Saturday, May 30, 2020

Trouble Shooting

Not my forte ... I'm more into figuring out math problems than ones that involve computers.  I used to be very good at it, but it involved Windows and I was connected to the IT Department.  Nowadays it just frustrates me, enough to make me sit on the phone for an hour waiting for someone to pick up so I can explain the problem.

This is what started it all.  Fed Ex delivered this Amazon package two days ago.  The package was never sealed, although there is a piece of tape on it that you can barely see.  Needless to say, there was NOTHING in the bag.  I chased after him, but he paid no attention.  Surely he KNEW that package was empty!!!  Gosh that made me mad!!
In trying to contact Amazon, my computer just kept locking up.  Over and over again it would not load a page.  I really thought it was the very old Jetpack, so off I headed to the Verizon store.  They sent me a notice many moons ago saying they would not support that model any more.  I thought a new one would solve the problem.

To be even more irritating, Verizon would only let ONE customer in the building at a time.  Masks and gloves required.  I had to sit outside and wait 30 minutes for the old guy to figure out how to use his phone before I was finally let in the door ..... sans mask and gloves.  I think the kid knew he had a fight on his hands.

He of course, had no idea why my jetpack was not working, but was happy (no surprise) to sell me a new one for $71.00.  Back home, not only did it do the same thing, but it was worse than the old one. I thought it was their tower, but how do I prove that?
Cooper waited patiently on the couch while I drove down the block to the tower.  I got five bars on the North side, absolutely nothing on the South side.  Now we're getting somewhere.  My computer seemed to work just fine when it had a good signal.  At least I've narrowed it down.

Back home, I put in the call to Verizon.  You know how that goes ... Tech One can't fix it.  Tech Two took thirty minutes to answer the phone before handing me off to Tech Three.  He sent a repair crew out to check on the tower, or so he said.  

Amazingly, late in the afternoon when my signal is usually so bad I can't get on the internet at all, it was working, although hesitantly.  YAY!!  It's fixed ... kinda sorta.
But wait ...... now this morning it's back to five bars, one bar, five bars, no service, five bars, no service ..... constantly shifting back and forth.  I spent $71 for nothing.  With a big sigh, I guess I'll be back on the phone this morning.  My other option is to drive over to the tower every morning in order to write the blog.  Won't THAT be fun!!

Here's hoping I can at least get the blog to post!!!  




19 comments:

  1. What has happened to customer service? I feel your pain!!

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    1. I thought maybe all those representatives might be working from home answering the phone, but apparently I was wrong! LOL

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  2. I recall the problems we had with our Jetpack. The more people on a tower the worse they get. It looks like Cooper is praying for you to get things fixed.
    Be Safe and Enjoy!

    It's about time.

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    1. I'm sure many more people are home and on the internet nowadays. Hopefully it will get back to normal soon.

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  3. The big 3 (V, ATT, T-mobile) are busy converting over to 5G that they just seem to be ignoring their towers that will be converting soon, in my opinion. Why pour money into a tower which will be upgraded real soon, type of attitude. That new aircard you have is like our secondary one that I got for our unlimited pre-pay plan ($65 per month), but I exchanged the sim cards so that the unlimited runs on the older Jetpack which I just like a little better. The unlimited is at the mercy of how busy any given cell tower it is for its speed...if the tower is busy, our connection will slow to a crawl so that others with priority speed onward. If that happens, we use the other aircard which has priority, but costs $$$$ for the gigs we use. Have you tried running a speed test? (in google just type speed test and click on the blue box which says run speed test. They might be slowing you down too, even when you have 5 bars. (if test shows download under 1 mbps, and upload is much faster, you are probably being slowed on purpose by the mighty Verizon) By-the-way, once 5G is going full blown (2022) speeds will be amazing...but that will require a whole new aircard.

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    1. I've never seen that speed test before. Down is 2.4, up is 1.8, in between it jumps from 0 all the way up to 7. I know the 5G will be better and it will probably cost me AGAIN to get a new card. You are probably right ... that's why they aren't fixing the towers.

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    2. If you are getting between 1.8 to 2.4, then they are NOT slowing you down, also called throttling, you. You might want to look into weBoost boosters which you could use not only at home, but in the RV too...just another few $$$$$ of course.

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  4. Wow. Good thing you have that sweet faced Cooper. Such a cutie.

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    1. He is a joy to be sure ..... when he's good that is!!

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  5. Does your telephone company offer DSL? It's an ancient technology, but we used to get it every summer in Issaquah. We would sign up for the 12 meg rate and it was fine. It comes in through the phone line to a router. It was so much better than the Verizon mifi because all of the commuters trapped on the freeway were sucking up all of the bandwidth.

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    1. Honestly, I don't even know if there IS a telephone company out here. I only have my cell phone. I'll check in to it though .. that might be the answer for here.

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  6. Ancient technology! Wah!! It wasn't so long ago when I was an engineer with Pacific Bell/AT&T we were working like crazy to make DSL available so folks could get off of dial up. Makes me feel ancient, now.

    Anyway, DSL is still around, but to get the kind of speed Allison mentioned, you have to live fairly close to your local Central Office, probably not more than a mile away. Worth checking into, though. To find the C.O., just follow the aerial cables. If they get more and bigger, you are going in the right direction, smaller and less, turn around.

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    1. Interesting ..... I'm pretty much out in the country, so I doubt I would get a good signal. It's all Greek to me, this 3g 4g 5g stuff. All I know is it's never fast enough!!! LOL

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  7. Ok gotta ask "what was supposed to be in the empty bag?"I hate problems with internet or wifi, mifi etc. We have the Verizon Jetpack for vacations, internet in the house but I've found to download pictures for the blog our internet isn't fast enough so I always use the mifi.

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    1. It was a square ruler to use in cutting down my blocks to the correct size. I've taken this Jetpack from California to Maine to Alaska and back. It's always worked really well .... except at my house in California.

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  8. Good luck with your internet. Don't forget to contact Amazon when you're finally up and running. :))

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    1. Thank you Doug ..... you know me too well! I was finally able to get through and they say they are sending a replacement.

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  9. I'm with Shirley. What were you expecting in the bag? That would infuriate me!!
    As for the wifi, that is just plain frustrating. The best thing in your blog (sorry, you take second fiddle here) is that adorable Cooper!! God, I could just hug him! :)

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    1. Isn't Cooper just the cutest ever? He and Miss Jessie keep me going. The bag should have held a square ruler used to cut my blocks to the exact size required. I'm stuck until it arrives.

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