In a coffee shop in the USA
Some bloke going crazy, yelling at the server, throwing paper cups around, because the (free) wifi was slow. Am I the only one who can remember when you had to be physically attached to a modem, and dial in every time you wanted to view a horribly-designed Geocities website?
(Smale is stuffed, Thu 1 Mar 2012, 13:43, 5 replies)

I remember that era.
When I worked in an office in Aldgate in around 2001 the ADSL broke down and the backup connection also broke down, so our IT guy rummaged around in a broom cupboard for a while before pulling out a dialup modem and looking mightily pissed off about it.
( .Yeti. El amor en los tiempos del cólera, Thu 1 Mar 2012, 13:46, closed)

Ha ha
And I remember when there was one person per department authorised to access 'the internet' at work and we all used to go and stand and look over their shoulder at the wonders which appeared, slowly, on their screen.
(Smale is stuffed, Thu 1 Mar 2012, 13:51, closed)

'Twas like they had a chance to drink from the holy grail.

( number5 has been fighting tramps and losing., Thu 1 Mar 2012, 14:21, closed)

Louis CK
has a fantastic bit on this very theme. On a plane where they are testing out free broadband in first class and it breaks down. The bloke next to him says it's unacceptable service. 'How the fuck does the world owe you something you didn't even know existed 30 seconds ago?"
( scarpe We Stole Bikes, Thu 1 Mar 2012, 14:06, closed)

JFC, I remember when buying a modem marked you as wealthy.
The big spenders could afford external modems which ran $800 and that was before you bought the connector cable for it. Those who could make do without the blinking lights only spent $400 for their 2400 baud (now we're talking hyperspace!) internal models. Low speed browsing sessions; batch downloads to maximize precious BBS connection time; Trade Wars 2002 in glorious 256 color ANSI graphics; ARC/ZIP/LZH file extensions - and destroying many productive hours by zoning out on Fractint sessions.

And to think I recently gave some down on their luck friends a gift of the Wi-Fire transceiver, that they might sneak a few megs now and then from any nearby free or unsecured router in order to check their email and the job search sites.

I want to smash that spoiled cunt's face into the table repeatedly.
( Felis Concolor, Fri 2 Mar 2012, 9:48, closed)