• Privacy Policy
  • Thrift Store Finds
  • Fresh From The Farm
  • Craft Projects
    • Pinterest Party
    • Aprons
    • Quilting
    • Fabric
    • Sewing
    • Tutorials
    • Beads
    • Crafts
    • Jewelry
  • Shop & Support Me!
    • Shop Gluten Free on Amazon.com
    • Shop Omaha Steaks
    • Schwan’s Home Delivery on Amazon.com
    • Maryland Crabs
  • Book Shelf
    • Adult Fiction
    • Children’s Books
    • Cookbooks
    • Craft & Sewing
    • Gardening
    • Non Fiction
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Good food, good company, good advice from Grandma

  • Home
  • Contact
    • About
      • About My Header
    • Hi, PR. What can I do for you?
    • Disclosure
    • Giveaway Rules: Please Read Them
    • Privacy Policy
    • Follow Me! Social Media Links
    • Recognition & Awards
    • FabGrandchildren
  • Gluten Free
  • The House
    • Getting Pre-Approved
    • Finding The One
    • The Loan Application
    • Closing The Loan
    • Fixing It Up
    • Thrift Store Finds
    • The Yard & Garden
  • Local
  • Travel
    • Campground Reviews
    • Hotel & Motel Reviews
    • Places I Want To Go
    • Alabama
    • Arizona
      • Colorado river
      • Grand Canyon
      • North Rim
    • Arkansas
    • California
    • Colorado
    • Florida
      • Amelia Island
      • Destin
    • Georgia
      • Atlanta
      • Helen
      • Marietta
      • Savannah
      • The Golden Isles
    • Louisana
    • Maryland
    • Mexico
    • Mississippi
      • Tunica
    • Missouri
    • Nevada
    • New Mexico
    • New York
    • North Carolina
    • Oklahoma
    • Pennsylvania
    • Tennessee
    • Texas
    • Utah
    • Virginia
      • Richmond
  • Health
    • Atherosclerosis
    • Chronic Pain
    • COPD
    • Fibromyalgia
    • Ostomy Life
    • PTSD
    • Rosacea
    • Skin Cancer
    • Sleep Apnea
    • Type II Diabetes
  • Recipes
    • Re-Create The Recipe
  • Gift Guides
    • 2016 Holiday Gift Guide
      • 2016 Holiday Gift Guide Sponsors
    • 2015 Holiday Gift Guide
      • 2015 Holiday Gift Guide Sponsors
    • 2014 Gift Guide
    • 2013 Holiday Table Gift Guide
      • Sponsors For Our 2013 Holiday Table Gift Guide
    • 2013 Family Gift Guide
      • 2013 Family Gift Guide Sponsors
    • 2012 Grandma’s Gift Guide
  • Fashion
  • Show Search
Hide Search

Oh, The Girl Has Internetz Troublz!

Karen · 5 Comments

Share2
Tweet
Pin
Share
2 Shares

So, this week has been a week of internet dispair for me. Yes I admit it, the internet is addiction. Just like some people are addicted to meth or cocaine, I am an internet junkie. I can’t help myself–I gotta have it!

For the last two years or so, I have used Verizon MI-FI for my source of internet service. It has worked fine in most every place we have been with the exception of deep central Alabama, when we were volunteering for the Forest Service. Luckily, the Forest Service provided us with satellite internet so I could get my fix.

My dead 4G LTE MI-FI

On Tuesday, my 4G LTE MI-FI device died. Just quit connecting to the internet. Yes, I KNOW I am lucky to even get a signal from Verizon at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. A lot of folks who live up here during the season can’t get a signal from their homes. But, I just happen to live in a place where I can get 4 bars. The signal comes from across the canyon–the tower is on the South Rim. I just got this 4G upgrade in February, and it worked so-so at the house. Once we got back to the canyon, though, it has worked just find. Until it died.

When I was sure that I was never going to get online again with that device, I called Verizon tech support, and they spent an hour and a half with me on the phone, doing this, then that, then something else, before the tech support person cried Uncle and declared the device dead. She said she would ship me a new one. I told her to go ahead and send it, but it takes a while to get to me here at the North Rim, even when they say two day delivery. It still isn’t here.

