Tuesday, March 04, 2008

Frustrated but not giving up

This has been a trying week. If you've been around my blog very much, you know I never leave off posting for this long a time without a reason. Sometimes it is just that I have absolutely nothing to post about. But, it was not like that this time.

We have had bad internet connections problems these past few weeks. Started off with what we thought was a small problem. The serviceman came out, checked it out and said we had a bad underground cable (it has been laid when we built our house over 30 years ago) and a bad modem (the modem is fine! - but he gave us a new one). Well, he laid a temporary line across our driveway and we got the fast access DSL we should have been getting for a long time! But he kept insisting that we should not be getting DSL given the distance we are from the hub.

Well, that lasted for awhile - last Thursday, and all of a sudden, out of the blue, we lost our entire service except the ability to send out email. That is - until Friday morning and it was gone completely! The serviceman came out again, and again, out of his mouth came 'you shouldn't even have this service'. By that time, we were really getting mad. He checked out at the box and left us Friday morning with no service! He told my husband he would be back Monday morning and he would send out a crew to cut line out of a line that had excess. Well, he never called on Monday morning and my husband finally called him. He said, "I have no work order to come out.' We were under the impression he was coming out on the same one he came out on Friday since he did absolutely nothing to get us back online. Well, my husband called service again - he came out this morning with a new modem - and left AGAIN with us having absolutely no service! He said, as he came in our house, 'Well, you shouldn't be on DSL anyway'. DUH! And, as he left, he told my husband that he was cutting us off from DSL and my husband said let me work on it for awhile. So he left saying, well, it's in your hands now. We had already decided he was too lazy to follow up on the hub and see what our problem really was.

Well,we played around with it and couldn't get the modem to synch. So, he redid the wire outside and got us on about lunch, but it lasted until I got my email half downloaded and went down again. So he got the idea to get the wire out the crew left when they put in the new cable (the wire the serviceman laid) - and he re-attached it to the pole and to the phone box. Well, that's the only reason we are on right now! I think my husband needs a job with the telephone company! If it wasn't for him - NOT their 'experienced' serviceman, we would still be offline.

Right now, he's trying to find out what supervisor he needs to go see. He's going to complain and try to get them back out here, redo the wire underground (he thinks they damaged the cable when they put it underground) and get us back on the FAST DSL, not the lite. It aggravates me to no end that one guy can determine whether we have fast or slow DSL, simply because they give a certain number of feet to be able to get DSL. Well, time should tell that we've had it 4 years this month, and we've had fast DSL. It doesn't take a smart man to realize it doesn't turn off overnight, unless something is wrong! And, besides, if it wasn't for the phone company telling us we were eligible, we would never have had it in the first place!

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6 Comments:

Maxine said...

Goodness!You must be TERRIBLY frustrated. Believe me, having recently gone through horrible wireless connection problems, I know how you feel. Hope you get this comment just to know someone is thinking about you. Hang in there. You'll get it eventually.

Barbara said...

Maxine, it's nice to know someone understands the frustration we've gone through. Thanks for the encouragement.

Cathy said...

I know you two are really frustrated. That does not make any sense when you had the fast DSL. Some of these servicemen you have to wonder about. Have you asked for a supervisor? Maybe one could help you. I do hope you can get it straightened out soon! We all miss you. :o)

Barbara said...

He is going into the office and talk to a supervisor. It is easier to explain in person than it is on the phone.

WomanHonorThyself said...

yikes I hate computer problems!!..glad its better now Barb!

Barbara said...

It definitely is better but nothing the serviceman did. My husband got out there this morning determined to figure out why we couldn't get a faster speed. He found that the crew that put in the new underground wire had crimped it too hard to get the rubber off the wire and broke the wire. Apparently that was why our connection kept going off and on in the house. He fixed that and also found problems in the box! Now, we are getting almost the top of the LITE DSL!

He is going to see a supervisor, if they will talk to him. He said he hopes they don't do something to him for messing with their property. (grin) But, hey, the guy told my husband he was on his own he was through!