Monday, January 12, 2009

Back in the Communications Loop

Last week I had an interesting experience with communications technology. Failure of my home telephone and my DSL modem, at the same time. My phone was down for a few days before I even noticed, 3 to be exact. But then on day 4, I was taken up with helping my son. So on day 5 I went to my computer to search on-line for the phone number and discovered that overnight, my modem was no longer working.
Have you ever called your service provider and been forced to answer questions such as: Is it plugged in? Are you sure there are no lights flashing on the modem? Is the modem connected to the computer? It truly tries your patience, or maybe just mine. It reminds me of when I had to take my tower in for repair and the tech says to me over the phone, "Please do not bring in your monitor. We have monitors here if needed" I laughed and laughed, but apparently, it had been done, and he didn't want me to lug in everything.
But then, I wonder, am I the only person who is frustrated by these questions? But then I think about my mom, who says she can't possibly attach the cables between her monitor and tower and then plug it in. Even after realizing it's all color coded, she's afraid to make a mistake. So maybe the service provider was in my class when week after week the DVD player would not turn on and week after week our facilitator tried every button. What was the problem, oh, it was not plugged in! That's why we get asked those questions, because sometimes, it isn't plugged in and that really is the problem.
Well, everything is working now, phone line fixed, new modem plugged in, lights flashing appropriately. Isn't technology fun?

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