Back again..

ET2SN · 09-13-23, 08:14 PM

No, I wasn't in the hospital or jail.

My ISP crapped out on the 27th of last month and its been an adventure since then to get the bozos to FIX THEIR @#$&.

That finally happened today, but it gets even better. I'm switching carriers (this time local with a real office in town and everything) next Monday and getting the casa wired for real broadband with real fiber optics and the whole she-bang.

For like 20 cents more per month than the original bums.

For those who might have been worried (and I know who you are

), fear not. I spent the down time deep cleaning this rig and dumping some old "gold standard" programs that no longer work while getting this rig optimized to work with its 'new-ish' SSD.

So, in order-

- #%$& Century Link and the horse they rode in on.

The service side of things has really gone downhill in the last five years and now the crows are starting to perch. I *think* the whole issue came down to someone rewiring the phone and data nodes because they got bored.

They said they ran fiber three years ago and that they were "getting around to" getting the high speed stuff into the houses any month now.

Ever experience DSL on copper wires? Yep, it don't work.

- Other stuff I trashed and purged from the rig:

AVG Antivirus. Nothing says "OLD" like AVG. It really doesn't protect anything since it now runs Windows Defender "automatically".

CCleaner. This was one of my "gold standard" programs since, like, 15 years ago. Just run it once or twice a year. Only, now they are really pushing this cloud hoo-hah and I finally checked my 'net logs and this thing was uploading 90 Gigs of something each month.

Acronis cloning software. Their old stuff might still be handy for cloning and maintaining old school hard drives but it isn't worth "Richard" on SSDs. Their newer software is (again) very dependent on uploading your stuff to a cloud somewhere.

For what purpose, who knows?

Maybe I was sharing pound cake recipes with an alternate Universe, or maybe not..

August · 09-13-23, 08:26 PM

Welcome back!

Onkel Neal · 09-19-23, 05:55 AM

Welcome back, sounds like an adventure.

Aktungbby · 09-19-23, 09:57 AM

"misadventure" U mean

...my ISP, Xfinity, totally sucks particularly with my television which pixilates constantly, then tells me to 'check my connectionsc"-when not outright stating: "we are experiencing difficulty"; and my WIFI which I lose consistantly while on my tablet or computer. An actual visit by a company serviceman was to no avail after he checked all connections...

ET2SN · 09-19-23, 12:00 PM

Yep. I'm on Day Two of the local utility company figuring out how to replace the old one.

The stumbling blocks are how to bring in a broadband connection without using duct tape and coat hangers and how to rig the land-line phone wire.
They started talking about mounting a wifi hub in a closet (not really what I had in mind) while they were stumped about how to wire the two land line phone connections in the living room and bed room.

The wifi I could do with no real issues but I'd rather have a fiber connection on a wall jack and two phone jacks so I can avoid Aktung's problems. They were stumped on the phone lines but it only took me a couple of minutes to figure out how to plumb it using a 1-to-2 splitter jack working in reverse.

I'm trying to avoid the more Rube Goldberg solutions so they don't have to punch holes in the walls or ceiling (which I can't authorize since I don't own the building).

"Guys, think about it like this.. I might not live here forever. Someone else would then move in and who knows what they'll need?"

mapuc · 09-19-23, 12:16 PM

First time I see an American version of such a gizmo.

Markus

Jeff-Groves · 09-19-23, 01:05 PM

Ain't never had the Service providers do the inside of my house.
Then again? I was THE FIRST ISP in my area. Yeah way back in the days of Dial Up internet. PRE-56K! Sold the crap outta internet access in those early days!

Any customer had a problem? I was the Guy that went and fixed it.
Now I have a Cable feed at 400Mbps. Own my own Router that handles 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz Wi-Fi. Wi-Fi covers my whole house and over 30 yards around us!

ET2SN · 09-20-23, 12:18 AM

...annnd, I'm back to square frikken' one.

Basically, the local public works doesn't want to touch this place (housing for disabled and elderly, btw) because they don't know how or don't give two squirts about running optic cable inside the walls.

So, it was either duct tape a router in one of my closets and tape phone lines to the walls or the floor OR just say "See ya later".

To top this off, my 'net dropped again just before the tech showed up to give me the bad news.

The local tech says, "Yeah, we were out to check on a site where they want to dig some holes and the Century Link folks didn't bother to show up. Most of the town got dis-connected by a back hoe.