The next thing I tried was tethering the Droid to the computer. That worked great, but only one person could get online at a time, and that left Fabgrandpa without his morning news and websites that he reads, so that was unacceptable. He told me to order DSL from Qwest, not called Century Link. I dreaded making the call, because my last interaction with them was less than good. But we have to have internetz. We just do. So, I called.

The first representative I talked to could not find my address in the system. Without the address, they can not create a service order. I understand what she is up against, because I used to write service orders for BellSouth, many years ago in another life. But I gave her the only address I know up here, and she said it didn’t exist. I hung up frustrated. But, my friend Geogypsy
just had her internet service installed, so I called her to find out what to do. She gave me a special phone number and secret code, which when used, gets you a service representative that knows about the remote areas out here in northern Arizona.

The second phone call went very well, and a installation order was created, with a due date of April 27. The service technician came out on April 26 and told me the service should be working. But it wasn’t and I couldn’t call repair until after five o’clock on the due date.

This morning, I plugged in the router (which they insisted on calling a modem) and inserted the telephone line, and nothing. The DSL light was flashing green, and the Internet light was not lit up. I called repair service. After asking me several questions, they asked me if the modem was connected to the wall jack. Well, we don’t have a wall jack. We live in a travel trailer. To install a wall jack, we would have to cut a hole in the wall, which is not going to happen. And we have connected DSL directly to the outside telephone box in the past, several times, and it has always worked. I wound up calling the guy a pretty bad name and hanging up on him, because he kept telling me that because I connected the wire myself, they would have to send out a repair tech to “fix” it and charge me $85.

After I tried everything I knew how to do, I got in the truck and drove over to Geogyspy’s place look and see how her DSL service was connected in the box outside, because it just didn’t look right to me when I looked at how mine was connected. I went back home, got a short telephone wire, the router, and a drop cord, and took them outside. I plugged one end of the telephone cord into the outside box in the jack that the tech told me he had connected the DSL to, and one end into the back of the router. Nothing happened. Then I moved the telephone cord into the OTHER jack in the outside box, and the DSL light lit up and so did the internet light.  The installation technician had told me the wrong jack!

I did it!

So, since my extra long telephone cable only had loose wire on the outside end, and the correct jack in the outside box required a plug, I had to do a little splice work to make things work. I cut the short telephone cable off, leaving about 6 inches of cable with the plug. Then I had to strip the red and green wires, twist them to the red and green wires on the long cord, and then use electrical tape to tape the whole thing up. Finally, after about two and a half hours of working with it, I had my DSL service connected.

When I took the router back in the trailer and connected the telephone cable, the DSL light was lit green, but the internet light was still orange, which meant the internet was not working. One more phone call to Century Link, and everything is now working fine. CenturyLink should pay ME $85.

Share2
Tweet
Pin
Share
2 Shares

Filed Under: Life on the road

Reader Interactions

Creative Fabrica

Comments

  1. Carolyn Sasek says

    April 28, 2012 at 6:12 pm

    Right on FabGrandma!! 😉

    Reply
  2. Nina F says

    April 28, 2012 at 9:58 pm

    Wow…tethering and splicing. I’m impressed!

    Reply
    • Fab Grandma says

      April 28, 2012 at 10:37 pm

      I did work for the telephone company in Georgia for 20 years. And, I am not afraid to try.

      Reply
  3. Gaelyn says

    April 30, 2012 at 9:33 am

    Great job. I could have given you a longer cord and still can if you’re interested.

    Reply
  4. Crystal @ Simply Being Mommy says

    April 30, 2012 at 1:26 pm

    You go girl!

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Food Advertising by logo

Become A Fab Follower: Sign Up To Follow Me By Email

Subscribe to my e-mail list

* indicates required

…

Amazon Gift Cards

Target
Food Advertising by logo

Fabgrandma Privacy Policy

Privacy Policy

My Most Popular Posts

Search Fabgrandma

Get Inexpensive Bi-focals! Mine were under $50!

Amazon Deals!

My Wish List--Buy Me Something, You Know You Want To!

Read All My Old Posts!

Chat Line Numbers - Find someone interesting to chat with.
AffordablePapers.com
- get your essay written for cheap.
logo
Food Advertisements by
7312ae17c7fe3ae0c134229c583882db-332

© 2021 · FAB GRANDMA · ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Find Your Influence
This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.Accept Reject Read More
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled

Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.

Non-necessary

Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.

SAVE & ACCEPT