Post by Master Shake on Mar 19, 2010 15:25:45 GMT
Oh yes! Long anecdote time from Shake again!
We no longer pay for our own internet connection since moving, and 95% of the time, I love it, and, 95% of the time, it works properly, with, as happens with wifi, the occasional dropout. These became more frequent a few weeks ago, for me, the manager, and everyone else who tries to access our network. The manager here called in the ISP who said they would replace the apparently 10-year-old equipment in the 'nerve centre' room, thus improving quality.
They've sort of done that, with the result, for me, and two other users on this side of the building, that the dropouts have stopped, but that our connected speed, previously consistent at 11MB, now fluctuates between 11, 24, 36, 48, and 54MB.
You’d think with higher numbers, we’d get better connectivity, right? Wrong! When the speed increases beyond 11, we can’t do a damn thing on the internet. And this is happening a lot. Apparently as part of the fix, they installed a ‘repeater’ which is supposedly designed to enhance the signal between the ‘nerve centre,’ the antenna, the rooms on this side of the building, and the office area, which of course needs a consistent connection as well. So all week we’ve had spotty, ‘fast-but-not-working’ internet access on this side of the building, while apparently the office side is ‘perfect.’ None of this happened before they installed that repeater.
They’ve been here, of course they have, and after much knuckle dragging, head scratching, and motionless staring at my screen (I kid you not!) one even admits he’s ‘not the computer guy – he retired when he had his leg amputated’ and they go away. I tell them as plainly as I can that something has happened since they installed that repeater.
This morning my connection seems more stable than its been all week, consistent at that 11MB sweet spot, and sure enough ten minutes ago the one who apparently is the computer guy has just knocked at my door, telling me my connectivity should be good through the weekend. They’ve unplugged the repeater, which was, apparently causing my signal to come from either the repeater (bad, >11MB) or the antenna (good, constant 11MB) whenever it wants, rather than one or the other specifically and consistently. Apparently on Monday they’re going to move the antenna closer to me and the problematic users on this side of the building, and ‘force’ the repeater to send signals to the office side and for us to receive our signals solely from the antenna.
I think. At least, after a week of nothing, that sort of made some kind of sense. Whether they can actually do it though? Not holding my breath.
But, optimistically, I have to think, hey, surely eventually they’ll fix it. And at least it isn’t costing me any money. But when one of them (the non-computer guy) didn’t know what Windows XP Service Packs were, and the other (the actual computer guy) didn’t recognize Google Chrome as a web browser, I worry a little.....
We no longer pay for our own internet connection since moving, and 95% of the time, I love it, and, 95% of the time, it works properly, with, as happens with wifi, the occasional dropout. These became more frequent a few weeks ago, for me, the manager, and everyone else who tries to access our network. The manager here called in the ISP who said they would replace the apparently 10-year-old equipment in the 'nerve centre' room, thus improving quality.
They've sort of done that, with the result, for me, and two other users on this side of the building, that the dropouts have stopped, but that our connected speed, previously consistent at 11MB, now fluctuates between 11, 24, 36, 48, and 54MB.
You’d think with higher numbers, we’d get better connectivity, right? Wrong! When the speed increases beyond 11, we can’t do a damn thing on the internet. And this is happening a lot. