Are we sitting comfortably........

......then we shall begin.

Well actually I was going to start my blog back at the very beginning and catch you all up on what I have been getting up to in the first half of my year here at Aston. However, Keysurf, the ISP contractor for halls of residence at Aston, had different ideas when it decided to cut me off! I have had to trek over to the main building in the middle of the night so that I can get this done. The internet in my flat may not be on 24/7 like I pay for it to be, but the main building and it's free wireless broadband connection are open 24/7, almost without fail- this one of the many wonderful things you can discover at Aston :D

I want to rant about Keysurf some more first though :P Despite the fact I am now used to it's general rubbishness, I am still happy to say that it is awful, at least in my experience anyway. If you live in Lakeside accommodation then you get hardwired access, and only have to deal with the server being down on a regular basis, the lucky few lakesiders might be able to get the wirless connection from the Life Sciences building though. However if, like me, you live in one of the standard accommodation towers or low rise flats you also have to deal with the wireless network factor. I live in the room furthest away from the transmitter, so when I pay twelve pounds a month to get access to a slow unreliable internet connection, I am also paying to sit by my door with my iBook on my lap because the signal wont reach anywhere else! It has been improving slightly since I first arrived, but not great. It wasn't uncommon in the first few weeks for my flat mates to find me in the middle of the corridor trying to get enough signal strength to check my facebook! Speaking of which feel free to add me and chat, there is a link in the right hand menu :D The University know about the problems, and have been trying to deal with it for years, we will have to wait and see. There is promise however that the new accomodation that will be being built over the next few years will have a wirless connection which the uinversity will manage themselves!

There are other options though, mobile phone networks like 3, Orange and Vodaphone, offer mobile broadband now, so check them all out before you commit to anything.

Now I feel like a right moaner. I'll be back with something a bit less ranty in a while.