What Should You Do If The Internet Goes Down? [Archive]

Ed Hansberry

11-21-2003, 11:00 PM

<a href="http://www.thetoque.net/031118/internetdown.htm">http://www.thetoque.net/031118/internetdown.htm</a> Unfathomable. I don't even want to think about it. 8O "No one knows when the Internet will fail. It could happen at any time, leaving you bereft of your e-mail, your sports scores, and your Blogs. Therefore, it's important that you and your family have a contingency plan for just such an emergency. If your connection to Cyberspace were to ever get severed, you should at least be prepared. We have included a few key points that should assist you if that were to happen." My first phone call would be to Al Gore. He created the darn thing. He should be able to get it back up and running!

karen

11-21-2003, 11:02 PM

:lol:

why, love the one you're with, of couse

Mitchybums

11-21-2003, 11:06 PM

Scary thought.
That would mean I actualy have to be social.
I would first look at the history files on my pc's, just to pretend.
Then I would have to come up with other excuses for not to be sociable.

Terrible thought. Please do not scare us that way anymore.

JonnoB

11-21-2003, 11:13 PM

The internet placed part of what TV had done for society... can you imagine the population boom if the net went down worldwide?

GoldKey

11-21-2003, 11:18 PM

Prepare an emergency supply of books just in case. Or mirror a part of the net on to local disks for emergency use.

Peter Foot

11-21-2003, 11:21 PM

Prepare an emergency supply of books just in case. Or mirror a part of the net on to local disks for emergency use.

Or print out the internet and keep it somewhere safe :)

lonesniper

11-21-2003, 11:26 PM

Jason, Ed and the others would have to create a "Pocketpcthoughts Daily Newspaper" that I could get at my local newsagents.

Mattb90

11-21-2003, 11:37 PM

Jason, Ed and the others would have to create a "Pocketpcthoughts Daily Newspaper" that I could get at my local newsagents.

Except nowadays papers are transmitted to printers via the internet :P Someone would have to fly over a rough copy from the US to get it here for us in the Uk, and by then, it will be out of date :P

Tom W.M.

11-21-2003, 11:37 PM

A scary thought. :insert shuddering emoticon here:

Who are you quoting, Ed?

rudolph

11-21-2003, 11:37 PM

Prepare an emergency supply of books just in case. Or mirror a part of the net on to local disks for emergency use.
Or print out the internet and keep it somewhere safe :)

Hahaha... these remind me of quotes I seen at the "computer stupidities" website. It's a website that has stupid things people said about computers (mostly technical-support releated), but some of them are real funny.

Here's the ones you guys reminded me of:
Also heard in a University store:
Customer: "Can you copy the Internet for me on this diskette?"
and
I attend a major Australian university, and the library computers are often the only Internet access that students have. This means that the librarians often have to explain to students how to use the net connection. One day as I was doing some research for an assignment, an older gentleman asked the library assistant how to print from a web site. He was fairly web savvy, so he was just asking about selecting and printing the text he wanted. The assistant complimented him on his prudent use of resources and said, "So many students don't do that. They just print out the whole Internet."

Now I knew our printers were fast, but I didn't realize they were that fast, or that we had that much paper. It was a real effort not to butt in and correct her, or burst out laughing, or both.

here's some others

Customer: "I don't have a computer at home. Is the Internet available in book form?"

Tech Support: "This is technical support returning your call for support. How can I help you?"
Customer: "I want to lodge a complaint."
Tech Support: "What seems to be the problem?"
Customer: "I specifically asked you not to program my Internet with pornography. I want it removed immediately."
There's a LOT more real FUNNY ones at: http://www.rinkworks.com/stupid/ ... the one's I quoted were from "The Internet" section.

Chris Spera

11-21-2003, 11:56 PM

What Should You Do If The Internet Goes Down?

Duck, because SOMETHING is in-coming...

Christopher Spera

Ed Hansberry

11-22-2003, 12:01 AM

A scary thought. :insert shuddering emoticon here:

Who are you quoting, Ed?
I am such an idiot. The link is now in the original post. :oops: It comes as no surprise to me though that you all found enough stuff in that snippet to entertain yourselves for 10 replies. :lol:

volwrath

11-22-2003, 12:08 AM

Prepare an emergency supply of books just in case. Or mirror a part of the net on to local disks for emergency use.

I found a great program to mirror websites. Its HTTrack and I believe its at sourceforge

sublime

11-22-2003, 12:10 AM

I have enough books (tangible ones) in my library to last me the rest of my life, so I wouldn't give a damn if I never used the internet again. At times, I wish I was never exposed to it.

Down with the Internet!

Down with the Internet!

