My Day: Broadband Nightmare

Oh, my brain. I started this day with the intention of getting a few blog posts up, maybe some housework, some reading, maybe a nap. But oh, no.

I've had several internet interruptions over the last day or so, and finally, it wouldn't come on at all. So, I called my friendly neighborhood COX technician. Now, I have nothing but nice things to say about their service, as they are unfailingly polite and helpful. After negotiating their (rather amazing) robotic help menus, I finally needed to talk to a human. That human informed me that my modem had reset itself something like 200 times, and then gave up the ghost shortly after noon. She suggested I buy a new cable modem, and actually suggested I save some money by buying my own at the store. I thought that was good advice, as I paid $100 for the last one from the cable company. Big mistake.

I quickly found a modem at Wal-Mart (Sam's didn't have it, Fry's is a nightmare, and Best Buy is miles away). $65 after tax, and I was out the door. It was virtually identical to the old modem, so I just switched out the plugs, and turned it on. Of course, it wasn't that simple, so another COX tech (after wading through the compu-bot menus) helped me get it running, but only directly, and not through my router. After hanging up, I turned on the router, and nothing worked. Another call to COX, another conversation with the android.

When I finally got a technician, he turned out to be the only COX person I've ever talked to who was not courteous, not helpful, and terrible on the phone. He would not, could not help me with my router. So, I called D-Link, and they would only help me if I paid them. And my router was obsolete and unsupported.

Back to Wal-Mart to purchase a router. Another $65 after tax, and I was on my way. The instructions tell you not to load the CD until you hook up the router, but not to hook up the router until you load the CD. My brain is burning. Anyway, I figured it out, ran the install, and it first would not detect anything. After powering everything down and back up, I got it to go all the way through the install routine, but it could not detect the internet. So, I called up Belkin, and got the friendliest and most unintelligible man in India tell me it was COX's fault.

Back to COX, back through the menu. We finally determined that the splitter that splits the coaxial cable to the TV had burned out. What an amazing (and slightly unbelievable) coincidence. I refuse to hook up the old modem to see if it was actually OK, and the $2.99 splitter was the problem all along. I'd like to think not, and I'm pretty sure it isn't the case, since the new modem worked fine earlier, when it was first hooked up.

Anyway, everything is now working (after 6 hours), and running much faster, so I'm leaving it all the hell alone. And I'm not doing the dishes or any other chores now. I've worked hard enough today.