Lost Internet/Cable Service (Observations)

Gandalfe

Gandalfe

Striving to play the changes in a melodic way.
Staff member
Administrator
We lost ISP services last Monday. What an eye opener, we usually spend most of our time online or watching TV or on our computers. With no TV, I actually practiced sax, did computer maintenance, and started a new book. The distress of not having service lasted about ten minutes. :)

Note, during a survey of the ISP distribution boxes, a contractor moved us to from port 9 to port 10 to match errant records. Usually when they do that they are supposed to check to make sure they didn't cut off connectivity for the customer. Took the tech 5 minutes to diagnose and repair but two days to get there.
 
Sometimes when traveling the wifi is poor (actually a lot).
I need to access the internet to keep up with the biz, so I use my phone.
 
I live in a pretty rural area and at the "end of the line". When Comcrap goes out, it's often for 10 or 15 hours. That also takes out my land line phone. I know - antiquated, but our cellular service isn't the greatest either. My choices are limited. The only other ISPs are AT&T DSL (again, very far from the POP so it's slow) and the various satellite providers (DirectTV, Dish, Hughes, etc.). I'm hoping that Elon Musk's satellite service will become available soon. It's already in beta testing in Knoxville, which is only 20 miles away.
 
I could only find uber-techie articles, but Helen mentioned that there was a worldwide DNS outage on the 24th. In simple terms, no DNS means you can't connect to a website. Didn't affect me or the company I work for, though.

I did away with our land-line phone a few months ago. I rolled that into having unlimited bandwidth gigabit. I rarely regret not having local TV service. Streaming FTW.
 
So the tale continues, when the tech moved us to the "correct" port, he disconnected my neighbor who immediately lost connectivity. He was in Las Vegas for his marriage anniversary and called to get it fixed a day later when they got home. The next thing I know my Internet is out so I hoof it two blocks to the distribution box to catch the tech who disconnected me. He reconnected me and fixed my neighbor to a new port, updated records and apologized. I was on the phone with the virtual tech the whole time, dunno if that will teach them anything.

BTW, all those movie DVDs (that I'm told are a sign that I am old) sure came in handy. Also my books, etc. Parts of my house look like a library.
Books.JPG
 
As far a landlines, we got rid of ours a couple of years ago, and really don't miss it. All we got was marketers, political calls for money, etc. I was thinking it was good backup, but there was just too much noise. I think it cost us around $18 a month for the landline.
 
I have a bunch of different media on a bunch of 5.25" hard drives. I should buy several new 3.5" SSDs and back up onto them, as I could then watch/read the stuff on a laptop. No power? No problem.

At some point, about a year-ish ago, I stopped answering my cell phone, unless I was specifically expecting someone to call and/or if the screen read one of my family members' or co-workers' names. You're right, Jim: too much spam.

While I and my immediate family all have new-ish smart phones, I do have a couple of their old iPhones. You can keep one around and dial 911 (emergency service, for those outside the US) on them, even if you don't have service.
 
I haven't watched TV in decades. Mrs. Notes and I gigged on cruise ships for 3 years in the late 1980s, and at that time there wasn't any TV on the ships. We got on land in 1990, hooked up the cable, and found we got into the habit of doing other things instead of watching and that I was wasting my money on it. We just weren't watching.

The two last TV shows I watched were Johnny Carson's last Tonight Show and Jay Leno's first Tonight Show. And I went over to my mother-in-law's to do so.

I'm in a fringe area, so I get nothing without an antenna, which I don't have, and little if I every want to hook one up. Full disclosure, we are on the minimum one-disk-at-a-time video plan (DVDs in the mail) from Netflix, so we watch a couple of movies per month. That is the only time the TV is on.

TV is fine for others, and I'm sure I'm missing some great programming, but I guess I'm too restless to sit that long and be entertained passively.

So instead of TV, I like to keep busy. I learned how to play wind synth and lead guitar, I sequence the backing tracks for my duo http://www.s-cats.com from scratch, and we now have over 600 songs. I learned to write aftermarket styles for Band-in-a-Box, and I have a business selling those styles to over 100 countries on this planet. Furthermore, I bought a book on HTML and both write and maintain the websites for both businesses. Plus, I have a lot of quality time with Mrs. Notes.

I'm finishing up a style e-disk now, and Mrs. Notes and I are working on 5 fake e-disks.

I had an ATT landline, but I also live where they don't pass many homes per mile, so they don't maintain the cable. It started going out and taking 4 days to a week to get a repair tech out, so I switched to Comcast VOIP phone and also for Internet. I do have a cell as well (better two ways than one).

There was a time when ATT and before that Bell South had to answer to the Public Service Commission, and they fixed complete out of service phones with priority. Those days are long gone. Now that we have cell phones, there is no longer only one way to phone so the PSC no longer regulates them. I think ATT wants to lose the landline business around here, as it probably isn't very profitable for them. They don't pass many homes per mile of cable, we are near salt water, and that corrodes everything.