Dave Beauvais

11-22-2003, 12:20 AM

... Down with the Internet!
... He writes on a site on the Internet. :)

When the power went out here for about 48 hours a few months ago, I was mostly Internetless for that time. I do admit to driving to the other side of town to a friend's house to grab my e-mail and do some battery recharging. A disturbing amount of my life revolves around being connected in some way. No Internet would suck but I'm sure I'd survive just fine.

Paul

11-22-2003, 12:29 AM

My solution if the cable broadband connection goes down?
T-Mobile GPRS

Seriously, getting that bluetooth dongle has me set whenever broadband does go down. I've had this happend numerous times these past few months. I would switch ISPs but this apt complex is locked into one.

I just enable bluetooth dial up and I'm on my way surfing again.

W?BIC! :D

bjornkeizers

11-22-2003, 12:35 AM

You want to hear something really funny? This happened about a week ago, and I swear it's totally real [though I wish it wasn't]

My dad loves CB radio. And sometimes, he talks to a guy who happens to have a website. OK. So, two weeks ago, my dad comes to me and says:

"How can he get that bulletin board to work on his site? He put in the links and it's not working!"

So I start thinking: database problem? misdirected link? Any number of things. But, knowing the kinds of people that hang out on CB radio I ask him:

"Wait, hold on, you don't mean by any chance: He put the word "bulleting board" on the site?"

"Yeah, that's it! He put the words on there, but the board and the chat thing and such isn't working!"

This guy actually thought that by putting the words "Bulletin board" and "chat room" on his page, he'd magically have a BB and chat room!

So, being the helpful professional that I am, I told him with a straight face that the company that owns the internet had to turn that feature off, but I could reactivate it at for a small fee of 100 euros an hour plus expenses.

Dont you just love stupid people?

Biovexo

11-22-2003, 01:14 AM

:?: What, the Internet is on computers now? 8O

Steven Cedrone

11-22-2003, 01:29 AM

My solution if the cable broadband connection goes down?
T-Mobile GPRS

But the question isn't: what would you do if your connection to the Internet went down, it's "What would you do if the Internet went down... :wink:

I would be found in a corner, tucked into a fetal position, mumbling incoherent noises that sound remarkably similar to the "language" of the Binars on ST:TNG... :lol:

Steve

epc

11-22-2003, 01:29 AM

As much as we all are addicted to the net; perhaps it going down for a while would actually be good. People would become more social, learn to be a conversationalist, READ, radio-short wave & Ham, and phone someone to TALK.

As always luv the one your with !! :devilboy:

Steven Cedrone

11-22-2003, 01:32 AM

kiwi

11-22-2003, 01:57 AM

hey, that already happened to US folk in Toronto and the east Coast last summer when we had that HUGE blackout..

Maybe I'd play on my new MPX200 :-) <grin> for a bit..

Maybe I'd play on my PS2..

Maybe I'd go Snowboarding (if there was snow..)

abeit I'd have to call 411 to get the Ski Field's phone number so I could see if they "had" snow - normally I use the web cam ;)

last but not least .. DRINK :beer:

stitics

11-22-2003, 02:08 AM

last but not least .. DRINK :beer:
From personal experience I can assure you, you do NOT need the internet to go down to drink. *hic* :beer:

qmrq

11-22-2003, 02:40 AM

Prepare an emergency supply of books just in case. Or mirror a part of the net on to local disks for emergency use.
Exactly! wget is the bestest program ever.

arebelspy

11-22-2003, 02:53 AM

My 'net connection here in the dorms goes out for an hour or three every other week or so. Now that I have my XDA II though, I have a wireless bluetooth modem to keep me connected. Slow? Yes. Better than no net? Definantly. :D

God forbid I had no intarweb! :P

-arebelspy

foldedspace

11-22-2003, 03:01 AM

Hmmm...what to do...what to do...

Get a life? ;)

What did you do before the internet?

In college I subscribed to my hometown newspaper (San Antonio) because the Dallas paper never covered the Spurs. It was 3 or 4 days out of date, but I didn't care.

I used to run down to the campus radio station to see the AP printouts after the NFL draft to see who the Cowboys drafted in the 12th round.

I never talked to most of my relatives.

I could write with a pen...mostly.

I'd stay up until 1am to catch a 30 second blurb about one of my teams on Sportscenter.

I bought really crappy Xmas gifts.

I never could find a copy of that song that I heard at that club that wasn't some kind of stupid remix.

:lol:

that_kid

11-22-2003, 04:34 AM

If the net went down I'd just turn on my ham radio and call CQ to see what new contry I could work.

ctmagnus

11-22-2003, 06:22 AM

I would be found in a corner, tucked into a fetal position, mumbling incoherent noises that sound remarkably similar to the "language" of the Binars on ST:TNG... :lol:

I would do the above or sit on the floor with my dog. (She needs hugs quite often and they're usually lacking during periods of intense Internet usage on my part.)

