Still seeking a return of my short lived WIMAX connection. And still reminded that Primus remains one of the least customer friendly companies on the planet.

To recap:

• At 11:45 am yesterday I sent an e-mail to wimax-no-signal-l@primustel.ca, the address for those who can’t get a signal. As of noon today, twenty-four hours later, they had not responded.
• At 4:45 pm yesterday I gave up on that route and phoned their WIMAX tech support. The Tier One asked for my name and phone number, then abandoned me on “hold” long enough that I gave up. Right now, twenty-four hours later, they have not called back.
• An hour later, at 5:40 pm yesterday, I also e-mailed the other support address at wimaxsupport-l@primustel.ca. Twenty-four hours later they have not responded.

I have though talked to a neighbour, and have a line on a couple of very good homing pigeons who could be used to deliver messages.

UPDATE: Walked downtown to 126 James N, and set up there. From here I’m positive that we have line of sight to a nearby WIMAX point of presence.  So the question becomes: is it the modem, or the whole system that’s down?

As noted in my last post, I have only been able to connect to the Primus WIMAX once. After trying all of the usual things I gave up and e-mailed them this morning. That was at 11:45 am, to the wimax-no-signal-l@primustel.ca address, for those who can’t get a signal.

Five hours later at 4:45 pm I gave up on that route and phoned their WIMAX tech support. The Tier One seemed to be working from a very basic script, asked for my name and phone number, didn’t ask for my User ID or account number, then ran down a rather sad handful of questions.

I explained, twice that I had succeeded in getting a really solid signal the previous evening, but now couldn’t connect.

• Did I walk around and try it in different places? Yes.
• Had I ever been able to connect? Yes (Under my breath “You idiot, I just told you that.”) 
• This is a laptop right? No, desktop.
• Did you try re-installing the software? No. There is no software included with this, even on the enclosed CD.

At which point she put me on hold. I waited the requisite five minutes and gave up. Surely since she took my phone number they’ll call back? Judging by my past experiences with Primus I’m not holding my breath, but I’ll resend the e-mail to the other support address at wimaxsupport-l@primustel.ca. That happened at 5:40 p.m.

Several months ago I became tired of paying for two phone lines. Because the cel is more convenient I decided to get rid of my land line. The problem that emerged was what to do for Internet access. I don’t have cable, and once Bell disconnects your land line DSL eventually stops working.

I vaguely recalled that there were WIMAX trials happening in Hamilton, so that seemed like a good solution. WIMAX of course is kind of like WIFI on steroids, a big signal covering most of downtown Hamilton, allowing users to connect just about anywhere.

The downside is that the trials are being run by Primus, not my favorite company by any means.

Still, in May I tracked down and completed the application form. After several false starts and missed start dates, Primus finally shipped the WIMAX modems last week.

I saw the Canada Post truck arrive, the driver come into the building, then leave again carrying a package that looked about right. I walked to the neighbouring building and tracked her down. Sure enough, Primus had my apartment number wrong. The package would have been returned if I hadn’t of anticipated that problem.

Inside the courier bag was a welcome letter with log in IDs etc, and the box containing the ZyXEL MAX-210M1 WIMAX Modem. I note that the bottom of the modem is explicit that this is unapproved beta hardware.

The Zytel box included the modem, and antenna, an ethernet cable, a CD with User Manuals, and a power supply. There was also a Quickstart Guide and a Warranty Card.

So far so good, but for one minor problem. Actually this was not a surprise, as a frantic e-mail from Primus had arrived an hour or two earlier telling all of us that yes, they had shipped modems with European power connectors. Those big ol’ round plugs aren’t going to fit my wall outlets. The adaptor though is fine with 110/220 and 50/60 cycles, so a travel adapter got it up and running just fine.

The instructions are simple. There’s no VOIP phone service yet (and when it does come in it will exclude long distance for some reason) , so all that you do is plug in the power, and connect your computer with an ethernet cable. I wasn’t about to add a router into the mix just yet – keep it simple.

According to the instructions, all that I had to do now was type the ever popular 192.168.1.1 into my browser and I should be able to open up the modem configuration wizard and set up my log in information.

In fact my G4 Apple Powerbook refused to do any such thing, refused to see the modem, much less connect. I recalled that I had run into this brain dead Mac behavior before, so I disconnected the ethernet cable from the Mac and plugged it into my old Windows 2000 PC. That box happily connected to the modem, and I was able to add all of the configuration details.

Once this was done I moved the ethernet cable back and the Mac could find the modem with no problem. Go figure. Needless to say there are no documents with the modem that in any way talk about anything by Windows.

When you power up this modem it actually takes a minute or so to self check and get up and running. Many lights flash, until finally the Power and Ethernet lights go green. The modem then starts looking for a WIMAX signal.