Cell service here is barely acceptable. I get 1 bar in the house if I'm lucky, and 3 bars if I go on the roof. All 3 major carriers are the same. I must be partially blocked from a tower. At home, I use Wi-Fi to relay my cell phone.

Comcast has been reliable for the past couple of years, so I'm happy.

I think my ears have had enough rest now, so it's back to the 20th new style. I hope we can have a 2 style disk and at least 5 fake disk release in the fall or early 2022.

Notes
 
Well I just got back online after a two day outage. Turns out my 6.5 year old modem puked. I was actually impressed with Comcast customer service. After I got past the robot, I had a rep on the line in less than a minute. She ran some tests and confirmed that the modem was dead. Option one was to schedule a tech visit, except the next available appointment was on August 13th! Option two was to take the modem to an Infinity store and swap it. The rep made an appointment for me this morning, and I was in and out of the store in five minutes. Came back home and plugged it in and it booted right up.
 
Notes_Norton said:
Glad you got good service.

Every company should be in the customer service business.

Notes
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FWIW, I also think that every person should be required to have a customer service job for at least a year. Do it like some countries have mandatory military service. You will hopefully gain respect for folks that do work in customer service.
 
I own two businesses. A musical duo and a Band-in-a-Box aftermarket add-on company. I just use one simple rule, treat my customers the way I would want to be treated if I were the customer. Everything else works out after that.

Problems occasionally happen. I fix them cheerfully as quickly as I can, and if the problem is serious, I try to do something extra to make the customer actually glad they had the problem. A problem is an opportunity to either lose a customer for life, or gain a customer for life.

Notes
 
I am prepared for the next big internet outage when the aliens come, or something..... could be zombies or succubi..... who knows.

Plex!

I have 1000+ films, 1700+ episodes of 35 television shows, and 5700 tracks from 450 albums of music. Now I just need a generator.....
 
Gandalfe said:
Pro tip: If and when you get a generator, consider one that runs on natural gas. I love it cuz I don't hafta schlep fuel cans.
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Not everyone has access to natural gas service, in that case, they need to install a propane tank - a larger version of the gas grill tanks.
Less convenient, but nice to have when the power is out.

We are fortunate to have Natural Gas service, and had a Kohler Generator installed a few years ago. It's great, it powers everything, and goes on by itself after a few seconds after the power goes out.

The down side is that they are very noisy, like having a lawn mower running constantly. Also after about 4 days, it needs an oil change, so you need to know how to do this in the event of an extended outage, as the service people will probably be unavailable.
 
Here in hurricane prone Florida, the 'canes often take portions of the power grid down. I live in a low density population area, so it means we are one of the last areas to get turned back on. Rightly so, since they try to get the most people on the quickest.

So I have a gasoline generator. When a storm is approaching I fill cans, after the season is over I pour them into my car if I haven't had to use them. It's just part of life here.

And yes, it's like a lawn mower running. I run it for a couple of hours, to cool down the refrigerator, and then turn it off for 4 or more depending on how hot it is. LED lanterns work for lighting at night, and battery radios with a crank option keeps us informed.

Of all the natural disasters I can think of, if I had to choose one, I'd choose a hurricane. I think they are the most survivable if you know how to prepare, what kind of construction your home is, and where you build your home.

Of course, I'd rather have zero chance of a natural disaster, but I don't know where that would be.

Insights and incites by Notes
 
Generators also help to shorten and even prevent power outages.
Since we installed ours we have had fewer events,:rolleyes:

Also the govt getting on the utils to trim the trees may have helped.
 
Our power company, FPL, went through drone observation followed by a few months of crews trimming trees around the lines. That helps.

Sometimes

Hernando St Hutchinson Island2.jpg
 
pete said:
I did away with our land-line phone a few months ago. I rolled that into having unlimited bandwidth gigabit. I rarely regret not having local TV service. Streaming FTW.
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When one kills the land-line service in most houses, I found it was easy to convert the lines and connectors to support in-house internet connections which is *much* cheaper than running network cables yourself. All you have to do is change the endpoints to the correct connectors and then connect the wire from the phone service to the ISP service line. We were having problems with Suzy's computer not connecting reliably to the house WiFi and that fixed it pronto.
 
I have a land line and a cell. Unfortunately, the land-line is via the CableTV company. ATT quit servicing the lines here. It's near a salt water lagoon and the cable passes few homes per mile. Most people have abandoned landlines, so ATT sometimes takes a week to fix a problem, even if it's out of service. I don't think they really want our business.

Knowing what I do about CableTV, when the power goes down, it's only a matter of time before the batteries that keep the CATV amplifiers running will also run down.

But two different ways to communicate are better than one.

Notes
 
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