Reliance on the Internet.

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rayonline

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#142653 19-Mar-2014 19:02

Have any of you thought about the what if? Currently we have all these great technologies and they are superb when they work. Financially speaking Google have done incredibly well. They have also been adopted by so many users. Related to Google or even a local ISP if things don't go well - that's the weak spot.

Although one could use a email / calendar and other offline programs. Many people don't. If they lose the Internet, it could prevent them accessing email (personal and work), calendar, GPS, translation services, maybe online and in-store payment, social media network / marketing, Google Drive. Even printing as Google Cloud Print uses the Internet (as I have read) as more people embrace portable devices.

Coil

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#1009257 19-Mar-2014 19:09

If the internet dissapeared i would be fired or made redundant.

johnr

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#1009259 19-Mar-2014 19:13

No internet banking would do my head in, Think of having to visit the bank to see your Balance,

jarledb

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#1009260 19-Mar-2014 19:18

Me too (out of a job). But there are worse implications than you might think if the net goes down. Most businesses today use the net for all communications. So when its down they are basically cut off from the world.

A lot of payment systems use the net to communicate with each other, so you wouldn't be able to pay your groceries with your EFTPOS card.

An event that would cause the end of the net would probably also cause other electronics to stop working. If we have a bad solar storm that takes out electronics we would probably be pretty much back to the stone ages.

So if you are a farmer and still know how to do things manually, you should be able to scape on by. If you live in a big city and/or work off doing stuff through the net or other electronics and don't really know more than how to draw your EFTPOS card at the store, you will be in big trouble..

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NonprayingMantis

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#1009285 19-Mar-2014 19:27

What would happen if the internet dissapeared?

I think we all know the answer to that

source: http://www.cracked.com/photoplasty_90_the-world-tomorrow-if-internet-disappeared-today/?view=article

Buzz Bumble

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#1009295 19-Mar-2014 19:40

I think the move to having everything on the "cloud" is ridiculously silly, partly for the reason that WHEN (it's not an "if") the Internet goes down you can't do anything. The same happens in shops whenever the EFTPOS system dies or in banks when the "system is going slow".

We had the same issue a few years ago when Adobe move to silly Internet authentications ... when the Internet isn't working, you couldn't install / uninstall the software (and the alternative phone system was a pain to use). The only saving grace of Adobe's silly new "Creative Cloud" is that it's not actually cloud-based (although it is still stupidly Internet authenticated).

blakamin

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#1009303 19-Mar-2014 19:51

I'd still have a job, but they wouldn't be able to pay me as admin/head office is in another state.
And I'd be bored stupid at work with no podcasts.

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DarthKermit

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#1009316 19-Mar-2014 20:08

Who hasn't had a time when their ISP provided internet connection isn't working?

Sometimes, it's a case of "well, go do something useful with your time instead" other times, it can be very frustrating when you need to access some file or website.

Whatifthespacekeyhadneverbeeninvented?

blakamin

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#1009324 19-Mar-2014 20:19

DarthKermit: Who hasn't had a time when their ISP provided internet connection isn't working?

Last time that happened, I spent the whole time on the phone to the CSR in a far away country that wanted me to keep resetting my cable modem even tho it was a DNS/routing/akamai issue with telstra. After 30 mins, they escalated me and said they'd remote in and if it was a problem at my end, they'd charge me.
I'd told them what was happening , pointed them to the forum with 30 others complaining, but they still wanted to remote in. I lol'd and hung up.
I just changed my wireless router DNS and was all go. Telstra supply a cable modem/wireless router, but you can't change the DNS so it just sits there being a modem.

So yeah, "doing something else" wasn't gunna happen... I looooove talking to script readers *rolls eyes*

NonprayingMantis

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#1009329 19-Mar-2014 20:29

DarthKermit: Who hasn't had a time when their ISP provided internet connection isn't working?

Sometimes, it's a case of "well, go do something useful with your time instead" other times, it can be very frustrating when you need to access some file or website.

3G, 4G, neighbnours connection, work connection, local cafe. There are always ways to get on the net. If all of those things are down too, then the reason for this (earthquake, tsunami, zombie apocalypse etc) probably makes watching Netflix or Redtube a little lower down the priority list than normal anyway :-P

sdav

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#1009354 19-Mar-2014 20:55

I'm not so worried because - as awesome an attitude to take as this is, it would not be my problem. At work we have back ups and BCP's that while designed for a short term could become the norm if the internet went down long term. In my personal life, any of my cloud based programmes sync offline so I would have access to files. I would also not forget peoples birthdays because I don't rely on the "My Birthday Calendar" on Facebook lol.

gzt

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#1009436 19-Mar-2014 22:41

rayonline: Have any of you thought about the what if?

Electricity supply has been fairly reliable over the last 50 years. Internet is more reliable because more paths. If my home line was down I could use 3G or maybe a neighbor using Whoosh. Yeah we can do better, there are some critical nodes, but short of alien invasion...

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lokhor

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#1009537 20-Mar-2014 07:36

I think I would be too busy fighting off zombies to care about the internet being gone.

All comments are my own opinion, and not that of my employer unless explicitly stated.

Buzz Bumble

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#1009598 20-Mar-2014 09:24

TimA: If the internet dissapeared i would be fired ...

You'd deserve to be if you're the one who drops the spanner on the single line into the country. ;-)

Rickles

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#1009670 20-Mar-2014 10:38

Last week we decided on fish and chips for dinner ... the shop took my order and then the EFTPOS terminal failed to take payment. Double checked my card, rebooted terminal, owner even tried their own card but the thing was down.

At that time some further 4 or 5 customers came in, placed orders and they too wanted to use cards to pay, only one woman managed to find some cash in her bagas the online payment system continued to fail.

R.