Flying SquidStaying for the week at an AirBnB in Rochester, MN. This is what I just found out I'm stuck with.
gregorumif the listing advertised “high-speed internet” or anything with the wording “high-speed”, then i’d call AirBNB and complain until i either got a partial refund or a rebooking elsewhere. Rate 1-star and post as many complaints as possible on as many social media outlets as possible with the full name of the AirBnB host. Name and Shame.
Basically, be as big a nightmare as possible (without getting kicked out) until either it gets fixed or until you get enough money back to make you feel better.
edit:
The owners live upstairs.
i wouldn’t let them sleep a wink until that’s 50Mb/s+ both up and down. should be at least 100Mb/s, but 50Mb/s is manageable.
They’re fucking you while on vacation, and i would make their live a LIVING HELL. being cheap has consequences…
I’m here with my mother (also mildly infuriating) who chose it and is paying for it, so I’ll have to talk to her about it, thanks.
i don’t see how that changes anything. in fact, i might be more outraged, as they’re taking advantage of your poor, sweet, elderly mother, which is exactly how you should put it in every single complaint call, email, and social media post.
It doesn’t change anything. I just never saw the listing, which is why I had to talk to her about it.
That makes sense.
Neato50 up is pretty much the max I’ve seen most plans. Most ISPs just don’t allocate Jack for it.
warmOr hear me out, you could just be a polite human and ask about the issue before jumping to conclusions? It could be a simple case of them restarting the network to fix it. Throwing a tantrum over this without any other information or communication is just pathetic, why is that your gut reaction?
Some people just need any excuse to get mad and feel like they have control over something.
Seems like a stressful life to live.
It’s actually crazy how many adults are entitled children who do know how to deal with issues
Acting like that can very easily backfire
Yeah... even if the people are dickheads, why go through the effort to stoop to their level, just move on with your life.
a person is entitled to what they paid for. they are also entitled to complain when they get ripped off.
but, sure, you can just roll over and get taken advantage of. sounds very “adult”.
enjoy that.
dohpaz42Making their life a living hell is a far cry from complaining. What you suggested is childish, petty, and probably would get OP banned from AirBNB.
there is nothing childish nor petty about demanding to get what one paid for. and complaining to AirBnB about it while also posting one’s dissatisfaction publicly isn’t going to get anyone banned.
I didn’t advise doing anything illegal nor did i advise harassing anyone.
My dude you said you’d make their life living hell, the fact that you don’t consider that harassment says a lot about the kind of person you are. No wonder you’re so unhappy.
You imagine me as unhappy because it services your position to do so.
I get what I pay for. I’m quite happy. If you can’t find it possible to believe me, that’s your own problem.
I guarantee you with absolute certainty, people will do anything in their power not to help you or find ways to spite you. I know I would.
No one wants to deal with your bullshit and there are ways to resolve issues without throwing a tantrum and making everyone around you feel miserable.
Yeah, not doing that. In fact, if I don’t have to see or talk to them the entire time I’m here, I’ll be happy about that part of this trip. I didn’t particularly want to stay in an AirBnB in the first place, but I’m not the one paying. I would have honestly been fine with a Motel 6 or whatever.
Who hurt you?
your mom when she rolled off me
if i pay for a service, such as an AirBnB, it had better be in suitable condition before i come to stay. if it’s unacceptable, someone needs to be taught a lesson: Don’t try to take advantage of people, or you will regret it.
it’s the only way these assholes ever learn anything: fuck with their money.