I have both west and south facing windows, and am in the fourth floor of a low-rise apartment building. Although I don’t think that I have unobstructed line of sight to the WIMAX access points (and in fact don’t know for sure where they are), I should be able to catch a good signal.

So I walked around the windows, pointing both the single external antenna and the whole modem in various directions (the instructions say to do this, as there is also a built in directional antenna, although it’s really unclear in what direction it points.)

Finally bang four of the five signal strength lights came on, and I had a good strong signal. This was about 9 pm last night. Happy with this success I unplugged the connectors, including power, and tidied up the cables. I plugged the modem back in and – nothing. The LINK light will flash quickly, suggesting that it’s negotiating a connection, then go dead again. This repeats endlessly.

Why? No guess. Maybe I need a another position for the modem. Maybe the WIMAX is down right now. Maybe I didn’t hold my face just right.

I’ve e-mailed Primus and will report back.

It’s Election Day in Ontario, and honestly I think that most people are thinking the same thing as I.

What in the Hell did I do to deserve this?

For any thinking person this is a real dilemma. For the first time in my life I am seriously considering not bothering to vote, not because it isn’t somehow important – my mother made sure that I understood that – but because I don’t know that I can hold my nose long enough to mark an X beside even the least offensive option.

The frontrunners are the Liberals, led by sad sack Dalton MGuinty. Despite running on a platform of Change, they basically sat on their asses for four years and did nothing to undo the damage wrought by the Mike Harris Tories. They certainly promised to help the poor and the sick and the underprivileged, but those promises turned out to be completely hollow. Now Dalton has spent several months traveling the province, promising everything short of a new car for each voter. Apparently a large number of people actually believe him once again.

I’m not alone in my disgust at this chicanery. Back in September the Globe and Mail made note of an Environics poll that found that a staggering 67% of people do not expect politicians to keep their promises. SIXTY-SEVEN PERCENT. Why in hell was that not a campaign issue?

Second in the standings are the Conservatives, led by John Tory. Frankly I just assume that Tory is Mike Harris in a better suit, although Tory has steadfastly refused to wear a necktie so that we can understand that he’s just a regular working Joe. After the bitter, spiteful, pain inflicted on ordinary people by the Harris government I just couldn’t ever vote for the Conservatives. I see them as selfish, greedy, and share none of their pro-globalization, feed the rich beliefs.

Traditionally this is where I fall in line with the New Democrats, a party which at one time could claim lineage that stretched back to the CCF and even the Wobblies, but which now seems more like Liberal Lite. I honestly have no idea what, if anything, the NDP stands for any more, and I don’t think that they do either. Their leader, Howard Hampton, is the latest in a rather goofy string of consensus choices whose main attribute seems to be that no-one in the party disliked him too much. Vision? Leadership? The slightest hope of electing a majority government? You dream. Sadly I can no longer support a party that begins each campaign by assuming that they’ll lose. I mean, what’s the point?

The goal of any party during an election is to win, and win a majority. That is how you get power, and how you control government and make laws. There is no second place in a Parliamentary democracy. There is no runner up prize. Either you win, or you have lost. “We gained three more seats in this election.” is still losing.

New kid on the block, and one of the reasons why NDP support is dead in the water, is the Green party. The Greens would be happy to elect even one member to any legislature in the country. The problem is that they have a bizarre platform that mixes left wing environmental concerns with sort of right wing economic policy. Silly me, I thought that it was the tax cutting, anti poor people, pro business Conservatives that got us into this environmental mess. You just can’t separate the two things. Plus their web site is down this morning, which in itself tells us something.

So once again, like the vast majority of people, I am sitting here asking myself which if any of these people I could vote for, and for the first time I have to say “None of the Above.”

Something is seriously wrong with this country and this province, when four frontrunner parties can’t come up with one viable platform that both supports ordinary working people and has a realistic chance of winning an election. I think that honestly most people have ignored this campaign because they know that it was a waste of their time. If you don’t believe that politicians will keep their promises, why bother listening?

Today the people in this province are also being asked to vote for a change to how governments are elected, possibly endorsing something called MMP, a watered down form of Proportional representation which would allow the party bosses to appoint unelected MPPs to the legislature based on popular vote. Even the Liberals and Tories endorse this because the front running parties would get to appoint more party hacks under this new system. The Greens and NDP love it because it creates a chance that they might actually find themselves with more than zero or five people in the Legislature.

MMP won’t though change the basic problem that elections are driven by money, and greed, and by unfulfilled promises. It won’t change the likelihood that when you walk into the voting booth you’re voting against someone, not for a party that you support.

No, if you really want to change politics you need to give people the option of “None of The Above.” And if the majority choose that option, toss out all of the candidates and start over. Now that’s an idea I can endorse.

As pointed out by Indymedia and others, the problem is not voting, it’s that the choices that we’re given are so utterly dismal.