Phillipsburg, New Jersey, is a charming place. It is nicely situated on the western border of New Jersey, is a one-minute hop to Easton, PA, about 1.5 hours to NYC or Philly, and near I-80 and the Lehigh Valley airport for quick trips to the home office in Milwaukee.

But in our new apartment, getting a phone, DSL, cable, cable internet, or any combination of those things has been a bit challenging. Which leads to more challenges, like returning emails, making flight arrrangements, emailing Quicktime rough-cuts, and updating websites and blogs.

Suffice it to say that things will be resolved starting Monday, when the local phone line goes in, which will then allow for DSL. Cable goes in Friday, and you may wonder why we wouldn’t just go with a cable modem for our zippy speed needs. Well, it’s because the local cable carrier offers only one-way internet. You can get a nice fast download; you just can’t upload. (You need to use a regular land line modem for that.)

After laughing off that news as preposterous, I did the research and found it to be true. So yes, they will be feeding us TV signals from NYC and Philly, which is nice, because the over the air signals (three) are non-network affiliated locals which only seem to run game shows and prayer programs.

But the hi-speed internet will come from Verizon (if they remember we ordered it, which right now they don’t), or a local provider who needs the business more than Verizon does, even if pricier.

Buy local.

Meanwhile, the folks at Panera Bread have been meeting my internet, coffee, and cobblestone muffin needs. Nice way to meet the locals and other nomads.

By the way, if you live near a Staples, they offer free internet too. You can just sit in your car and log on. Of course, I assume they’d like you to buy something, too, and indeed, I already have (faxing services since we don’t have a land line yet!)

Brien Lee

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