Tony (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} tdelporto) wrote,@ 2008-02-06 22:39:00 |
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This is your DSL line on AT&T. Any Questions?
My DSL line has been down hard twice in the past four weeks, most recently for five days. Being a big geek, I run my personal domain and a couple others on a home server. So, not having an internet connection is a bit more of an inconvenience than just not being able to read slashdot. I can't get my email, my wife can't get her email, and she actually makes some freelance money through her email. So, I was, let's say, disgruntled a bit. To be more accurate, I asked my wife how much she liked one of our cars as I wanted to back it into AT&T's phone box up the street.
I placed my service call on Thursday and, initially AT&T's tech was scheduled for Friday. That didn't happen, but the tech did come on Saturday while I was out. In the past the AT&T tech's haven't been able to get to the phone box on the side of my house because they'd have to walk down my driveway to get to it. Since it is harder to find than a scientist at a Huckabee rally, I drew a map and put it in front of my house next to the gate the guards the phone box. I even drew red arrows and a path to the box that would make Bill Keane proud. The tech bothered my upstairs neighbor insisting he needed access. The neighbor was ill and in no mood to figure out what the tech wanted, so he went on his merry way. I contacted my ISP, Speakeasy, again and the support guy rescheduled AT&T for Monday. I planned to stay home Monday to escort the tech to the phone box. Fortunately I checked the trouble ticket Monday morning (dial-up, ick) and found that Covad hadn't managed to get AT&T scheduled for Monday. They'd get around to it Tuesday, probably by 1PM. 12:30 PM roles around on Tuesday, the tech shows up. He's standing outside scratching his head looking at his work order and trying to figure out how to penetrate the fortress of phone boxitude, so I go out and sherpa him down the driveway. About an hour later my line is working again perfectly.
I asked him what the problem was, and he informed me that AT&T has been conditioning lines in the neighborhood to support "LightSpeed", their new TV service, which I later discovered (with my working internet connection) is part of their U-Verse bundle. He told me that the folks working on the line tested mine for dial-tone, found none, and CUT it, despite the caps indicating it was a loop in service (I have "dry-line" DSL). It seems that, shockingly, the same intrepid explorers that can't find my phone box have no problem slashing through our local jungle of wires. The tech assured me that it probably wouldn't happen again as they were done working in my neighborhood. I'm not holding my breath. Oh, the tech also told me that the pair I was previously on was a "party line". It seems the copper in my neighborhood is that old. Probably a good thing though. Back in the day, they didn't spare expense in stringing wire.
The only up side to this is that I got to use my pringles cantenna to bridge my network to my neighbor's. I had to hack my dlink bridge/ap a bit to use an external antenna, but any day I get to use a soldering iron is a good one.
My DSL line has been down hard twice in the past four weeks, most recently for five days. Being a big geek, I run my personal domain and a couple others on a home server. So, not having an internet connection is a bit more of an inconvenience than just not being able to read slashdot. I can't get my email, my wife can't get her email, and she actually makes some freelance money through her email. So, I was, let's say, disgruntled a bit. To be more accurate, I asked my wife how much she liked one of our cars as I wanted to back it into AT&T's phone box up the street.
I placed my service call on Thursday and, initially AT&T's tech was scheduled for Friday. That didn't happen, but the tech did come on Saturday while I was out. In the past the AT&T tech's haven't been able to get to the phone box on the side of my house because they'd have to walk down my driveway to get to it. Since it is harder to find than a scientist at a Huckabee rally, I drew a map and put it in front of my house next to the gate the guards the phone box. I even drew red arrows and a path to the box that would make Bill Keane proud. The tech bothered my upstairs neighbor insisting he needed access. The neighbor was ill and in no mood to figure out what the tech wanted, so he went on his merry way. I contacted my ISP, Speakeasy, again and the support guy rescheduled AT&T for Monday. I planned to stay home Monday to escort the tech to the phone box. Fortunately I checked the trouble ticket Monday morning (dial-up, ick) and found that Covad hadn't managed to get AT&T scheduled for Monday. They'd get around to it Tuesday, probably by 1PM. 12:30 PM roles around on Tuesday, the tech shows up. He's standing outside scratching his head looking at his work order and trying to figure out how to penetrate the fortress of phone boxitude, so I go out and sherpa him down the driveway. About an hour later my line is working again perfectly.
I asked him what the problem was, and he informed me that AT&T has been conditioning lines in the neighborhood to support "LightSpeed", their new TV service, which I later discovered (with my working internet connection) is part of their U-Verse bundle. He told me that the folks working on the line tested mine for dial-tone, found none, and CUT it, despite the caps indicating it was a loop in service (I have "dry-line" DSL). It seems that, shockingly, the same intrepid explorers that can't find my phone box have no problem slashing through our local jungle of wires. The tech assured me that it probably wouldn't happen again as they were done working in my neighborhood. I'm not holding my breath. Oh, the tech also told me that the pair I was previously on was a "party line". It seems the copper in my neighborhood is that old. Probably a good thing though. Back in the day, they didn't spare expense in stringing wire.
The only up side to this is that I got to use my pringles cantenna to bridge my network to my neighbor's. I had to hack my dlink bridge/ap a bit to use an external antenna, but any day I get to use a soldering iron is a good one.
