Steam is having Lovecraftian Days 2025!

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  • DoctorEldritch's Avatar
    Community Manager
    @DracoTarot Sorry to hear that. You live and learn...

    Ah, signed music CDs are another thing, anything with a signature becomes a limited item. Best keep them safe indeed.

    Hmm, when they layed fibre for us, they made pipes that were not woter-proof either, but that was the plan: fibre cables are waterproof themselves, they do not need tight tubes, tubes are there to lay them easier and fix them faster if they break, as you do not need to dig out the whole cable from the ground to find where it is borken and fix it. At least, this is what they told us. Next time I visit my parents, I'll ask them how good it is.

    Is it about Starlink or satellite internet in general? There are plenty of Starlink alternatives out there you could look into.
  • DracoTarot's Avatar
    Level 52
    @DoctorEldritch Yeah! I been haunted by my mistake for years now. I guess bad luck is part of life and can't be dodged. I learned a hard lesson from my mistakes.

    The technicians here told us the same about the pipes and it's easier to fix when the fiber broke. The issue with the water here it does not drain out of the pipes and will lie stagnant within. Then the water grows algae and the algae causes the fiber to rot. The fiber cable will comes a milky colour and then it interrupts the data transfer.

    The mistake they made was not to add drainage holes in the pipes for the water to absorb into the ground.

    It's all about Starlink. If Starlink comes to SA it would be the first and only satellite internet ever allowed here. There's other alternatives but they all failed to launch because they're not allowed either.

    We arevall dependant on ISPs focusing on tower and fiber connectivity.
  • DoctorEldritch's Avatar
    Community Manager
    @DracoTarot If we knew where we'd stumble, we'd put some straw there, is how an idiom goes back where I am from. Best you can do is learn and move on...

    Ah, I see. Are you allowed to adjust those tubes, maybe fill them with some natural water absorbent? Or ask to drill those holes?

    What about something like KONNECT or Vox, are they no good?
  • DracoTarot's Avatar
    Level 52
    @DoctorEldritch Yeah! Nothing I can do about it now. Moving on is the best option.

    I've noticed they install the pipes at a angle and some of the water does drain out. Holes will be even better to get rid of the water and damp.

    Vox is quite good. The thing is they are not available everywhere. We do have a few good ISP's but some of them are expensive. I've seen a new one has landed in our area. They are called Cool Ideas.

  • DoctorEldritch's Avatar
    Community Manager
    @DracoTarot That is true for a lot of things in life...

    Maybe there is some reasoning against holes? Like floura getting in. Or ants?

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    Hmm, so at least there is some wiggle room for options. Maybe Cool Ideas will turn out cool indeed and work for you, rather than be a misnomer.
  • DracoTarot's Avatar
    Level 52
    @DoctorEldritch Ants could be a issue I guess and may cause problems. Some of those pipes do have moss growing on them too.

    Maybe there's no way around it and the only way to install the pipes and fiber.

    Cool Ideas does have a good reputation and people seem happy with their network. It's a bummer they are not available in my area.

  • DoctorEldritch's Avatar
    Community Manager
    @DracoTarot That made me think of that second season of Tuca and Bertie, where moss overtook everything:

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    Hopefully, it will not be the case for you.

    Ah well, maybe they will still expand into your area sometime in the future. Are they growing in their coverage?
  • DracoTarot's Avatar
    Level 52
    @DoctorEldritch Never watched it before. Do you recommend the series?

    Not really. It's all about the monopoly. They are a small company and trying to expand is a logistical nightmare.
  • DoctorEldritch's Avatar
    Community Manager
    @DracoTarot It depends on how you like more adult animation (by adult, I mean with heavier themes). Have you watched BoJack Horseman, for example?

    I can imagine. In my home country, the capital has fibre because you can just throw the cable from one tall building to the other, so many apartment buildings have several cables stretched from roof to roof. At worst, roofs look like lairs of giant spiders:

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    But in other places there are no tall buildings, so you need to bury the cables underground, and that is time-consuming and expensive, and noone wants to do it, so it takes ages to get coverage anywhere not in the capital.
  • DracoTarot's Avatar
    Level 52
    @DoctorEldritch I'm all for heavier themed animation. I haven't watched those either. I'm a bit behind on anime movies and series that's why I am looking for some recommendations.

    In rural areas the cabling mostly looks like that here in SA. Illegal power connections and other types of cabling are everywhere. In the city the cabling is done underneath pavements and tar roads. They also take ages to lay them all over. Our area is about 20% covered since they started in 2021 with the rollout.