Temporarily Without Access

Over the last few days my internet access has become unusably slow. It's normally OK first thing in the morning but from then on it's all downhill. I don't understand what the problem is. When I do one of the broadband speed tests I get close to 2Mbit/sec which is all I'm supposed to get anyway. But if I try to access anything to do with Google, or just about any website in the USA (which includes my own servers) then the pages can take a couple of minutes or more to load, if I'm lucky and don't get some browser error message instead. Even the BBC website is really slow.

I've been with my current phone company, OneTel, for about 8 years, and I get internet access from them too. Most other ISPs can only offer service if you rent your phone line from British Telecom (BT), which is why I've been reluctant to change providers even though I've been unhappy with the service from OneTel for quite a long time. I've read too many stories of people who have tried to switch phone companies and ended up without broadband or even a phone connection for weeks. But I've decided enough is enough, and in the hope of minimizing possible problems I'm going to try to switch to BT itself. Fingers crossed.

As I live in not only a VHF black hole but also a mobile phone marginal signal area, what I'm about to do counts as living dangerously. I do have a 3G broadband dongle which I got to use when I'm away but it's hard to find a place in the house where it can get a signal. If I get desperate I'll probably have to stuff a laptop in my rucksack and hike up a nearby hill.

So if at some point in the next few days I suddenly stop replying to email or posting to my blog, I haven't become SK, I'll just be TWA. Now to see if I can manage to post this...