Luckily, I never went into D.I./P-O'd Sailor Mode on a human being from Century Link. I also never dropped the bomb that I wanted to shred my contract. The local Century Link folks had a pretty good clue I was more than ready to bail on them but I stayed polite the whole time.

Watch this thread to see how it blows up.

You just know that someone's going to do some extra thinking.

Jimbuna · 09-24-23, 09:51 AM

Hoping for an eventual successful outcome.

Aktungbby · 09-24-23, 11:33 AM

I remember when 'frikken one' was a verb and not a location...but that was back in the the the 20th century when the ''fascinating modern age we live in" wasn't such a ceaseless pain in the ass... I recently had to reboot my new solar system so I could use my new(high learning curve) G5 phone to monitor my kilowatt sales to murderous arsonist: PG&E

ET2SN · 09-29-23, 04:35 PM

I'm currently hitch hiking on a neighbor's wifi and I'm trying to take it easy on the guy.

C/L decided that I didn't need to inform them to drop me as a customer so they dumped my 'net AND my home phone.

Someone jumped WAY to quick and now everyone is in apology mode.
My old connection and phone should be up by Wednesday, but I've been hearing stuff like that a LOT in the last month.

Saying this was frustrating would be an understatement.

More next week..

09-13-23, 08:14 PM	#1
ET2SN Ocean Warrior Join Date: Oct 2017 Posts: 2,652 Downloads: 60 Uploads: 0	Back again.. No, I wasn't in the hospital or jail. My ISP crapped out on the 27th of last month and its been an adventure since then to get the bozos to FIX THEIR @#$&. That finally happened today, but it gets even better. I'm switching carriers (this time local with a real office in town and everything) next Monday and getting the casa wired for real broadband with real fiber optics and the whole she-bang. For like 20 cents more per month than the original bums. For those who might have been worried (and I know who you are ), fear not. I spent the down time deep cleaning this rig and dumping some old "gold standard" programs that no longer work while getting this rig optimized to work with its 'new-ish' SSD. So, in order- - #%$& Century Link and the horse they rode in on. The service side of things has really gone downhill in the last five years and now the crows are starting to perch. I think the whole issue came down to someone rewiring the phone and data nodes because they got bored. They said they ran fiber three years ago and that they were "getting around to" getting the high speed stuff into the houses any month now. Ever experience DSL on copper wires? Yep, it don't work. - Other stuff I trashed and purged from the rig: AVG Antivirus. Nothing says "OLD" like AVG. It really doesn't protect anything since it now runs Windows Defender "automatically". CCleaner. This was one of my "gold standard" programs since, like, 15 years ago. Just run it once or twice a year. Only, now they are really pushing this cloud hoo-hah and I finally checked my 'net logs and this thing was uploading 90 Gigs of something each month. Acronis cloning software. Their old stuff might still be handy for cloning and maintaining old school hard drives but it isn't worth "Richard" on SSDs. Their newer software is (again) very dependent on uploading your stuff to a cloud somewhere. For what purpose, who knows? Maybe I was sharing pound cake recipes with an alternate Universe, or maybe not.. Last edited by ET2SN; 09-13-23 at 08:22 PM.

09-13-23, 08:26 PM	#2
August Wayfaring Stranger Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Massachusetts Posts: 23,197 Downloads: 0 Uploads: 0	Welcome back! __________________ Flanked by life and the funeral pyre. Putting on a show for you to see.

09-19-23, 05:55 AM	#3
Onkel Neal Born to Run Silent Join Date: Jan 1997 Location: Cougar Trap, Texas Posts: 21,383 Downloads: 541 Uploads: 224	Welcome back, sounds like an adventure. __________________ SUBSIM - 26 Years on the Web

09-19-23, 09:57 AM	#4
Aktungbby Gefallen Engel U-666 Join Date: Jul 2013 Location: On a tilted, overheated, overpopulated spinning mudball on Collision course with Andromeda Galaxy Posts: 29,981 Downloads: 24 Uploads: 0	"misadventure" U mean...my ISP, Xfinity, totally sucks particularly with my television which pixilates constantly, then tells me to 'check my connectionsc"-when not outright stating: "we are experiencing difficulty"; and my WIFI which I lose consistantly while on my tablet or computer. An actual visit by a company serviceman was to no avail after he checked all connections... __________________ "Only two things are infinite; The Universe and human squirrelyness?!! Last edited by Aktungbby; 09-19-23 at 10:13 AM.

