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The long struggle for connectivity...
Jun. 18th, 2013 12:25 pmOver the past three years, there have been a lot of changes around Area 95 (where we live at Baikonur). Among those that affect linking to the outside world, the local cell operator, Beeline, has actually erected a tower not far from where we work, but as it turns out, our hotel lies within a "shadow" of some kind, which allows some phone connectivity and no data connectivity.
I am also running into a persistent problem when I try to use my trusty old USB telephone modem with my Windows 8 machine. Everything goes quite well in the dialing and authentication department, but when the time comes for my computer to be "registered," the connection is dropped, throwing a "720" error (which appears to mean different things, depending on what version of Windows you are using).
This past weekend, during a trip to town, I seriously considered picking up an inexpensive smartphone and local SIM card with a 20-cent-a-day unlimited EDGE data plan, but even cheap smartphones will run nearly $100, so I settled instead for a $25 modem with 5 GB of throughput credited to its number.
It produces the same error as my old dial-up telephone modem.
So it's looking as if my roaming iPhone offers the only real connectivity outside the office (where I am right now, as the "duty" interpreter during lunch).
I will continue to seek a solution to this problem, but will also keep in mind the adage that while on some days, you get the bear, on others, the bear gets you.
I am also running into a persistent problem when I try to use my trusty old USB telephone modem with my Windows 8 machine. Everything goes quite well in the dialing and authentication department, but when the time comes for my computer to be "registered," the connection is dropped, throwing a "720" error (which appears to mean different things, depending on what version of Windows you are using).
This past weekend, during a trip to town, I seriously considered picking up an inexpensive smartphone and local SIM card with a 20-cent-a-day unlimited EDGE data plan, but even cheap smartphones will run nearly $100, so I settled instead for a $25 modem with 5 GB of throughput credited to its number.
It produces the same error as my old dial-up telephone modem.
So it's looking as if my roaming iPhone offers the only real connectivity outside the office (where I am right now, as the "duty" interpreter during lunch).
I will continue to seek a solution to this problem, but will also keep in mind the adage that while on some days, you get the bear, on others, the bear gets you.