Re you’re edit: I’m not here on vacation, I’m here to go to the Mayo clinic. But they close up at 3, so it would be nice to come back to decent wifi. Thankfully, I realized I can just use my phone as a hotspot. The only problem is my iPhone and my Mint Linux notebook won’t play nice, so I have to tether one to the other via USB to get it to work rather than via the WiFi connection. No idea why, but it won’t get to the authentication part when I connect to the WiFi. But that’s better than what I had before.
to me, that makes it even more egregious. i’d send them a bill for your data plan, and i’d also browbeat them for putting someone critically ill, who is visiting the mayo clinic, until they got the issue fixed immediately.
some people think they can take advantage of people like you and your mother, and i’d make sure they never did that again, not to anyone, ever.
i’d get on the phone with AirBnB and be such a unimaginable nightmare, that they’d do anything just to shut me up.
i’ve been extremely successful at this.
edit: i once had a similar issue at a crappy hotel with bad internet service. i called their corporate office and threatened a federal lawsuit and had a lawyer buddy of mine throw some legalese at them (an obvious bluff). had them shook. 5 minutes later, the “we can’t do anything” magically turned into “oh, we fixed the problem” and my internet speed was magically fixed.
sometimes, you just havae to out-asshole the asshoels to get what you paid for.
Thankfully, I have unlimited data, so it’s not a cost issue. Just a bit irritating that I had to resort to this.
Also, I really don’t think they’re trying to take advantage of us. Someone else said that this is some rural ISP that for some reason people in much of Rochester use.
well, that’s why i mentioned the listing, and whether it advertised “high-speed” internet. if it didn’t, this whole thing might be moot.
Fedegenerate“How does your network availability compare with your expectations”
Pasta Dentalthe access point is probably upstairs and blocked by several objects
WillySpreadumHope you enjoy reading these comments in 3-5 days
Wow, that’s almost as fast as my phone’s hotspot!!
teftSquids memes this week:
Possibly linuxIs the signal strength really low?
No. Quite strong in fact. 75% strength according to Mint’s WiFi menu thingie that shows signal strength.
What WiFi version?
I honestly have no idea how to figure that out.
At this point, if your phone doesn’t have the 6 on the wifi symbol it’s old.
On android it tells you. Not that it matters that much but I was curious about the age of the AP.
jeffwThat’s what you get for going to America’s second best Rochester.
That being said, people don’t normally go there for good reasons. Hope you’re healthy
I am not, I am sorry to say. It’s a very long story which I’ve retold way too many times on Lemmy. Let’s just say that I have no idea what I’ll do if this doesn’t work out.
Sorry to hear that dude. I work in healthcare, so feel free to DM me if I can ever help (not clinical, so don’t ask for medical advice lol, but navigating the system or anything like that)
I appreciate it, thanks. I just posted some good news on that front!
Update for those following my mystery health problems: I'm at the Mayo Clinic. We may have at least a partial diagnosis! - Lemmy.World
Mods: Multiple people have asked me for an update, so I hope this is okay. Very long post, feel free to ignore. Background here- https://lemmy.world/post/12194311 [https://lemmy.world/post/12194311] Anyway, I went to my evaluation appointment this morning after making an 8 1/2 hour drive to Rochester, MN yesterday. (And boy did my butt hurt!) I gave as detailed an account of everything I could think of to the nurse on top of all of the information they already had. She went to consult with the doctor, who came in 10-15 minutes later. After asking me some questions, he decided to examine my tongue. He took a Q-tip and started touching it. The further back he went, the more I gagged, but only on the left side. That actually makes a lot of sense because I also have trigeminal neuralgia [https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/trigeminal-neuralgia/symptoms-causes/syc-20353344] on the left side of my face. I was diagnosed with it 9 or 10 years ago and it’s mostly controlled with a combination of medication and cannabis. The trigeminal nerve is not on the tongue, but it’s on the same side and apparently that sort of hypersensitivity is something that might happen- but the doctor did say my case was extremely unusual. So, we did a test. He sent an order down to the pharmacy for a special compound liquid mouthwash- a combination of lidocaine, Benadryl and Maalox. Sadly not covered by my insurance, but my fairly well-off mother is with me and covered the $127 price tag. He told me to swish it around, spit it out, wait five minutes and then eat something I like a lot and have wanted to eat for a while. The selection in the cafeteria was pretty limited, but they did have egg salad sandwiches, which I do really like. So I swished it around- had to do it for a full minute and the taste is foul- waited five minutes