The Perils of an Internet Free Lifestyle

Last Saturday, I realized that my intermittent Internet outage problem had become more outage than not.  That day, T called Optimum, my ISP, re-booted the wireless modem, and crossed her fingers.  We had Internet for a bit but it didn’t last.  On Sunday, we went through this routine again, including the call to Optimum, and this time suggested to them that there was a problem with the line.  The wireless router is less than a year old, we explained, having been replaced when I had an intermittent Internet outage problem last year.

I think you see where this is headed.

Customer Service was SURE it wasn’t a line problem.  I should unplug the router, roll on over to their office on Monday to pick up a new router, bring it home, plug it in, call them for a configuration update, and I’d be back in business in no time.

For those of you counting along at home, that is three days with no Internet.

I did as instructed and Monday night found me on the phone with the ISP, hooking up the new router.  It came on, but there was no connection.  We tried three times.

Nothing.  

There must be a problem, Customer Service concluded.  With the line? I asked hopefully….oh no, they said, something in the house.  They would send someone out on Wednesday, between 5 and 8 pm.  

On Tuesday, the ISP called me to report that there is a problem with the line in my neighborhood.  Their engineers would work on it and I should be patient.  48 to 72 hours, she said.

Things I have realized while I was without the Internet:

1.  I work at home far more than I should.

2.  I truly am an NPR junkie.  In the morning as I drink my coffee and get set for the day and in the evening when I come home and make supper, I listen to NPR on my Echo dot.  The sound is perfect and I love it. I was rather at a loss without it, especially in the morning as the stories help me to set the pace of my morning chores.  I won’t watch TV news (because TV news) and so all week long I felt like I was playing catch up to be well-informed.

3.  I miss the ease of looking up the answers to silly things via the Internet.  It’s not make or break, but who doesn’t enjoy the power to look up any number of inane questions?

Service was back on as of Thursday evening and on Friday morning I was especially grateful to hear the comforting voices of NPR.  We’re soaking up the Internet this weekend and hopeful it keeps on keeping on.