Janak Parekh

11-22-2003, 06:25 AM

When the power went out here for about 48 hours a few months ago, I was mostly Internetless for that time.
I assume you're talking about August 14, right? Over here that date is seared into our memory... ;)

Good point. I had GPRS for some time, but when the cell towers died, I had nothing. And it was sad. :cry: I felt like a new man when, the next afternoon, I could shower (no power == no water pumps == no water in NYC apartment buildings) and surf the web. I have to admit, it was in that order too. :lol:

--janak

Thinkingmandavid

11-22-2003, 06:27 AM

I think I would get bored if the internet went down.
Then I would also be thinking what I could be doing if it was available, or should have downloaded when I had the opportunity, and what I should have done while I had access to the net.
I have gone without net access due to laptop repairs and it really sucks.
I enjoy going to the movies and reading so I would probably do that.

karinatwork

11-22-2003, 06:34 AM

What did you do before the internet?

Hmmm,

I wrote tons of letters to my penpals, and I thought it was fast when I got a reply 2 weeks later! I can't even imagine something like that anymore.

I would buy the merchandise of the company that would make most advertising for them, without knowing if it was a good product and without being able to compare to anything else.

No internet???

I wouldn't even be married if it wasn't for the internet!!!!! 8O

K. :D

Dave Beauvais

11-22-2003, 07:14 AM

I assume you're talking about August 14, right? Over here that date is seared into our memory... ;)
No, actually Columbus wasn't affected by that one at all. (Well, aside from the cascading effects of service outages and failures elsewhere.) This one was storm-related and knocked out power to about 150,000 customers for between 24-72 hours depending on what part of the city you were in. I had friends on the other side of town who still had power and broadband so I went on a pilgrimage to find the Internet and a power source to recharge my two notebook batteries and two h5455 batteries. :)

ricksfiona

11-22-2003, 08:51 AM

Before I started my own business, I refused to wear a pager or have a cell phone for work.

Now that I have my own business, I gotta have a cell phone for obvious reasons. But I only check e-mail before the work day starts, during lunch and a short time after work. The same goes with web surfing. I just lose too much time ALWAYS checking e-mail. And I charge much more when someone calls me afterhours thus those types of calls rarely happen. :wink:

Life is getting much more organized now that I've changed my Internet habits. I get more done now and I can actually hang-out with friends much more. I might even have enough time to get married someday. :D

Jonathan1

11-22-2003, 09:10 AM

Well I would say I would watch TV but obviously this would be breaking news with initial speculation that it's a terrorist act. Isn't everything now a days? I know I would call my workplace. I work for a large insurance brokerage company and no e-mail = DOA. I wouldn't even know if I would even need to go into work the next day. I mean there would be internal e-mail nation wide but other then that.....

After that I'd go to B&N, pick up a book, and have a good read. Ya know. There was one point in my life that I think I thought I would die without the net. But being immersed in tech so much since getting into the IT industry that at this point I'd probably shrug and enjoy life while the rest of the business world collapses. The corp world isn't 100% reliant on the net yet but its pretty dang close.
Come to think of it I guess there would be a legit reason to suspect terrorists. *sighs* Oh well.

xoiph

11-23-2003, 12:00 AM

We would erect a new internet. You'd see a CAT5 hanging out of every window :) Or maybe daisy chain wireless access points? We'd find a way somehow.

nice_micael

11-23-2003, 10:02 AM

This actually happened to me once the phone line went down and they said it took 2 days to fix it :cry: So i were at a friend some time then and then checking my email and so. But when the internet came back o i were so happy :D

Steven Cedrone

11-23-2003, 02:13 PM

It would be back to BBS's and Fidonet for me... :wink:

Steve

Constant Caffeine

11-24-2003, 08:41 PM

Well if this did happen, wouldn’t it be Al Gore’s fault? :wink:

Janak Parekh

11-24-2003, 11:22 PM

Well if this did happen, wouldn’t it be Al Gore’s fault? :wink:
:twak: ;)

http://www.snopes.com/quotes/internet.htm

No, Al Gore did not claim he "invented" the Internet, nor did he say anything that could reasonably be interpreted that way. The derisive "Al Gore said he 'invented' the Internet" put-downs are misleading distortions of something he said (taken out of context) during an interview with Wolf Blitzer on CNN's "Late Edition" program on 9 March 1999.

--janak

ux4484

11-24-2003, 11:38 PM

What Should You Do If The Internet Goes Down?

Catch up on sleep..............

Tom W.M.

