There is no way to know how long I’ll have an internet connection so I’m going to type fast and try to get everything in. Sometime early Thursday afternoon, our internet service went out. My initial thought was that our router needed resetting, so we did that. When that didn’t work, I rebooted the computer. It was at that point I realized my phone wasn’t getting data service (we can make calls and send texts, but that’s it). We went through every logistics we had available to us but to no avail. So, we decided to wait and see if it came back overnight.
No, it didn’t. So, I called Verizon tech support. Verison, like a lot of other companies, doesn’t like you calling them. They’d rather you use online sources, especially AI-powered chatbots that don’t utilize humans. But when I can’t access the fucking online sources, then I have no choice but to call. Of course, they make that as difficult as possible, trying to address your problem using more bots. When I finally reached a living, breathing human, she took us through the exact same processes we had tried before. She made us change the location of the box so that it was right in the window, rather than next to it where it has worked beautifully for the past three years. That didn’t work, either. She then ran diagnostics on her side. That didn’t work.
For the next hour and a half, we went back and forth with her looking things up on her side, trying her best to figure out what could be causing the problem. At times, we would seem to have a solution, and then, almost immediately, it would go out again. She ultimately didn’t have any choice but to open a ticket for the support team, but she did so with the warning that it could take “several days” for them to find a solution.
Just to make it burn worse, my next bill came while we were talking. We went the rest of the day without any connectivity on any of the computers or laptops, and very little on the phones.
Yesterday evening we attended Tipper’s 8th grade graduation. I have a few low-quality pictures but I haven’t been able to transfer them to the computer yet. The lighting was shit and, of course, the room was crowded, so the pictures are less than wonderful. Nonetheless, she graduated, we’re done with Enlace, and are moving on to PPHS. We got ice cream and went to the park to finish the day.
Still no Internet service.
Then, shortly after 9:30, I looked up and realized that we had service again. I did a speed test and it was actually workable. However, it’s been on and off since then. Maybe I’ll get this posted. Maybe I won’t. There are no guarantees.
I’m still pissed. I pay good money for this service and any outage of more than a few minutes is unacceptable. Everything I do depends on the internet. My ability to get a ride to the doctor Monday morning depends on the Internet. Ordering groceries depends on the Internet because I don’t have a fucking car to drive to the store myself. I’m supposed to upload documents to Medicare for approval but I can’t download them from the bank without service. This is fucking with my entire life at a level that I do not consider tolerable. Ask the kids: I’m not fun to be around this morning.
So, this is where we are right now. I’ll try to publish this the next moment I see that we have service. Beyond that, I can’t make any promises that anything or anyone is going to survive.