I ordered a dial-up connection through EarthLink today. I had considered going with a local outfit like last time, but I think I'm tired of dealing with incompetent local businesses. EarthLink will cost a little more a month than some of the local outfits, but at least I'm pretty sure they will still be around in five years. I'm also certain they have fatter pipes connecting their local access points to the internet. The account will be active in 20 minutes of my phone call, so I should be able to get to the internet tonight and finally catch up on my posting.

Speaking of incompetence, I am trying to order a second phone line from Verizon, my government-protected monopoly phone service provider. They have this slick web site that lets me put in my phone number, some other personal information to verify my identity, then order all kinds of stuff like extra phone lines, long distance, etc. I need a second phone line if I am going to go back to dial-up. So I go through this long process filling out all kinds of forms for all kinds of options, get the last page that tells you what your new phone number is and how much it all costs (almost half the cost is taxes; and people wonder why I'm libertarian...), and.... Service Unavailable; please try again later. Over and over. No matter how many times I try, I cannot get past the last screen and finalize the deal.

Aha! I found the trick. Criticize the company on my blog and like magic, the web site begins to work. Of course some bright college-degree-holding web programmer decided that no one would ever need more than 90 characters to give directions to their house. Stupid.