Freedom Countdown

Getting my inventory and workspace organized has finally risen to the top of my priority list.  I started about a month ago moving everything related to my business out to the barn, as we lovingly call outbuildings where I live.  That was the easy part.  The internet access was much harder.  I don’t have DSL in my rural area and rely on the  wireless internet provider from hell.  They are the only provider that works with my day job’s remote access requirements so I’m stuck with them until Obama brings me DSL or cell phone signals get stronger.

My first solution after hours of research on the internet, and a worthless conversation with a clerk in a Best Buy, was a range expander.  The theory is that it can pick up the wireless signal from my router at the edge of it’s range and extend it on into my barn.  The only problem was that the end of my router’s range appears to be in the road somewhere, hardly a spot to mount a range expander.

The next step was to find a stronger router.  I actually tried to make a homemade antenna based on an online video to boost the power of my existing router.  When this didn’t work, I bought the highest rated router I could find with two antennas.  After messing around with it for a week to no avail, I finally called the internet provider from hell and they came out, spent about three hours trying out a variety of things and decided we needed to hardwire the barn with an ethernet cable directly to the rooftop wireless antenna.

But…. they don’t bury cable or suspend it overhead between two buildings, they just lay it on the ground.  So we had to find someone willing to dig a trench in 105 degree weather.  A month later it’s all done and working great,  but it was every bit as troublesome as I had thought it would be.

Next step, hire a high school student to help me clean things up, get them organized, and do the shipping tasks I dislike so much.