I'm back. Did you miss me? I sure missed being here, among the bits and bytes. In case you are wondering, the changeover of our service to cable internet didn't go quite as smoothly as I had hoped. In fact, it was one of those experiences that left me a little gobsmacked.
Once we finally got an installer to come to our house, we had internet for precisely three days. Yep, three. Then MegaCable had some sort of issue with their proxy server or some other piece of pointless and important equipment they use to pipe service. We were down for a full day.
Service came back to some extent, and we limped along for another three days. And then it happened again. I know the problem was wide spread because of the number of repair calls we got. I stared answering the phone, "Thank you for calling MazPC, what internet provider do you use?" OK, not really, but 5 out of 6 calls were from people with MegaCable and no service. The phone never quit ringing.
After another 24 hours on internet darkness, we were finally connected again, and, wonder of wonders, we were getting almost the full 4 meg of speed we are paying for. This delightful turn of events lasted two days.
We recently got a new neighbor. She moved in almost a month ago. Like most people, she needed internet service and had been to visit MegaCable to arrange for installation. She waited not-so-patiently for a couple of weeks, trapped in her house for fear of missing the installer just like the rest of us. Finally, a tech showed up to hook her up. And that's when we lost service.
The tech climbed the pole outside our house to make a new connection to the box there. Chuck and I watched him with justifiable trepidation. He touched the box and we lost internet. Chuck called out the window to him, but the man said it wasn't his doing. I pulled up all my indignation, turned to Chuck, and hissed, "As if!". I am so very eloquent when I'm irritated, don't you think?
My big problem is that I need the internet to work, and by extension pay our rent, buy food, enjoy an evening out. When I have no internet I don't get any work done. I just sit around thinking about all the work I need to do, which really raises my stress level. And phone calls start coming in from clients.
I told all my clients when we moved here ("You're moving to MEXICO?"), that they wouldn't even notice that I was in another country. We would have reliable, high-speed internet, and with Vonage they could still call the same local telephone number. The transition would be seamless and affect them not at all. When things like this happen, it makes them reconsider the viability of keeping me as their web developer. And, most frustratingly, it is not because of my skills or my work ethics, or anything I have any control over. AAAARRRGH!
Chuck went down into the street to talk with the tech. He didn't make any progress. After waiting a half hour to see if somehow the signal would be restored when the tech finished our neighbor's installation, we both went next door to talk with our neighbor and the tech. It tuns out he couldn't get an internet connection for her, either. Only television.
I explained to the guy again that we had service before he climbed the pole. He just shrugged his shoulders. I wanted to say more, but I figured this was one of those times that surrendering now would bring me more peace than continuing to argue and wheedle. This guy was not going to be able to fix the problem.
The tech was actually a very nice guy, and I was sorry for being irritated at him, but sometimes I can't help myself. It just boils out. After a little questioning by Chuck, the tech calmly explained that the box on the pole was corroded. It had been left unused for too long in the salt air. He told us he had made notes on the installation sheet about it so MegaCable would send out a tech with the right skills and equipment to change the box out. He even handed over his clipboard and let me read the notes.
We went back home where I paced and fiddled and tried to find some outlet for my restless energy. I finally settled into some mending I had been putting off. I cooked a lot. I did laundry. I cleaned up my file system and reorganized my browser bookmarks. I tried to get some writing done, but that was useless. Miraculously, around 6:00 pm, service was restored.
Email came pouring in. I got some work done. My stress started to ease. I went to bed late and got up early. I approached my computer with a little apprehension, but we still had internet. I was working along merrily and starting to relax, when around 11:00 am – yes – we lost internet.
Chuck did all sorts of diagnostics and called the cable company repeatedly. I am so impressed with him. Using the phone here is pretty intimidating. The language thing is a barrier, and it's a lot harder to understand someone on the phone. Despite the difficulty, Chuck never gave up. He just kept repeating himself and asking the person on the other end to repeat themselves until he finally got what he needed. MegaCable agreed to send out a tech.
The tech didn't show up, but that evening, around 6, we had service again. How very odd. This continued for a few days. Chuck figured out the hours roughly corresponded to the times when the sun hit the pole and the box. There must have been some sort of expansion/contraction thing going on.
Eventually, the tech showed up. He came in the morning when we had internet. He climbed the pole and internet went away. And didn't come back. The tech came in the house and did some tests, finally declaring that the problem was outside. Duh. He told us he wasn't qualified to do the work that needed to be done. I wasn't surprised, not even a little. He said he would arrange for another tech. I didn't hold my breath.
That was Friday. I knew I wasn't going to have internet for the entire weekend. However, the knowledge didn't help overrule the caged animal part of my brain. Finally, on Sunday, we declared beach day and went to a palapa where I drank a lot of beer. That helped.
Early-ish Monday morning, a tech appeared. And got us connected. But not by doing anything at the pole. He took the filter off our line and cranked the power on the signal. I was mildly aggravated that the box wasn't taken care of, but I had internet, and I wasn't going to argue.
I had service for 10 minutes. Just enough time to fire off a couple of emails. Then nada. Again.
Chuck called MegaCable. They said they would send a tech. I rolled my eyes. But, a few hours later, a tech showed up. With a little shiver of excitement, I saw it was the same tech from that morning. We weren't being passed off to another new tech. I started to have hope.
The tech climbed the pole and changed out the guts of the box. We still did not have service. He went to the next pole. Voila, service! I am guessing he didn't want to come back, because he proceeded to go and do work on six more poles along our connection route.
We have now had stable internet at the contracted speed for three whole days. Please send me all your good thoughts while I make an offering to the internet gods that it stays that way.
It sure makes things more interesting. Without it, what on Earth would I write about?
Overcast 63 oF • 17 oC
What's up with that?
Glad you're back online, it really gives me the chills to have it down.