Vidéotron stages mass intervention with huge interruption of Internet service

76%How Addicted to Blogging Are You?

After a lengthy vacation from blogging, and more recently, yesterday's persistent Internet service outage from giant Quebec provider Vidéotron, my numbers are finally coming down to safer, saner levels. I am now only 76% addicted to blogging.

Between my own free will and my service provider forcing me to limit my blogging, I feel like a new man.

Others on the internets are not so thankful of this interventionist tough love. This French blogger writes that for at least two hours there were so many complaints phoned in to Vidéotron technical support that contacting anyone who could tell you anything at all was entirely hopeless.

This IT blog for a Quebec broadcaster indicates that even getting that far -- finding so much as a dial tone -- was out of the question for the unfortunate folks who use Vidéotron's IP telephone services in addition to its high-speed cable Internet. Bummer.

I know this first-hand because for dinner last night I was visiting friends who faced exactly that situation. Communication to the outside world was out of the question, until, by some good luck and little know-how, we were able to update a Facebook status using a cell phone. The send-success tone that the cell phone emitted came with a little rush of dopamine felt by all.

Later on when I got home difficulties continued to affect the network so I'd say the problems must've lasted at least five hours.

So while I never got to post yesterday, I see that Brooklynguy's latest post covers many of the topics of my own offline dinner, wherein a local feast from the nearby Farnham farm of André Samson showed off the freshness and delicacy of the season. Check out Brooklynguy's Wine and Food Blog for the joys of farmers' markets and fresh produce.