Waiting, waiting...

Have cancelled the iiNet arrangments, despite the best effort of a young chap in Corporate, they seem to be unable/unwilling to at least get us back to where we were on May 20 in the morning (pre NBN).
I have arranged a 4G mobile router which is plugged into one of the switches; at least we can get the gmail and banking and such. I am arranging with the local Telstra business shop to do the phones and they are looking at a connection that gets us back on the email/dns/web service wise via the NBN. Anecdotally, NBN FTTC has a rather spotty reputation especially with installations to older wiring in established areas...

Downgrade with NBN

The NBN guy arrived last week, redid connections in the pit out the front, and confirmed that the white NBN box that arrived from iiNet was talking to the NBN; we then found that now have no phones (iiNet dropped the ball on porting the numbers from Telstra), no email, no DNS, no outgoing Web server connectivity) (iiNet just plain lied when we enquired about upgrading from a working ADSL2+ service with routing, saying they could do this, no probs)What we got was some strange NAT thing (sans routing) on a scungy TPlink VR1500v cheapy router (also from iiNet), which allows  you to visit some web sites; that's it. They then claimed that they [iiNet] were unable to route our traffic anymore because 'NBN was different'. I had to complain on their FB page comments, just to get a response..

We are now looking for a local technically-competent ISP to get back 'on the air' as it were.
An old friend of mine who also has an NBN connection through iiNet, moved house recently, when he got reconnected, iiNet had managed to mess up and lose his email accounts, only after he complained on FB, did something get done to fix the problem.
iiNet long ago were the bees knees of ISP's, but since they got taken over by TPG (an iffy bunch, at best), the whole operation has gone down the toilet..

some words from our economists...

http://covid19openletter.net/

Some of our leading academic economists have written an open letter to Scotty from Marketing and his colleagues in the "National Cabinet" to bring rationality into the CoVID-19 vs the Oz economy debate. Various airy-fairy ideas are being floated by the usual suspects from the FilthMuck press and the lunar Right.  I would like to see News Limited, its acolytes and boosters given the Boot from public life here until they learn to conduct themselves properly, but I can't see that happening any time soon. I might add that the lunar Left here is nearly as bad.. What happened to civil debate here...   

it's very quiet for a main road

The Boss is now working at Newmarket, so she has to cross the road to catch the bus (404) to work. Normally, you take your life in your hands crossing over Ascot Vale Rd at 0700, dodging cars, SUV's(penis-subs), semi's, buses cyclists, but at present you could do a little dance in the middle of the road and not see anything travelling!

no more than 2 people at a time..

had to go to an appointment in Moonee Ponds, streets are empty, most shops are shut - it's all a bit "On The Beach" at present. Scotty from Marketing is making vague noises that it could get worse, but dropping it on state and territory govts. to do the heavy lifting..

Winging it..

I keep getting this uncomfortable feeling that Scotty from Marketing and his mates are just winging it and putting Parliament off until August/September/whenever is not the best way to proceed.. Serious trust deficit here.
Meanwhile back at the ranch, we are isolating like mad, will get to see the outside world while shopping at a 1.5m distance (makes it hard to reach the shelves!) and hand-washing while conserving bog-roll.

Covid-19 stats

A friend just sent me this interesting link: https://ncov2019.live/data (ongoing coronavirus/covid-19 stats from around the world)..

And its only just started...