I didn’t have any internet this morning, so I called the phone company. I had to go through a few menu items, but the automated voice checked my service, told me there was an outage, and they were working on it and hoped to get it fixed by about 7:30 this evening. That was a lot faster than if a human had to respond — I’m pretty sure that would have meant a long time on hold.
The automated voice also said they would update the information every 15 minutes, but I didn’t bother checking. Andy came back by 3 so we could go up and see what Joe and his crew had done Thursday and Friday. (They had cleared a defensible space around the house and greenhouse and I’ll write more about that tomorrow.)
My internet was back by the time we got home around 7:15, so all’s right with my world again. 🙂
November 16, 2019
I called somewhere the other day and I was getting so annoyed with the automated system… until I got a real person on the phone who’s accent was so thick that I had to keep saying – Pardon me? Eventually they became irritated with me because I just didn’t know what they were saying and they started to spell some of the words which honestly I still didn’t understand them. It was almost like a bad comedy routine. It was really frustrating for both of us.
The last time my internet went out, a long time ago, it was a big outage over a large area, but when I phoned about it the first representative said it was my equipment. I knew someone else was having problems so I phoned a couple of times before I found a human who knew something. This automated service was a real plus.
Our internet has gone out several times in the last year or so. The first time, after I had checked everything in the house and determined it wasn’t inside, a technician came to the house and, after checking the box outside, determined that I was right, it was somewhere in the system. Apparently it was a switch in some central device a couple of miles away that he was able to cycle remotely. He told me, if it happened again, to tell the customer service rep to cycle whatever-it-was-called from their end — and to make sure I was talking to someone in the United States.
The next time it happened, when I finally got through to customer service, it was someone with an accent that made me think they probably were in the USA. When I asked her to connect me to someone “stateside,” she didn’t have a clue what I was referring to.
When I did get someone in the US, Buffalo, I think, they were able to cycle it remotely and get us back online.
The next time, they insisted on sending someone out because of how often it was occurring. He changed something out outside and went to inspect the wiring at that remote location, where he redid some of the connection. This time, when he came back, it was working outside at the box, but I couldn’t get the modem to connect inside. He asked if he could come in and look — I had somehow not plugged the DSL wire back into the modem!
When asked, both of the guys who had come to the house told me that the higher speed rural internet is supposed to be coming sometime soon. What “soon” means is anybody’s guess.
Good luck with that! It’s a real nuisance when it doesn’t work. .
We’ve become so dependent on our internet connections, haven’t we. When my internet is down, so is my landline phone which I hate.
That happens to my sister in California when the power goes out. It used to be landlines had their own generators so the phone would always work. And when our power goes out in our apartment the phone still works.
oh my. so far so good for me. my computer is old now I guess. in terms of computers anyway. everybody seems to have a laptop these days. or else they have a very smart phone!
I will knock on wood for mine to keep on keeping on. I hate technical difficulties. and I know that’s pathetic and pointless. but there it is! you’d think we’d have more trouble than we do with the high winds we have. I can imagine the guys that work on it are under a lot of stress!
Fingers crossed for you!
I am glad that all is well with the universe again. I put no internet up there with computer problems, car troubles, and no power. Not necessarily in that order! 🙂
Yes, I lump them together too! The nice thing is this time they were working on the solution and made it easy for me to find out. Mostly things are a lot more trouble.
I hate automated answering systems. Although this worked well for you, most of the time when I have to call none of the options match what I need. I’ve gotten very frustrated with them on more than one occasion
What’s worse is when you do get a human and they don’t know what they’re talking about. 🙁
sounds like Jean that company is a keeper
Yes. 🙂
I’m glad the automated service worked well for you. When I get one of those I often press zero to see if I get a live person. 🙂
I usually do too, but this one worked just great.
That was a very good response to your call. Mom really dislikes it when she has to go through a long menu of push this number, then that number, then another one, and when you finally get a live person, they have to transfer you to another area:)
Woos – Lightning, Misty, and Timber
I know. 🙁