At times, things go right, then again, other things
cascade into "wrongness", if there is such a word.
Such has been the weekend. Daughter's car would not start, and
after an unsuccessful attempt at a jump, I feared the $400 repair
bill would have to be repeated - for it was, after all, 6 weeks
ago that this same problem appeared.
So I stayed home, got the car towed and raced to the office to
meet the Ameritech folks who were going to try and troubleshoot
the new DSL service I had just installed the day after Christmas.
21k is not my idea of 'Blazing' along the internet.
In the middle of the DSL test, the service station called, and
said the car was repaired, no charge, not even for the tow. I offered
to pay the $20 bucks difference for the new computer chip and asked
them to go ahead and install a new battery.
One down - and I was excited, for I do not enjoy transportation
problems.
After 2 hours of work, the technician told me to go ahead and fire
up the new modem and test it out. Whoa, 512k, now that's cruising.
Two Down, and I was really getting excited. Thoughts of buying
lottery tickets began to run through my head.
And then there is Comcast Cable
Do you ever sit and wonder just what goes on inside the conference
rooms of large corporations? Ever wonder just who made the decisions
for example to "go ahead, send out the CD for the server conversion.
It's been tested."
Tested?
I'd love to have that person's job, for it is a sure thing that
he/she is not being paid for any kind of rational employment.
Take it from me, I'm the employer, and it you were that kind of
employee, you never would have risen to a decision making position
in the company.
You see, just after midnight on Friday night, all service for my
local Comcast Cable franchise was transferred from Media One and
Road Runner, to whatever they call the current state of being.
Which in a word, sucks.
They killed my router connection, then they killed the net connection,
and after spending all day Saturday, and I mean all day, the service
barely limped along.
I tried to fix it on Sunday, no luck.
On Monday, I looked at the computer screen and saw that the menu
bar said Internet Explorer Comcast Edition. Immediately I set out
to remove the offensive thing from my computer and reinstalled IE
back to it's original state.
Bill Gates may be the anti-Christ, but generally his junk will
work after a crash or two, or three.
Partial success, in that the house was now connected to our "limited"
internet service.
Seems that somehow in the caverns of Comcast, their central computers
have totally screwed up the addressing or routing of links to the
internet. That means that some sites work, some don't. Yahoo for
example, works, but not Yahoo mail.
Five days this has gone on.
Tonight I called tech support and asked, when are you going to
fix this? No idea was the response.
I told the tech. Pass it on buddy, I have an Idea, and that idea
is that Comcast is toast in my house. Have a nice day.
A few minutes ago I got the following E-mail confirmation:
DSL Product selected
Selected Provider:
ISP: EarthLink
Service: Residential ADSL 1500/384
Monthly rate: 49
Line type: RESIDENTIAL LINE
That's a T-1 line folks, the kind of thing you get from a direct
university connection.
Sweet.
Now, if my web site server would revive itself, I could continue
with my entries about the year in pictures.
Technology, do you ever wonder what we are going to thing about
all this in 20 years?
Are we going to have antenna embedded in our skulls for our internet
connection?
Now there's a thought for another entry.