and- [https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/8b427c87-fac1-4b9f-b63e-3dc892382e4e.png] Apologies for the ridiculous beard, it’s been hard to give a shit about my appearance for a while. So, it was only one bite and I stopped there, but it was the first time I have been able to chew and swallow solid food in just over seven months. I couldn’t taste anything, but I do know it had horseradish in it because I could feel the type of spiciness horseradish has. He made an appointment for me to go to the neurology department and we are here until April 3rd, but he couldn’t guarantee that the specialist would be able to see me within that time frame, so the sucky thing is that I might have to come back. The sticking point right now is that the neurology department wants me to do an EMG [https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/emg/about/pac-20393913], which is scheduled on Thursday, and it’s just not necessary and probably will be quite painful, so the gastro department is working on trying to get me past that. In the mean time, I’m to do the mouthwash as directed and then try to eat soft foods, but foods I enjoy. I guess the enjoyment part is just supposed to be psychological because I can’t really taste anything once I use the mouthwash. Thankfully, the numbness is gone within about half an hour. He likened it to physical therapy, that it might be possible to get my nerves to heal this way. No guarantees, because he was a gastroenterologist, by profession, but he did do a dissertation on taste hypersensitivity, which is apparently what I have. After it was over, we went to Walmart and I got a tub of deviled egg potato salad, which is definitely food I enjoy. So that will be what I will be seeing if I can eat this evening. So… I am exhausted from the day and it’s only 4:30, but I feel like a massive weight has been lifted now that I at least have an answer to what is wrong with me even if I don’t know the best form of treatment yet. Here is the other big relief. I am a heavy cannabis user (vaporizing) because it acts as a really good pain modifier and, even though the symptoms didn’t really fit for cannabis hypermesis syndrome, they were close enough that I was very concerned that it might be the issue because honestly, the pain is pretty hard to bear without it. Now the only question is what the hell I am going to do with myself tomorrow. There is fuck all to do in Rochester and I really don’t want to take another drive up to Minneapolis just for something to do. The one thing here that sounded interesting was the county historical society, which is in a 38-room mansion. It’s closed until April 3rd. D’oh! As I said, 82-year-old mother is with me so I can have someone else take notes and ask questions. She’s good at that part because she used to be a psychotherapist, but I can’t imagine what her therapy was like because seriously, she’s nuts. Already since we started yesterday, she had a massive panic when we were loading the car and got mad at me for holding her birthday present because “I can’t deal with that right now.” Then we were on the road and she insisted Waze was accurate even when it clearly wasn’t. I had to work very hard to convince her that we were going from Indiana to Minnesota, so it didn’t make any sense that we should take the interstate going to Detroit and Toledo. Then this morning she got angry at me in the parking garage because I wasn’t looking right and left while trying to avoid hitting the car in front of me and missing parking spaces. Finally, she got pissed off at me again because I kept telling her I knew where to go because I could read the signs and read the floor number in the email they sent. But she seems to have ratcheted down the crazy since we got the answer. One last thing- I am on Facebook primarily because most of my relatives, including my brother, along with many friends I never see and I’d never talk to any of them otherwise. I posted the uncensored picture above. Some asshole I friended because we had a bunch of mutual friends and I assumed he was someone I know but had forgotten about (I usually just unfollow such people and never hear from them again) posted on that picture with the comment, “you look healthy, you’ll be fine.” I really had to fight the urge to respond, “motherfucker, if I was fine, I wouldn’t be at the fucking Mayo Clinic.” I talked to two different cancer patients waiting for their oncologist today. One had appendix cancer, which is quite rare. She said it was stage four. She “looked healthy” too. It’s almost as if external appearances aren’t a good metric for health, isn’t it?
That all sounds rough, but I’m glad you’ve had some progress! My mom has TN and has really valued going to a regular support group, FWIW.
No support group like that in my town as far as I know. Also, I’m a major TN outlier. Technically it’s ATN- the A standing for atypical. Aside from some unusual symptoms, I’m also much younger than the average person who gets it- I’m in my mid-40s and most people get it when they’re over 70- I’m also male and women get it much more often. Oddly enough, my father also had it, but in his 70s as is more normal. It also just went away for him after a while thankfully. Not for me though.
