I personally feel you are missing the boat. I just spent a bit over a week without the internet. I couldn't get very much help and the help that was available to me was stupid expensive. Let me explain....
I decided to move my main computer hub from an upstairs bedroom to a more centralized location in my home. Upon reconnecting everything, absolutely nothing worked. No amount of internal checking with IE (or firefox for that matter) could determine what the problem was. All I kept getting internally was to check my ethernet connection. IOW, I had zero connection with my ISP. A call to ATT verified that all was fine with the signal they sent to my home, but would gladly send someone out for a fee of course.
D-Link was nearly IMPOSSIBLE to get a hold of (I had a D-Link 2320B DSL modem and a DIR-615 wireless router). Being in the eastern time zone, and their technical support being on western time zone time.... I could only try and call them in the evening. Several nights of being on hold for twenty minutes or more I would end up hanging up and continuing to try and trouble shoot the problem myself. I finally waited for over THIRTY SEVEN minutes on hold and got a live person. He spent several minutes asking questions about my gear, how I had everything connected and what I had already done to trouble shoot my problem. We're now about fifteen minutes into our conversation and he pronounces proudly that he's absolutely confident he can help me fix my problem. But was I "aware" that there would be a fee. I said sure, no problem (I had the CC ready).... until, that is, he explained exactly what that fee would be. He quoted me a price of $75 for an hours worth of service. I asked him how long he thought it might take and he again, very proudly proclaimed.... "no more than five or ten minutes." So I asked if I would be charged on a pro-rated basis and he said no.... but I had a full year to use the remaining minutes of service. What a great deal! I hung up.
I then call ATT the next evening (their help service isn't available until 9:00 Am EST. They said that since I didn't have ATT equipment it would be $15 per month, but I could have unlimited IT service 24/7. I once again thought about it and was ready to do it (being the technically challenged guy that I am) thinking it was an investment I probably should make. Untill she told me I needed to pay a $99 fee to sign up for the service. I said "look.... I just need help with this one little problem - is there a one time fee I can pay and be done with it?" She said "Sure! - it's only $129.00" I hung up on her too.
Fast forward to this past Saturday, I stop by a computer shop after work. You know, one of thos shops where they custom build ubber machines for gamers and the like. They were busy, but a very nice guy took a long time asking questions about my gear and what I did un-hooking everything and exactly what I had done setting everything back up. He explained that the modem and router need to be connected and powered up in a certain order and to try that. If that didn't work, he suggested that my modem may have decided to take a dump right at the minute I had disconnected it.... but he doubted it. He even gave me times to call when they were not traditionally busy and he'd try and talk me through it. But, being a holiday weekend, they would be closed Sunday and Monday.
So I tried everything he told me and still.... nothing worked. In frustration, I go to BB and purchase another modem on Monday. I buy an ATT modem figuring it "should" be able to connect with my ATT service and configure itself with ease. I install it and voile.... I have service. For about an hour on Monday and then nothing until this morning. I'm about at my wits end with this. I have yet to connect up my router and other computers or my VOIP phone. So, I'm crossing my fingers in anticipation.
A few of you IT guys (or several really) need to get together and form a company where by you are available on a per minute or quarter of an hour basis. The D-Link guy was a pleasant fellow and I would have gladly paid the $75 per hour to fix my problem. If they would have charged on a per minute or by the quarter of an hour. I don't know how you would set up or work something like that, but for a nincompoop like me, a service like that would be a Godsend.
:ufo:
I decided to move my main computer hub from an upstairs bedroom to a more centralized location in my home. Upon reconnecting everything, absolutely nothing worked. No amount of internal checking with IE (or firefox for that matter) could determine what the problem was. All I kept getting internally was to check my ethernet connection. IOW, I had zero connection with my ISP. A call to ATT verified that all was fine with the signal they sent to my home, but would gladly send someone out for a fee of course.
D-Link was nearly IMPOSSIBLE to get a hold of (I had a D-Link 2320B DSL modem and a DIR-615 wireless router). Being in the eastern time zone, and their technical support being on western time zone time.... I could only try and call them in the evening. Several nights of being on hold for twenty minutes or more I would end up hanging up and continuing to try and trouble shoot the problem myself. I finally waited for over THIRTY SEVEN minutes on hold and got a live person. He spent several minutes asking questions about my gear, how I had everything connected and what I had already done to trouble shoot my problem. We're now about fifteen minutes into our conversation and he pronounces proudly that he's absolutely confident he can help me fix my problem. But was I "aware" that there would be a fee. I said sure, no problem (I had the CC ready).... until, that is, he explained exactly what that fee would be. He quoted me a price of $75 for an hours worth of service. I asked him how long he thought it might take and he again, very proudly proclaimed.... "no more than five or ten minutes." So I asked if I would be charged on a pro-rated basis and he said no.... but I had a full year to use the remaining minutes of service. What a great deal! I hung up.
I then call ATT the next evening (their help service isn't available until 9:00 Am EST. They said that since I didn't have ATT equipment it would be $15 per month, but I could have unlimited IT service 24/7. I once again thought about it and was ready to do it (being the technically challenged guy that I am) thinking it was an investment I probably should make. Untill she told me I needed to pay a $99 fee to sign up for the service. I said "look.... I just need help with this one little problem - is there a one time fee I can pay and be done with it?" She said "Sure! - it's only $129.00" I hung up on her too.
Fast forward to this past Saturday, I stop by a computer shop after work. You know, one of thos shops where they custom build ubber machines for gamers and the like. They were busy, but a very nice guy took a long time asking questions about my gear and what I did un-hooking everything and exactly what I had done setting everything back up. He explained that the modem and router need to be connected and powered up in a certain order and to try that. If that didn't work, he suggested that my modem may have decided to take a dump right at the minute I had disconnected it.... but he doubted it. He even gave me times to call when they were not traditionally busy and he'd try and talk me through it. But, being a holiday weekend, they would be closed Sunday and Monday.
So I tried everything he told me and still.... nothing worked. In frustration, I go to BB and purchase another modem on Monday. I buy an ATT modem figuring it "should" be able to connect with my ATT service and configure itself with ease. I install it and voile.... I have service. For about an hour on Monday and then nothing until this morning. I'm about at my wits end with this. I have yet to connect up my router and other computers or my VOIP phone. So, I'm crossing my fingers in anticipation.
A few of you IT guys (or several really) need to get together and form a company where by you are available on a per minute or quarter of an hour basis. The D-Link guy was a pleasant fellow and I would have gladly paid the $75 per hour to fix my problem. If they would have charged on a per minute or by the quarter of an hour. I don't know how you would set up or work something like that, but for a nincompoop like me, a service like that would be a Godsend.
:ufo:
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