Silicon Valley has a surprisingly inconsistent—generally piss-poor—communications infrastructure. Case and point: the area I’m living in now does not have access to either cable modem or digital cable services. Furthermore, the television cable signal is distributed over two separate cables; apparently people have to use an A/B switch to access all channels. This is a total non-starter for my TiVo box, which doesn’t handle this kind of arcane, prehistoric system.

I need to get me a compass, so that I can check in vain hope that I might be able to point an antenna at the one of the DirectTV or Dish Network satellites. (My apartment is on the north side of the building, so the odds are pretty stacked against me.)

As for Internet access, I’ve decided to go with DSL Extreme following recommendations on DSLReports.com, which should be able to hook me up on a 1.5Mbps ADSL line. Haven’t heard back from them after two days, though. You’d think with DSL service providers dropping like flies, the ones that are left would be eager to have your business. But maybe their lackadaisical attitude is what’s killing them in the first place.