takes the cake; $105/mo for Cable modem, 900 channels, including Premium (all the HBO, Skinnymax, etc..74 channels with the same 5 movies..;), and a wireless router that can't transmit reliably through the steel mesh holding the plaster on the walls..I'm not in Rumania, but I may be living like it..;) I think I'm getting rooked, but the missus says the alternatives are more expensive..must be all those cable boxes..:|
I think puir Drac's suffering culture shock going from a very well connected country (ROK), to a..well, it's picturesque..but suffering from several decades of foreign management..hey Drac, maybe there's some leftover spy equipment in the Russian building, with a few frequency tweaks, maybe you could make it into a wireless network..;)

Its well reported that Canada has the world's lowest connection rates on average. Why that is, I couldn't tell you. We pay through the nose for everything else.

Mine is $137 a month (in San Diego), but that includes: the extended cable TV channels (nothing premium), cable internet, and cable telephone with unlimited long distance. I use the phone for a LOT of long distance, so it works out well for me in the long run. However, I may be buying a house in Texas at the end of the month and heaven only knows what will be available out there. If I had to go back to a phone modem, I think I would do some serious harm to myself.

Um don't they think Broadband is an all American Girl Band in Romania?

Called the phone company as soon as we moved into the new house. They're sending me DSL filters and a modem, or something like that. I'll be high speeding around the third. Called DirectTV, installer came out, looked around the house and said I had no line of sight. Which tree needs to go? He did find a spot that he thinks would be ok when the trees leaf-up, but it's at the other end of my backyard and the grounds to cold to dig a hole for a pole, let alone a trench. Said my neighbor has a clear shot, recommended I talked him into getting DirectTV, then they could jump a line from his dish to my house. Great, Yeah, um... Drac, could you talk to my neighbor?

that is a very cool communications tower!

Thankyou, Vile ! It's a duplex system, has the d/load capablity of 5 terrabytes/ps, fully automated signal tracking and satellite locking/following, automatic sat/switching, 2 backup power supplies, on board virus elimination and source tracing, and is 1/8th of an inch tall....

Bryster send me one (or 2, or 3, or 4.....)