11-25-2003, 12:04 AM

Catch up on sleep..............
I'll second that! :D

Ed Hansberry

11-25-2003, 12:06 AM

No, Al Gore did not claim he "invented" the Internet, nor did he say anything that could reasonably be interpreted that way. The derisive "Al Gore said he 'invented' the Internet" put-downs are misleading distortions of something he said (taken out of context) during an interview with Wolf Blitzer on CNN's "Late Edition" program on 9 March 1999.Oh give me a break. He said:During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet. I took the initiative in moving forward a whole range of initiatives that have proven to be important to our country's economic growth and environmental protection, improvements in our educational system.That certainly qualifies as something that could be reasonably interpreted that way. :takethat:

Janak Parekh

11-25-2003, 12:44 AM

That certainly qualifies as something that could be reasonably interpreted that way. :takethat:
I didn't say it; start up a debate with the Snopes folks if you want. It's obvious to me that he didn't actually mean that. I'll agree that he's a poor speaker; if you really thought he meant it (contrary to his assertions and even those of Vint Cerf's), well, then, there's no discussion to be had.

--janak

Ed Hansberry

11-25-2003, 04:11 AM

if you really thought he meant it (contrary to his assertions and even those of Vint Cerf's), well, then, there's no discussion to be had.
No, one thing I'd never accuse the former senator from my home state is meaning what he said. ;-)

Jason Dunn

11-25-2003, 10:15 PM

If the Internet went down? I'd start up the Thoughts Media dial-up BBS. :lol:

Janak Parekh

11-26-2003, 02:14 AM

I'd start up the Thoughts Media dial-up BBS. :lol:
The problem with this is the cost of calling Calgary everytime... 8O

--janak

Ed Hansberry

11-26-2003, 03:17 AM

I'd start up the Thoughts Media dial-up BBS. :lol:
The problem with this is the cost of calling Calgary everytime... 8ONah, we'd just need a QWK packet reader for our Pocket PCs! :lol:

Dave Beauvais

11-26-2003, 03:36 AM

Wow, that brings back memories! I suspect anyone born after 1980 is going "a what reader?" ;)

Jason Dunn

11-26-2003, 06:21 AM

Wow, that brings back memories! I suspect anyone born after 1980 is going "a what reader?" ;)

I was born in 1975 and I have NO idea what a QWK reader is...?

Dave Beauvais

11-26-2003, 06:34 AM

Ed Hansberry

11-26-2003, 01:09 PM

It let you dial into a local BBS and download messages in a QWK packet -- essentially a zip file of sorts -- so you could read and reply to them offline. The QWK reader would take this "packet," process it, and display the messages for you. Any replies you made would then be put back into another QWK packet and sent back to the BBS the next time you dialed in. It was really quite slick.

Edit: Here's a cached Google page (http://66.102.11.104/search?q=cache:SHJcz9bHpg8J:bbsing.com/bbsqwkmail/BBSQwkmail.html+%2Bbbs+%2Bqwk&hl=en&ie=UTF-8) describing the QWK reader I used.
I'm afraid there isn't much left on the internet of the QWK reader I used to use. It was called CMPQWK and it flat ruled, but the web site is no longer in existance and the domain name has been taken over by a pr0n redirect. :roll: Oh well. Let us hope the internet doesn't go down. I'd hate to have to learn how to use another QWK reader. :wink:

ux4484

11-26-2003, 03:39 PM

Wow, that brings back memories! I suspect anyone born after 1980 is going "a what reader?" ;)

feeling.....so......old....... :|

Steven Cedrone

11-26-2003, 04:05 PM

feeling.....so......old....... :|

Ugh...

Me too!!! :roll:

Steve

aroma

11-26-2003, 04:37 PM

I miss the BBS days. Honestly I do. Ahh... the days of the 300bps modems and Ascii graphics. Some people could be so darn clever with those graphics....

- Aaron

Kati Compton

11-26-2003, 05:12 PM

I miss the BBS days. Honestly I do. Ahh... the days of the 300bps modems and Ascii graphics. Some people could be so darn clever with those graphics....
Animated color ANSI... <sigh>

Janak Parekh

11-26-2003, 05:14 PM

I'll tell you what I don't miss, though: dial-up costs. Either long-distance charges to non-local BBSes (especially the big ones), or CompuServe: $12.50/hour. 8O When 9600bps came out, they actually had the gall to charge $22.50/hour. :crazyeyes:

--janak

JonnoB

11-26-2003, 07:00 PM

What I miss most about those days was the elite status the community had. Making computers easier to use just seemed to dumb things down too much. I liked it being a little hard and quirky... because it was a natural filter to anyone who wasn't breathing solder fumes to the sound of a modem screaching in the background while doing a bi-directional JModem download/upload.