patndoris TechnoGeek

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Darn! Still can't connect - bet he router and modem need to be rebooted. Grab phone to check if there's a dial tone (since I have VOIP thru internet) Nope - no dial tone. Dagnabbit! Now I've got to go unconnect the power, the phone lines, the cable line, the PC connection and the router power and pull the battery backup from the modem - all just so I can start to reconnect them all. Lest we not forget I've got to shut down all the machines before I do it....all three of them. Then I've got to reconnect everything, give them all time to reboot, all while hoping for the best...

WHAT? THE MODEM WON'T BOOT!! 9:15pm - Call placed to cable company from mobile phone. Ah yes Rob...I see....there's an internal "issue" with the ISP...uh huh...nothing wrong with my lines...no one needs to come to the house...you've been aware of it for about 45 minutes...the help desk is "tracking it closely"....my information will be forwarded as an example of the problem....sure I'll be patient while they get it fixed.

Half an hour later - woo hoo! All the lights on the modem are back. I tentatively pick up the phone...success! Dial tone. I rush to the computer. WHAT?! No internet connection still? OK OK. I know they HAVE to reroute phone lines within a certain amount of time...but where's my internet? I don't talk on the phone....I talk on the internet!!! So I break down and hook up mobile phone as my modem on the XP machine (after a brief skirmish getting the auto sync disabled so I can enable the internet sharing.)

Oh great! Signal is not good in the house just now. I'm stalled at dial up speed. How will I ever survive on dial up speed? I'm sure they'll get it fixed shortly. Great idea...I'll leave the Vista machine trying to connect so I will be able to see my nifty sidebar widgits as soon as it's back up. 11pm....widgets still spinning trying to connect. 1am...still spinning....3am - wake up and check them - still spinning......

I call cable company repeatedly. Annoying voice on recording tells me they are currently experiencing a service interruption in my area (no? really?) and they are aware of the problem (of course they are it was called in by lots of people last night!) They apologize for the inconvenice (inconvenience? No internet is not an inconvenience - it's TORTURE!) and their technicians are working to fix it (well they've had all night - why isn't it fixed already???) Oh yes....and there's no need to stay on the line to report the problem. So I try another avenue...I check the network health webpage (loaded at dial up speed pixel by pixel). Um hmmmm - yah right - no service issues??? Really???? Well I sure have one!

I call back and get a real person...all I ask is they tell me what is wrong. Give me a reason...something understandable besides a vague hint of internal issues. Tell me a server is down... something...anything logical why I must suffer so! Seems they don't even tell their customer service people what's going on. But the friendly Gail was able to tell me I'm still showing as not being fixed....Really? I didn't know that! And no - no estimate on when it might be repaired since she didn't even know what was wrong. But hey! For every 24 hours it's out...I can call back and get a credit for the lost time.

So here I am...blogging at dial up speed. It's a first...and hopefully a last! I should be thankful for the multi-purpose mobile modem phone. (Say that three times fast!) Hopefully I'll be back up and running soon or I may commit Hara-kiri. For now I guess I'll be like the little engine that could..."I think I can, I think I can, I think I can"...survive a little longer at far less than broadband speed.

Oh yes, I was off work today, planning on lots of internet related activities of which none got done. I received a call this evening - forewarning me of what I'd be walking into Monday morning. Seems our big battery backup at work today exploded. Then we had a power surge, and our system crashed (not once but a second time after they managed to get it back up the first time.) So not only did I have a lousy computer day at home....I have a lousy computer day to look forward to on Monday when I go back to work! And as of now my sidebar widgits are still spinning in vain....trying to connect. Topping it off...YH spell check doesn't want to work right now...so I apologize if I've made any unfortunate errors in spelling but I don't have the patience to deal with it anymore tonight....I'm off for a relaxing game of Canasta!!