Yea computer!

This month seems to be a little slow for blogging, not that the kids don't keep things exciting... but I think we get mentally stuck in our day to day routines and forget to update.

I've been trying to get our internet fixed for a while now, several months. We've had a slow connection problem. We're supposed to be getting 8mbps, but we get anywhere between 256K and 800K.

Level one tech support is worthless. I think they only exist to screen people who don't know how to talk back to them. I explain the problem to them in detail and explain the steps I've already taken to try and fix it. The first thing they say is "that's normal, it's going to slow down during peak times of the day." Then I say, how would you like to pay $50 for a tank of gas but only actually get about $3 worth. Is that normal? Because unless I'm going to get a 98% discount on my next bill I'd just assume get what I'm paying for.

Then they take you through the same bunch of steps that I told them I've already taken before I called them because they can't take my word for it.

"Did you turn off your firewall? Did you bypass your router? Ok, then just restart your computer, wait an hour and if it's still slow then call us back." That's code talk for "I don't have a clue what's wrong with your internet connection but I get off work in a few minutes so I can't talk to you any longer."

No matter how many times you call back they force you to go through the same bunch of steps that didn't work before, hoping that it will, for some dumb reason, work this time. Unplug the router, power cycle the modem... and some girl actually tries to convince me that I probably have spyware on my computer and tries to go into detail about why automatic scanners don't work. My BS flag goes up and my patience goes down.

Ok, lets back up a second. This is what I've done, BEFORE I called you: I scanned my computer, it's clean. I bypassed my router, I restarted my computer, power cycled the modem, changed ethernet cables, changed ethernet ports, changed the coaxial cable to the modem, tested from a different coaxial jack in the house. I also ran all the same tests using my laptop from work. I get all the same results.

Can you transfer me to level 2 please?

So, a longer story shortened, they finally sent a tech out who identified a problem with the filter in the cable box outside. Problem solved. We are surfing at maximum velocity.

Daniel was facinated with the tech, I could hardly get him to back up enough to give the tech guy some breathing room. Once the tech guy stood up and said Alright, you're good now; Daniel started clapping his hands and exclaimed YEA COMPUTER!

Well said.