You don't know what you got 'till it's gone

Arrrrggghhhh!!!

I had no internet service over the weekend and it nearly KILLED me! OK, not really, I was able to get my internet fix while I was at work (shhh! Don't tell my manager!).

My local cable service provider, whom also supplies me with high speed internet, and who shall remain nameless (I don't want to piss them off now do I?) has been fiddiling with the cable for the past few weeks. Which explains why channels 4, 5, 6, and 7 have been very staticy and downright unwatchable at times. So I figure that my internet is tied to that in some way. They've done service before, and the internet usually goes down for one night. So I had to sit and suffer through the indignities of not being able to go on all the good gossip blogs all Saturday night, but I figure I'll survive one night. I baked an apple crisp in lieu of being able to surf, thinking all will be well on Sunday after I come home.

But NOOOO! There was my modem, with it's sad little LEDs blinking and taunting me with errors. So, doing all the tech support that I could figure out myself (I was also a little burned out because I had to tech support a friend over the phone at work because he couldn't get his cable-router all-in-one to work wirelessly), I was burnt out and resorted to my last measure, calling tech support at the cable company. I hate tech support. In fact, I hate talking on the phone all together. If I had my way, I would e-mail everyone for the rest of my life, and find all the information I would need over the internet, through product webpages and message boards. The only kink is when the internet doesn't work...

So anyway, I give the lady my info, and she says that the cable is working fine in my area. She told me it must be that the modem is on the fritz. Now granted, the thing is five years old, but it still worked pretty well, so I was skeptical that this was the cause. She told me that they would send someone over on Tuesday (tomorrow) to look at it, and perhaps supply me a new modem to rent (for $3 bucks a month to pop!). Being the skeptic that I am, I head off to work this morning, with the intention of using the internet to trouble-shoot my modem myself.

Well, talk about technology becoming obsolete at a breakneck speed, my old Motorola SurfBoard SB4100 modem (only 5 years old remember) isn't even listed on Motorola website anymore. There's support for you! So, fishing around for some more information, I finally decide to buy a new modem (it's a conspiracy I tell you! Making technology completely obsolete in a period of 5 years!). I decided to get the new model Motorola modem, the SB5120 (though, there is a SB5101 model, but I can't really tell the difference between the two). So a pit stop to Circuit City after work, and $80 later, I am now the proud owner of a new modem. And as you can tell, it works like a charm, since you all are reading this now, aren't you?

And to boot, it is a sleeker and smaller model all in black, instead of the old modem, which is a larger, clunky light grey. This new modem fits my current computer color scheme much better.

Long story short, I guess tech support was right this time, and I should probably trust what they are telling me every once in a while... Happy surfing!