The Joys of Internet Servers

I have been without my wireless connection for ten days now and I still will not have the problem solved until sometime next week.

The problem started on a Wednesday evening and I did not think too much of it at first as, here in Ajijic, Lake Chapala, we do lose connection from tome to time for no apparent reason.

When on Thursday I still had no connection I began the normal regimen to try and connect. First I made sure my cable TV was working It was. Then I proceeded with unplugging the modem and routers and plugging them back in after a suitable waiting period for approx. 5 min. I then did the mandatory rebooting of the computer. Still nothing.

I then tried all online repair options. None of which worked. As I said, it is not unusual to lose connection to the internet, however what was unusual was Skype was still working and Hotmail was working sporadically. I just could not connect to any web sites. This was a situation I had not encountered previously.

I contacted my son in Thailand (on Skype) who made one or two suggestions including resting the modem. So I made it a cup of tea and tucked it in for a nice nap. When this strategy failed I decided to call a tech from New World Technologies (766-4343) to come and, hopefully, fix the problem in the blink of an eye.

One of the many frustrating things was that the computer was telling me the connection was excellent and it was all systems go. This was not quite the case so I eagerly awaited the tech who did, in fact, come that same day. After a couple of hours and $250.00 pesos he told me it was not the computer – the problem lay squarely with the server. He called the server for me and they said they would come out promptly within 48 hours.

Needless to say, I was less than happy.

Surprisingly enough, 2 men from the server came out the next day which was the Friday. They poked around for a while and finally determined the culprit was the router. They said they would be back on Saturday with a new router. They weren’t.

Nor did they come Monday as everyone was happily celebrating the birthday of Benito Juarez. Tuesday I started, what became, a stream of calls to the server to try and ascertain the whereabouts of my new router.

Just as an aside the router is the device that provides all computers in the house with connectivity to the internet.

I can’t remember how many times I called over the next couple of days. I spoke to many people who all asked a series of different questions. I did have a Report # which did not seem to expedite the process in the slightest.

At one point on Tuesday the router was on a truck coming from Guadalajara. It never materialized, however. I was left on hold, hung up on and told I was calling the wrong number even though it was the number on my contract.

Finally, Thursday, we managed to get through to the right office to be told they did not have any routers and would not have any until next week.

As you can imagine, this unwelcome news met with great frustration.

I tied to get a router to rent or borrow but was told the router had to be provided by the server so it could be properly programmed.

I am hoping I will get this elusive new router early next week which will be approaching the two week without wireless mark.

I am going to ask for a two week credit on my account for this massive inconvenience not to mention the pain and suffering endured.

Stay tuned to see how that works out!