Monthly Archives: October 2011
Eyecom Cable’s “High-Speed” Cable Modem Internet Service
My latest graduate course started at the beginning of this week. Like all the other distance classes I have taken to date, video feeds from a variety of online sources are a large part of the resource material with which I have to be familiar. This is unfortunate, since our residential internet connection speeds are such that watching streaming video is impossible and even downloading video for later use can take, literally, days. Frustrated after spending almost two hours trying to watch a 2:34 minute video, which I eventually accomplished in 3-4 second bursts, I decided to compare my actual internet speed with what what Eyecom claims to be providing. Part one of that task was relatively easy. A number of online speed tests gave me results of 147 Kbps, 342 Kbps and 53 Kbps, which at best… sucks. Several other testing sites couldn’t even load, because of of poor connection speeds. After this I went to the Telalaska/Eyecom website to see what claims they were making to residential consumers, since I’m pretty sure at one time they actually had numerical values for their connection speeds. Interestingly, they no longer have anything like actual (or claimed) figures on their website. Now broadband customers, for the paltry sum of $79.90/month, are simply offered “three times the connection speed of dial-up.” So, I phoned their corporate office to see what they would say. For that 79.90/month they are offering a blazing 256Kbps! Knowing that, I guess I should be satisfied with my actual speed (which at an average 180Kbps is relatively close to what they claim to offer) and instead be annoyed solely with the financial rape of paying $80 a month for that kind of crappy service.
Day 24: We Just Can’t Stop
5.5 miles. We are lost on a steeplechase course and Shari climbs a dung heap to ascertain our location. We are really done walking now – 297.1 miles!
Okay, we said yesterday that we were done walking. But by mid-morning we’d long since exhausted all that Holyhead has to offer – a huge breakwater
and a Roman fortlet (yes, a little fort) – and decided to go out for a stroll to a Neolithic-age standing stone and burial chamber. The weather was so nice we thought we’d just continue walking a bit on a section of the Coastal Path that we hadn’t yet covered. That went well enough – it was only a couple of miles – and then the last half-mile or so we retraced the beginning of yesterday’s route. Except… Somehow we got turned around where a footpath meets a roadway. That wasn’t even a problem, as we were turned around in the driveway of the woman who owns the hostel where we’re staying. Nice lady, she told us about a shortcut! Except… Clearly we didn’t find it, as we found ourselves wandering about a cowpie-spattered steeplechase course, with no hostel in sight. We thought we were done with shit, but apparently not. The highest vantage point from which to ascertain our location was a dung heap, which Shari not so gleefully climbed forthwith. As King of Shit Hill, a position she has long coveted, she was able to see in which direction we should go. From there we wound our way through the rest of the steeplechase course, cowpies and all, and a static caravan park (that’s a Welsh thing), past a vacant pub and finally to our lodging. The owner asked us upon our return if we’d made it okay, and snickered when we said yes, leading me to suspect she saw Shari scouting from atop Shit Hill. It seemed a fitting end to an island tour full of circles and entrapments, and a walk punctuated by fields of sheep and cow shit!
This marks the end of our foot travels across Wales. We catch a train to London tomorrow morning, where we’ll spend 2.5 days before heading home.
Day 23: South Stack, North Stack and Holyhead
13 miles. Though we’ve already reached our final destination, we continued our travels on the Coastal Path with a walk around the South and North Stacks and an ascent of Holyhead Mountain, the highest peak on this island. It was the first day that we were essentially weightless, taking turns carrying only a single pack with the basics for a day on the trail. What a difference! It’s no wonder the OPs (Old People) we saw on the trail were moving nearly as fast as we were. I’m not sure whether the winds should be called, stiff, blustery or something else, but we were quite glad it was still an offshore wind since we were awfully close to the edges of some very high cliffs. At the top of Holyhead Mountain the winds were strong enough that I had to hold on to the trig point just to take a picture. Fabulous views though, and had it been just a bit clearer we’d have been able to see Ireland. I have to say walking is far less tiring and easier on the joints when done without a full kit on the back.
So, our walking is done: 291.6 miles. Tomorrow we’ll watch Rugby World Cup quarter-finals and spend some time exploring Holyhead’s attractions and just taking it easy before heading to London on Sunday.
Day 22: Rhosneigr to Holyhead
12.9 miles. I suppose in a way this could be seen as the end of our trip, having arrived at the furthest point we thought we’d reach. However, we do plan to walk at least one more section of the Coastal Path, a section we would’ve walked had we not needed to get cash, so we’re not quite finished.
The walk into Holyhead was surprisingly easy in spite of the still very strong winds. After a long stretch of beach, going around the airport, we walked along the strait separating Holy Island from Anglesey Island, crossed over via a long causeway and then walked another couple of miles along the coast until we reached the city. And city it was: the walk ended with us in a narrow passage between decrepit buildings and a littered, overgrown green space, walking on used condoms and dead mice! Not exactly what we’ve become accustomed to over the last three weeks.
Anglesey has felt different from the other parts of Wales through which we’ve traveled. For all of it’s old, rich history it looks much newer than other places on “the mainland.”. Buildings are newer, fields larger, and small towns feel more like suburban bedroom villages than self-supporting communities.
Day 21: Dwyran to Rhosneigr
17.0 miles. Due to a forecast for poor wearher and dwindling supplies of cash, we elected not to retrace part of yesterday’s route out to what seemed a lovely but very exposed rocky promontory and instead head toward Rhosneigr, an allegedly large place with plenty of options for food, lodging, etc. Rhosneigr is still on the Coastal Path so we didn’t miss out on any of the seaside scenery. The forecast for high winds and rain only half-materialized, and the second half of the day was spent being buffeted about by 40-knot winds while waves pounded the high, rocky cliffs above which we were walking. Chunks of sea foam flew in the wind and settled on the cliffs and meadows, looking for all the world like an early, erratic snowfall. Flocks of oystercatchers and some other unidentified birds fed on the ricks and exposed pools between waves.
We found Rhosneigr certainly larger than Dwyran, and with more lodging and dining options (not hard to achieve that), but very expensive and with no bank or ATM. We had enough cash for our B&B and found a dinner place that took credit cards, but are now down to only 15£, prompting yet another change in plans: directly to Holyhead tomorrow, where surely they must have banks and inexpensive lodging, rather than in three days.