Monday, November 21, 2005
Modems are funny things
The phone repair guy comes out and confirms that the line outside is generating a buzz, finding a couple of interesting things. One of the previous owners of my house put a cement slab patio in, partially encasing the phone line where it came out of the ground to go into the house. The line apparently was damaged during the patio install and patched up with electrical tape. Also, according to the repair guy, the lime in the cement slowly started rotting the phone line. The repair guy also said water ran out of it when he peeled back the tape (yikes!) and he was amazed that it worked at all. A couple weeks later I had a brand new line buried in my back yard.
The first day with the new line went well, but it turned out to be a good day and I was still having the same troubles to a lesser degree. I checked for the buzz again and it was still there. This past Friday I realized that I had forgotten that a phone line is also connected to my satellite TV box. Pulled it out, checked for a buzz, and it was gone! I was home free! No more internet troubles!
Not so fast... Couldn't get it to stay connected Saturday. Couldn't get it to stay connected Sunday. Same problem on all 3 of my ISP's numbers. Called my ISP this morning. They hadn't had any issues over the weekend. "Couldn't possibly" be a problem on their end. It "had to be" a problem on my end. But the same problem with multiple modems, multiple computers, multiple jacks, AND the test jack outside the house? Gee, dunno but it's "not on our end."
So I signed up for a trial account with a different ISP. Made the first connection to them over 2 1/2 hours ago. It's still up. Great speed. Rock solid. 25% less per month, too. Haven't had a connection like this since September. Two buzz fixes & an ISP switch & it's back the way it was. I hope.
