An off day
September 4, 2008
Bit of an off-day yesterday. Started first thing in the morning when I discovered my internet connection was down. A few quick diagnostics persuaded me the problem wasn’t at my end, followed by a ‘phone call to my ISP’s support update number that confirmed there was a network problem.
Oh pooh!
Disconsolately mooching about the house and feeling somewhat disconnected (no pun intended, though you can take it that way if you want) I finally headed off into town for the weekly shopping.
Pop into The Bear for a quick visit… very quick cos my mate had a “last minute notified” day off. So we’d met up and after The Bear visit and a few tasks attended to around town we headed toward the river.
Initial thinking was a sort of impromptu picnic on the river bank (all three of us; me, mate, mate’s girlfriend)… if we could find a spot dry enough to sit in, and in the sun. For after a period of really unsettled weather much of the ground was still quite wet. And though Wednesday was patchily sunny there was a strongish breeze that revealed itself as quite chilly in the shade.
Well, we found a fairly reasonable spot to sit in and both of us managed to get a few pics but the breeze, and some rather nastily looming grey clouds, fairly soon prompted us to pack up.
Finally getting back home discovered the internet was still down, but a second call to support update suggested there were “no outstanding issues”.
Hmm.
Clearly something more proactive was called for, so I phoned the ISP’s techie support desk. That took a couple of hours, occupied by three lengthy phone calls (all of which I was paying for, at national rates!), one of which involved being talked through, in idiot language (i.e., one step at a time) reinstalling the modem driver. If the guy had simply said “reinstall the modem” it would’ve taken me less than half the time it actually took. But then, in fairness I suppose, they’re not to know whether they’re talking to a newbie or someone tech-savvy.
What was particularly annoying about the whole episode however was that initially they just wouldn’t accept my lack of connectivity was a network problem, insisting it must be at my end… a fault with my computer!
I pointed out to them that everything had been working fine until Wednesday morning, when they had an acknowledged “network problem” in my area, causing complete loss of connectivity for all users.
That since Tuesday evening (my last successful connection) nothing in the configuration of my machine had changed.
That my wireless router was still performing faultlessly with my LAN.
That I couldn’t get a connection either with the wireless router (my default) or the ISP-supplied modem.
That I’d tried connecting using three different machines, all of which had been working and connecting fine until then.
And, to cap it all, that I earn my living (in part) helping to maintain a computer network, so I’m not exactly a novice in these sort of issues!
Well, finally they did grudgingly acknowledge the fault was at their (i.e., the network) end, and they’d phone me back with an update some time in the next 24 hours (I’m still waiting for the call!).
So with little else to do I spent the rest of the evening processing the few paltry pics I’d shot earlier in the day (couldn’t upload them of course - no internet connection), then went to bed early with a book.
This morning (Thursday) still no internet connection. Consequently pic-uploading and indeed this blogpost delayed until I got into work. Just thankful that I work with computers.
And incidentally, laying to rest the idea that the connectivity problem was a fault with my machine, I’m using the self-same machine at work (I carry it with me) to post this blog and upload the pics! Hah!
Yep. Wednesday was definitely an off day!
September 4, 2008 at 20:24 18
Nightmare. Anything that disrupts the normal smooth working of my computer is, nowadays, a paralysis to me!
September 4, 2008 at 20:43 12
Yeah, sad to say but I’m just about the same. With no internet connection I suddenly feel… er… lost.
Really must learn to get a life!
September 4, 2008 at 22:43 21
I thought the pics you obtained of the river and the swan/ducks were lovely. It looked like a super nice day. Sorry to read that leaden clouds conspired against you.
At least the tech support folks finally did fess up that the issue was with them. I so hate it when they try to put things off on you. We bought the daughter a computer about 4 years ago and as there was no cable outlet in her room (we get our service via our cable company) I opted to install a wireless card to the new computer. Nothing I did made the card work. While I’m clearly not at your skill level Mike, I’m not a newbie by any measure. I eventually gave up and phoned tech support for the computer (having tested the wireless card on my PC and found it to work just fine). The computer manufacturer’s tech support suggested everything I had already done and then started suggesting crazy stuff. My favourite was that they suggested the new PC didn’t have enough RAM, which was absurd, and asked if I would install some of the RAM from my PC to the new PC.
I hung up at that one.
September 4, 2008 at 23:49 55
I hate it when our internet connection is down. I feel lost too.
Oh, and how I would LOVE to have the chilly breeze you wrote about. It’s awful here.
September 4, 2008 at 23:51 18
Tam: It was rather more breezy than chilly… but you’d probably have welcomed it anyway
forkboy: Yeah. What really irritated me was that they appeared not to be interested in, indeed not even listening to, my description of the various diagnostics I’d already run.
The very last thing suggested to me during the second call was that I try reversing the cable between the modem and the line filter. Only snag with that was, because the ‘phone socket’s in an awkward position I had to pull the whole filter plug out, which meant the call got dropped.
One saving grace was that when I finally managed to get through to them on the ‘phone again (speaking to a different person, inevitably) at least notes had been made of the steps already taken so I didn’t have to go through the whole performance again.
The thing that really undermined my confidence though was that clearly (judging by the accents of all three people I spoke to) my ISP’s using a call centre based on the other side of the globe, and I wasn’t at all certain that the folk I spoke to were fully understanding what I was saying.
September 5, 2008 at 2:25 00
And that, the language barrier, is always the problem. Well, that and the fact they read from a script of solutions without really understanding the problem or solutions. Or so I think.
My fav thing though is when you call and you can clearly hear the New Deli accent, they say “Hello. My name is Susan. How can I help you?” As if I’m stupid or something.
September 5, 2008 at 4:11 36
You’ve got it in one! Well, two. Well, three actually.
Yeah, I’m sure they’ve got some sort of checklist in front of them and aren’t allowed to deviate, no matter how relevant unexpected responses from the caller may be.
And its almost certain they’re not techie at all, so don’t understand the problem(s). This was sort of confirmed for me during the second (and longest) ‘phone call when, running through a number of word-by-word dictated tests (at one point I got so frustrated with this idiot language that I said “Look, just tell me what you’re trying to establish and I’ll do it without you having to step me through the procedure” but he didn’t seem to hear… or understand maybe) the results didn’t come up with a solution to the problem (i.e., didn’t point to a fault with my machine). So several times he asked if he could put me on hold for a few moments… clearly to consult with someone who actually knew something about computers.
And that stupid greeting… its so damn patronising. And would you believe, at the end of the third phone call (the one in which the girl finally acknowledged that it was a network fault) she asked if there was anything else she could help with!
Oh… I forgot to mention one of the most irritating features. The stupid recorded message they had playing whilst one was waiting for the call to be answered (up to ten minutes each time), or being put on hold. Part of it was the suggestion “if you can access the internet, to save time you can send us an email or visit our help page on the Web at…”
So why the hell would I be ‘phoning if I could access the ‘net? Bloody fools!
Grrr!
September 5, 2008 at 6:54 14
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