We have internet! O drat, we don't have water!!

Wednesday our brand spanking new modem arrived. It didn't work, but it arrived. Just in case (not likely, but you never know) hubby installed it on his computer using the also new Cat 5 line we just strung through the walls. To be doubly sure that there is nothing wrong with the Cat 5 two strands were used instead of one to make the connection to the, also new, jack. After which hubby couldn't even log into the modem program to set it up. So he called the IP yet again. After some lengthy attempts the IP advised us they were going to check things out and call us back, which they did. After several tries it was determined that some settings in our internet browser were interfering with the operation of the modem and that the initial address we had been advised to use wasn't working. An alternate was suggested and after the preliminary handshaking the internet roared back to life.

I am so deliriously happy to be able to connect to the internet again and not lose the connection 2 minutes later. I can send and receive email, I can upload pictures to Blogger, I can even send files through the internet! Hooray!!!!!

Of course, this morning, I have a new problem. Remember this in 2008?

In October we had this.

Christmas morning as I got up to put the turkey in the oven for our afternoon feast, this was trundling past the bedroom window headed for yet another  little spot.

This morning we have this.

That makes 3 water main breaks in 4 months, none of which are covered by the city because a condominium townhouse is private property and we, it's illustrious owners, will have to cover it ourselves. Mommy! I want to move.

Not right, Not wrong, Not working

Lest you think I haven't been tatting at all, this started out to be a necklace that came to a point in the middle, but obviously I wasn't thinking clearly because what I have at this point resembles a collar rather than a necklace. I planned for the first row and the last row to have beads, and if I'd had beads on the last row I would just call it quits, but I didn't and now I have something that I have to add a row to to add the beads, except that it's already too wide and adding more will make it wider. ARGGHH!

Next question, what do you do with a project that isn't what you want it to be but isn't garbage either?

On the internet front, a second modem was sent to us express. This one was new in box and should just plug in and run, but it didn't. We have been told that the phone line into the house is fine and that although our purchased modem is functioning, it isn't an "approved" modem meaning that it will probably work with the system, but it might at times have issues. The new modem just received is approved and should resolve all of our problems. If it doesn't then the problem might be with our server's network. Hubby is currently wiring in the new Cat 5 cable to the demarcation point. With the new cable in and all of the phone lines disconnected at the demarcation we should have new line, new modem and the internet should sing.

If it doesn't the issue isn't with us, our equipment or our phone line and heads will roll. Hubby has more tenacity than a pit bull. He's brilliant about a lot of things and he knows when he is right. Don't argue with him, you'll lose.

2011?

2011 is set up to be a good year. At least considering how bad it's been so far, it can only improve. Our internet connection died on January 1st. We have spent 6 to 8 hours on the phone trying to sort it out. There seems to be a combined issue of a dead modem and something problematic on the line. January 1 we told the IP that the modem was bad and to ship a new one. January 5th they advised us that they hadn't shipped it yet because they were waiting for a report back from Bell. So finally they got the report from Bell and sent the unit which was supposed to arrive yesterday. It finally came today, in a box, without packaging just rattling around loose. We plugged it in, reconfigured it (we're getting good at this, we've done it about 50 times since the beginning of the year) and nothing. Just to verify that it's the modem and not a problem with the internal phone lines, we plugged it in at the demarcation point where the phone line enters the house and disconnected all of the phones. Sure enough, it's dead as a door nail.

We've had issues before, so we actually bought a backup modem for times like this, but even with our fully functional modem we've had issues We have download access, so I can view web pages and receive email, but I can't send files or email and periodically my connection fails altogether. Doing things like the 25 Motif Challenge has been a "challenging" experience. Between loosing connectivity and getting kicked off my computer while the modem gets reconfigured again and again it has been difficult to view the blogs. Of course once I view them, I have to upload the pictures to the challenge blog which is an interesting experience when your upload speed is slower than dial up. Last Saturday I spent 12 hours trying to do the blog post.

Don't even get me started on the nightmare of trying to upload files for the Design-Tat course. It took 2 days just to get 1 file uploaded. It would look like the file went through and then it would suddenly disconnect. Over and over again. The file was so large I couldn't even use dial up to send it, but finally after repeated attempts it went through.

Unlike most homes we have a single dedicated line for the DSL service. When we went with DSL a few years ago it just made sense to run a separate line for the modem so there is one phone line from the demarcation point, which in our home is the basement, straight to the modem on the second floor. So a lot of the typical comments that "it's your phone line" are highly unlikely. However after the 3rd Bell phone technician was here insisting that it's the new (it's only been in 5 years) heavy gauge wire that is responsible, we went out and bought a reel of Cat 5 wire and we are now in the process of re-wiring the line to the modem. Anyone who has fished lines through a house can appreciate what this is like. Last night we brought it from the basement through the wall up to the second floor. Now all we have to do is run it under the floor to the wall and we can create a new junction up here and split off all the computers.

On top of all of this, since my computer is the one closest to the modem, it means that all of the configuration of the modem and the router have to be done on my computer. While my computer is being used I switch to working on the laptop. Except that when we need to connect to the demarcation point, it is necessary yo use the laptop. So since the beginning of the year I have begun and trashed endless emails and tutorials as I'm kicked back and forth from desktop to laptop computer. At one point the tech support person insisted that it was necessary to reset the computer's internet browser back to factory setting to fix the problem. Of course, the tech was an idiot and it did nothing to repair the issue, but all of my customization is completely gone and I'm left looking for things that no longer exist.

As frustrating as I find it, it's nothing to what my dear sweet honey is going through. He's the one who's having to deal with idiots on the phone, writing copious emails and repeating endlessly the explanation of what has gone on before while trying to get people half a world away to respond in an efficient and timely manner.

11 days and counting and we still don't have internet.