When Husband has computer issues at work, he calls the IT department; when I have technical difficulties at home, I go look in the mirror. I have no idea how I got stuck being the techie at our house. Possibly the fact that I can follow directions and am not color blind, but I really don't know.They say that these problems run in cycles. I'm living in one helluva long cycle then. It started in mid-December when I awoke one morning to the dreaded blue screen on my desktop. It was six years old, so this was no great surprise. Managed to order a new computer off the internets and have it delivered in 48 hours. Got that installed and working and breathed easier for a few weeks.
Next, the internet stopped working. The modem DSL light was gone, so I figured the modem had died. Called AT&T and went through the whole routine with India. She claimed to test my line and the modem was in 'good working order.' Said someone would be at my house between 4-8 pm that evening. At 4 pm, the guy calls and said he read over the phone transcript and it sounded like the modem was dead. Oh, really?? My choice was for him to send me a new one by 2 day mail or he could come out and install the new modem, but it would cost $100. I asked if he could just hand it to me at the front door and not charge me? No. I opted for the mail and then sent Husband to BestBuy to get a new modem for $45. Within an hour, we had internet again, much to the relief of my kids. This turned out to be a good move, since when the AT&T modem arrived, it did not work. I'm not kidding.......
Last week, College Daughter called to say her internet was not working on her laptop. The campus is wireless and she'd tried going to different floors of her dorm and it still wasn't working. Her roommate's was fine and she only found one other girl on campus who was having trouble. I went through having her turn off her firewall, etc. and nothing would work. Ended up having to meet her halfway between campus and home and gave her the 40ft. ethernet cord she had used her freshman year. That solved the immediate issue of not having internet. She took her laptop to the college IT and they are blaming Norton, like everyone does! I can't really deal with it long distance, so when she comes home for a weekend next month, we'll see if it works on our wireless here.
While driving home from meeting her for the exchange, I get a text from a friend who was trying to reach my son on our landline and said it had been busy for an hour. I immediately knew our phone line was not working AGAIN. Got home and sure enough, no dial tone. Called AT&T and they claimed there was a short in the wires and that I should unplug all phones, wait 5 minutes and plug everything back in. I'm sure you will not be shocked when I say that did nothing and that it would be 5 days until someone could come out and look at it.
The following day, I called our cable company and order a bundle pack (TV/phone/internet). They are coming out on Saturday to install everything. Let's hope this will solve a few of my problems so that I don't have to increase my blood pressure meds.
Wow. Sounds like my worst nightmare. Luckily I did marry a techie type, so I don't have to deal with that stuff. Unless of course it comes to calling AT&T -- for some reason he can't handle that.
ReplyDeleteLove your new site -- and your avatar!
Rhonda - No one can handle that....NO ONE!
ReplyDeleteOh, that 'crossed-arms finger pointing' ("it's anybody else's fault than mine!") is just my favorite part of doing business in techie-world. . .
ReplyDeleteThis is why I make a sacrifice of a daily coffee with 3 T of sugar to teh Internets gods (may all glory be) because they give and take away at random (in all their wisdom)!
ReplyDeleteCraig - I think it's odd that she had no troubles with the wireless for 3 semesters, then suddenly, mid-semester it doesn't work. I had her check her updates and nothing had changed from the one day it was working to the next. Weird!
ReplyDeleteHappy - There are times I long for the days before the internet superhighway. Ah, those simpler times.
When I was married, I was also the tech person. Still am in the business. And even now when my ex has problems with his computer, I will go over and trouble shoot for him.
ReplyDeleteUnplug everything..wait five minutes..then plug them back in--yep I could see this not working.
ReplyDeleteHopefully the bundle pack will fix the majority of your probs, this would beat increasing the meds.
Agent - Our minds must work alike!
ReplyDeleteJimmy - I think the customer 'service' reps are trained in psychology with their, "I understand you believe your modem light is not on." As though we are the crazy ones.
I refuse to deal with the devil. I mean the cable company. Now if Verizon could just get their fios lines out here, I'd be happy.
ReplyDeleteRuss - I don't have any problems with our cable company, although paying $70/month just to watch HD TV does seem outlandish.
ReplyDeleteHopefully your change to all cable all the time will go well. We did that a couple years ago and have been pleased so far, with the exception of when we converted to HD. That was a nightmare but TW hung in there and re-satisfyed us in the end so its all good.
ReplyDeleteIt was easier for us than some, we had really mostly moved to cell phones by the time we transferred over to an IP phone service. We only keep that around for work, otherwise that'd be gone.
And I am Tech around here. But, un, Queenie doesn't ask for help UNTIL she's given it a go. And she's a bit on the genius side when it comes to making things worse. It's a gift really. And no give-backs.
dang, you're good
ReplyDeleteI can only turn my computer off and on