09-19-23, 12:16 PM	#6
mapuc CINC Pacific Fleet Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Denmark Posts: 20,535 Downloads: 37 Uploads: 0	First time I see an American version of such a gizmo. Markus __________________ My little lovely female cat

09-19-23, 12:00 PM	#5
ET2SN Ocean Warrior Join Date: Oct 2017 Posts: 2,652 Downloads: 60 Uploads: 0	Yep. I'm on Day Two of the local utility company figuring out how to replace the old one. The stumbling blocks are how to bring in a broadband connection without using duct tape and coat hangers and how to rig the land-line phone wire. They started talking about mounting a wifi hub in a closet (not really what I had in mind) while they were stumped about how to wire the two land line phone connections in the living room and bed room. The wifi I could do with no real issues but I'd rather have a fiber connection on a wall jack and two phone jacks so I can avoid Aktung's problems. They were stumped on the phone lines but it only took me a couple of minutes to figure out how to plumb it using a 1-to-2 splitter jack working in reverse. I'm trying to avoid the more Rube Goldberg solutions so they don't have to punch holes in the walls or ceiling (which I can't authorize since I don't own the building). "Guys, think about it like this.. I might not live here forever. Someone else would then move in and who knows what they'll need?"

09-19-23, 01:05 PM	#7
Jeff-Groves GLOBAL MODDING TERRORIST Join Date: Sep 2014 Posts: 5,649 Downloads: 137 Uploads: 0	Ain't never had the Service providers do the inside of my house. Then again? I was THE FIRST ISP in my area. Yeah way back in the days of Dial Up internet. PRE-56K! Sold the crap outta internet access in those early days! Any customer had a problem? I was the Guy that went and fixed it. Now I have a Cable feed at 400Mbps. Own my own Router that handles 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz Wi-Fi. Wi-Fi covers my whole house and over 30 yards around us!

09-20-23, 12:18 AM	#8
ET2SN Ocean Warrior Join Date: Oct 2017 Posts: 2,652 Downloads: 60 Uploads: 0	...annnd, I'm back to square frikken' one. Basically, the local public works doesn't want to touch this place (housing for disabled and elderly, btw) because they don't know how or don't give two squirts about running optic cable inside the walls. So, it was either duct tape a router in one of my closets and tape phone lines to the walls or the floor OR just say "See ya later". To top this off, my 'net dropped again just before the tech showed up to give me the bad news. The local tech says, "Yeah, we were out to check on a site where they want to dig some holes and the Century Link folks didn't bother to show up. Most of the town got dis-connected by a back hoe. Luckily, I never went into D.I./P-O'd Sailor Mode on a human being from Century Link. I also never dropped the bomb that I wanted to shred my contract. The local Century Link folks had a pretty good clue I was more than ready to bail on them but I stayed polite the whole time. Watch this thread to see how it blows up. You just know that someone's going to do some extra thinking.

09-24-23, 09:51 AM	#9
Jimbuna Chief of the Boat Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: 250 metres below the surface Posts: 190,461 Downloads: 63 Uploads: 13	Hoping for an eventual successful outcome. __________________ Wise men speak because they have something to say; Fools because they have to say something. Oh my God, not again!!

09-24-23, 11:33 AM	#10
Aktungbby Gefallen Engel U-666 Join Date: Jul 2013 Location: On a tilted, overheated, overpopulated spinning mudball on Collision course with Andromeda Galaxy Posts: 29,981 Downloads: 24 Uploads: 0	I remember when 'frikken one' was a verb and not a location...but that was back in the the the 20th century when the ''fascinating modern age we live in" wasn't such a ceaseless pain in the ass... I recently had to reboot my new solar system so I could use my new(high learning curve) G5 phone to monitor my kilowatt sales to murderous arsonist: PG&E __________________ "Only two things are infinite; The Universe and human squirrelyness?!!

09-29-23, 04:35 PM	#11
ET2SN Ocean Warrior Join Date: Oct 2017 Posts: 2,652 Downloads: 60 Uploads: 0	I'm currently hitch hiking on a neighbor's wifi and I'm trying to take it easy on the guy. C/L decided that I didn't need to inform them to drop me as a customer so they dumped my 'net AND my home phone. Someone jumped WAY to quick and now everyone is in apology mode. My old connection and phone should be up by Wednesday, but I've been hearing stuff like that a LOT in the last month. Saying this was frustrating would be an understatement. More next week..