What a "great" room...

Great! Just as I saw hope to go online from my room, the news which I've obtained from the Internet & Media Services (ITMS) department shattered my hopes altogether.

My roommate, Brian Woon, and I have been waiting for our network (LAN) connection for our room for the past two weeks. Brian had long registered for the network and yet he could not connect to the Internet despite the fact that many others who registered after him could. Sensing that there could be something wrong in the management of ITMS, I decided to enquire about the problem. The personnel of the ITMS took down my complaint and at 2.00 p.m. he sent some men to check my LAN port and all the necessary things. At that time, I wasn't in so I asked Jared to help me attend to my matters for a while.

The news which I received later wasn't at all a happy one. I've got to know that the connection at the server that connects to my room is severed and they will need a replacement from the vendor of the server because the current one is still under warranty. Only then will my connection be reinstated. They are not going to repair the server because they don't need to!

However, they didn't mention about how long will they take for the replacement to take place so I asked the personnel at the ITMS department this morning. He told me that at the earliest the replacement will take place four to five days later, and at the latest even after one semester (six months). One semester! He's got to be kidding me! Honestly, I couldn't survive without six months of Internet (although I do wonder how some could)! I can't stop blogging, sending e-mails and reading the news online, so I've got to have a network connection as soon as possible!

To make matters worse, they told me that the duration of which the replacement will take place depends on where the server is manufactured. It is either from Kuala Lumpur or Singapore. Regardless of where it is made from, I hope they get it done, at the latest, within the month!

The reason that replacements take a long time is that the vendor has to replace the server at no extra charge. UTP has to make the warranty claim from the vendor and the claim is something that the vendor would (on purpose) take lightly.

Currently, I have to be content with going online in the Information Resource Centre (IRC) or the Multimedia Labs. However, I cannot be doing this all the time, walking from my room to the IRC just to go online!

So, how did I post this entry? Well, now I'm in the IRC. Anyway, this means that I'll have to go home every week to enjoy my weekly, not daily, Internet service at home. Bother!

My post on my Beijing trip is long overdue, I know. But that will have to wait, I'm afraid.