Perhaps they could be using a VLan?
rem26_artIt'd be faster to mail the TCP packets via USPS
Or carrier pigeon.
This is your ISP's pricing list:
https://www.radiolinkinternet.com/Plans.html
$55
15mbps down / 5mbps up
$65
22mbps down / 7mbps up
$85
30mbps down / 10mbps up
Call
-other speeds up to 1000mbps Wireless are available-
They're a rural fixed wireless provider. I don't understand why they would try to serve the middle of the town.
I would personally consider getting a refund, but the hotels there aren't that much better for speeds. The city /does/ have good internet access available, i don't understand why nobody purchases it :(
I don’t get it either. I am doing a little better tethering my notebook to my phone using the local data, although I don’t think it’s 5G. Unfortunately, I have an iPhone and a Linux notebook and I can’t seem to figure out a way to get the notebook to connect to the iPhone via WiFi. I can only use it tethered via USB. Which means that if I want to go into another room and not lose internet, I need to carry them both around. Annoying, but at least the internet is faster. I should have thought of it earlier.
RanvierThis is bizarre, I looked and Rochester Minnesota has multiple high speed providers, including two that offer fiber.
And the isp you have is a wireless isp that doesn’t even list Rochester as within its coverage area. It gets close but not quite in Rochester, but maybe they’re sitll able to access (slowly) since it’s a wireless provider.
Sounds like maybe that’s true about it being them.
Holy highway robbery.
It is and it isn’t, those are pretty standard fixed wireless rates. It’s largely used in pretty rural areas where you wouldn’t be able to get fiber or cable or often even DSL. They compete against things like hughesnet that’s more expensive and has something like a 15gb data cap. Or starlink for $150 a month and $500 of equipment and the weight on your soul of giving Elon money.
They often run wireless backhauls for tens of miles across multiple towers so bandwidth is pretty limited and setup and maintenance is somewhat specialized. Like yeah if you can get cable or fiber do that it’s way better. But when there’s no other option is not that bad all things considered.
Oh I missed it was wireless.
calmluck9349Its still expensive. I get better speeds from 5g/LTE. I live in very rural farm town usa. My LTE is through T-Mobile for $45/mo and average speeds of 80x20mpbs. Peaks around 200mbps down and 180upload.
I do have the antenna pointed directly at the tower above the tree line.
Wave form antenna kit - $400 Spitz modem - $400 But my only alternative was starlink so the ROI on this setup was real fast compared. I also have a Verizon simcard as a hot fail over. But that Sim is data capped. I work from home in IT so I need the Internets.
Ive thought about side hustling my setup and selling it to my neighbors. But it would just congest my tower more… Lol
Often they serve areas where there’s basically no cell coverage. That’s why we used them when we did after trying a number of antennas and boosters. We’ve had neighbors put up 12m towers in conjunction with the WISP to get service.
If indeed the service is provided by “Radio Link Internet” as listed in your screenshot, the owner can likely fix the speed to “better” with a single phone call RIGHT NOW with the $30 more per month subscription fee to the $85 30mbps down / 10mbps up instead of what they’re probably on the $55 service plan.
Judging from the info on your screenshot this looks like this is a WISP. Meaning if you go outside the building there is likely a small tower with an antenna on it that is aimed parallel to the ground. In the days of ISDN, these were amazingly better. In the days of fiber or even Starlink these are pretty abysmal.
I both love and hate that app because it has shown me how absolutely abysmal cellular speeds are at “peak” hours (which recently has expanded to most of the waking hours). Some days the test can’t even progress because the towers (I’m guessing) are so congested with other people trying to enjoy their lunch break. On the other hand, I love seeing the 5G-UW pop up on the phone and getting 2gb download speeds. I don’t see it often enough.
EdibleFriendPretty sure that’s against the Geneva Convention.
KingJalopy So you spent your whole vacation uploading this picture???
Thankfully slightly faster than that. Also, unfortunately, not a vacation.
I wish you well. My wife’s trip to Rochester was worth it, and my pop had brain surgery there that went really well. I hope things turn out well for you.