To start with, I was talked into exchanging computers with my husband. (Don't let this happen to you, girls and boys! Just say no!)
I won't go into what a nightmare and disaster the exchange was. Nor the massive loss of important files that it caused.
Then my router died. But my ISP, of course, didn't believe me when I called it in and made me jump through hoops testing everything on their insane check-list for dummies before they finally conceded that I was correct, she's dead Jim, send the lady a replacement router. OK, that's usually a next day delivery - especially as I had called my ISP before 8am. But no, they neglected to mention that they were out of routers - in the end it was 6 days before the replacement arrived because there was a weekend in the middle of it all. So the replacement arrives - after 6pm of course, meaning I sat home all day waiting for a DHL package that was placed on the local delivery van at 8am and trundled all around London before being dropped off. Mind you, the local DHL warehouse is about a 7 minute drive from my house so I did offer to pick it up but was refused.
Anyway, it's night and I finally get the new router, connect all the cables and power it up. And....
The Internet light doesn't come on. All the other lights are merrily glowing bright green but the Internet light remains sullenly dark. Being an IT person, I start to methodically check everything it could possibly be. Turn router off and then back on, reset router, check that phone line is live, check router control panel in my browser, etc. Finally, I call my ISP. Explain all the troubleshooting I've done but as usual, they treat me as if I was lying, and demand I go through the same routine I've just done to eliminate the obvious possible problems. They finally concede that it MIGHT be something on their end but it would need a 2nd level support tech. I go through to 2nd level support and the idiot woman there who is NOT an engineer or any sort of real tech person by any definition is clueless and tries to get me to go thru the exact same testing routine. I tell her to read the ticket's notes. She demands I unscrew the central phone block and reconnect my router to the test block inside the wall. She refuses to check if the issues are on the ISP end, claims that isn't possible. (Chorus of, "Oh Yes It Is!"). I tell her I have to hang up to disconnect the phone block etc and get the case number. Then I get a drink, light a cigarette and curse incompetent tech support to the depths of hell.
When I call back the ISP 10 min later, I tell them I have an open case, give them the ticket number, and ask them to pass me on to 3rd level support as the 2nd level tech said she couldn't figure out what was wrong with the router. Finally!! As soon as I spoke to the 3rd level tech support guy, I knew this was a professional at last. He asked to review the ticket first, then asked me a couple of sensible questions - and listened to my answer. He said he thought the problem was indeed on the ISP's side, hang on a moment - I heard him typing, and voila! I was connected to the Internet. And yes, the little green light was now glowing brightly. He said there was an ongoing issue with static IPs and account configurations not being saved properly. So after only 3 hours of tech support hell, I was back online.
But there was more aggro to come. The new laptop started shutting down randomly. Alan said it was probably just overheating. Erm, JUST overheating? You just took away my reliable if clunky old PC tower to give me your unreliable laptop? I was assured that if I raised the laptop by putting it on a wire rack, the improved air circulation would prevent it overheating. Ok, it's on the wire rack, it stopped overheating.
For almost a week. Till tonight. Just now.
Hmmmm. I'm thinking about the agony I went through installing Win7 on this laptop. And installing all the apps, and transferring files. And the lost files. and on and on.
And now, I have no idea if the thing is going to up and die on me. If? More like when.
Oh, somewhere in this favored land the sun is shining bright;
The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light,
And somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children shout;
But there is no joy in Mudville - mighty Casey has struck out.
The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light,
And somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children shout;
But there is no joy in Mudville - mighty Casey has struck out.
