Thursday, April 16, 2009

I'm Back!


Well, it's been a long two-and-a-half weeks, but my internet is finally up and running.

Early two Saturdays ago, lightning hit our house. It was so loud, it woke us both up. It threw breakers in half the house, but the only thing it fried was our internet access--both the modem and something out on the satellite itself (although we didn't know about the outside problem at first). I guess we should count ourselves lucky. A couple of years ago, lightning hit our house, took out many of the major appliances, and forced us to have the whole downstairs rewired.

The aggravation began when HughesNet promised to send me a new modem in three to five business days and seven business days later, I still had no modem. I called. "Yes, ma'am. On its way. But no FedEx routing number available." Two days later, still no modem. Another call. Same response. Of course, each call meant half an hour on hold.

Finally, I call FedEx only to discover they had not yet received the package from HughesNet. All HughesNet had done was print a shipping label. I guess that explains why there was no tracking number. I call HughesNet again--this time an hour on the phone. And I really tried to be nice.

Well, to make a long story somewhat shorter. We finally got the modem only to discover that that wasn't all the problem. When the repairman came to the house, he couldn't believe they hadn't sent him to begin with. He said there was no way my problem could have been solved simply by plugging in a new modem. Why am I not surprised?

Right now, my wireless router's not working. But hey, who ever said life's perfect?

P.S. Happy Birthday, Dad!

1 comment:

Unknown said...

You should call HughesNet. Lightning is not a problem if your system is grounded. Sounds like your isn't. Check out the definition of a standard installation here: http://www.acmesat.com/hughesnet-installation.php. Notice that it says grounding your system is part of the install.