For the second time since Saturday, I spent upwards of between 30 minutes to an hour trying to turn something out on this page. It’s not that I am any Melville or Twain or even Paris Hilton and her ghost of a writer. But at least when I write something — whether it is worth anything to anyone else or not — I want it to show up on my blog. A so-called “high-speed” Internet service serving my hotel called iBAHN apparently does not want that to happen.
On Saturday afternoon I spent quite some time writing, only to have iBAHN’s page asking me to sign up once again appear from out of nowhere to destroy what I was about to publish on Blogger. Unbelievably, it happened again tonight. This was after having my Internet service go on and off and on and off and on and off about 30 minutes prior … I called their customer service, which by the way their phone system is structured (to be fair, not unlike many companies today) doesn’t really want to have to talk with you. But they did.
The customer service lady I talked with the second time this evening said I shouldn’t have this problem again during the rest of my stay here at Residence Inn by Marriott in Bethesda, Md. That would be through Friday. But to be honest with you, parting this place and its substandard Internet provider will be no sweet sorrow.
My advice is that if you want high-speed Internet in your hotel room, ask questions about the service before you reserve. That is, unless you don’t have a choice like yours truly. And if that hotel has something called iBAHN, run like hell, don’t walk, away from that place of lodging. You will be doing yourself and your sanity a great favor.