As you can see I’m up and running again with our internet and what a challenge that was! I’ve learned more about modems and routers that I ever want to admit. Now granted I started out with a blank canvas but still!
Like I said it was a challenge trying to figure out just what was the matter. What we noticed at first was that the internet kept going in and out. Now other than a total pain, it didn’t cause us much concern. I’d go upstairs and reset it and then we’d be back on line working on really important stuff I’m sure 🙂 But then it happened. I couldn’t get it to be reset. And at that point I knew I was in trouble.
So the next day I started to make the calls to our provider to see just what was going on and if they had any outages that were reported. Well of course they didn’t have anything and instantly I could feel my heart starting to pound. I asked them if we could do some tests on the modem and after a blunt conversation that I needed to get a technician to come to our house, the conversation was ended. With my heart pounding and an instant squinting of my eyes (like he would see that ?) I was instantly mad. It was late anyway and I went to bed. Everyone was going to have to live without the internet for the night.
My plan for Day 2 was to call the help desk again and see if they could help me. I got a girl this time and she said that she could see that we were getting a signal and that the modem/router was bad. Are you sure I asked? Because why would I be getting such a good signal but not connecting? Well after a couple of hours of trouble shooting the answer was that I just needed a new ethernet cable and it’ll work. Now lack of common sense I said thank you and hung up. I instantly knew that I shouldn’t have hung up before trying it but it was just too late. And what did I find out? Well I found out that it wasn’t the issue. So I called them back and once again asked them to help. I’m pretty sure that it was some kind of pathetic plea if I’m remembering correctly about if they just please would help me. After a couple of more hours on the phone this tech person said that I needed a new modem and helped me understand just what in the world I should be looking to buy.
Day # 3 time to get a new router/modem. My drive to buy the modem was 45 minutes one way, then 10 minutes to pick up the modem, and then 45 minutes back home again. Not bad but then after around 4 hours with that new modem’s tech support on trying to set up the modem, it turned out to be a very long and frustrating day. The first call after about 2 hours got dropped and I’m not for sure that it was an accident. Then the second guy helped me quite a bit and we went into screens on the computer that I honestly never knew even existed! But then at the end of the night (literally!) and after sitting on the wooden floor for hours by the modem, the technician said that he had absolutely no idea what was the matter. And because he was so worn out I was trying to give him suggestions so he wouldn’t feel so bad.
Day # 4 I called tech support again and my goal was to convince them that this problem is definitely something on their side and that’s when I was assigned to Dennis. Now I didn’t get Dennis right away but was transferred to him. But who cares right?, he was the person that I needed. After Dennis looked at my case he said that he knew what was wrong and it was an issue on their side. Now this was good to hear and also at the same time bad to hear. It was good to hear because he might be able to help me and bad to hear because why did it literally take 4 days? I don’t know what Dennis’s title was but I was so happy that he was the guy that I was talking to and within about an hour the internet was up and running again. Something got messed up on their software and needed to be recoded. I think I kinda scared him a little bit though. I said how much I appreciated him and thanked him for helping me and I know that I had told him this multiple times! Now I’m sure that he didn’t care that I had way over 12 hours on this little project and a very stressful 12 hours at that! Like I said I didn’t know what his title was but he said that he was going to have to write up some training for the other tech’s that have helped me because they should have seen this on the first call. But as for me? Â All I can say is God Bless Dennis!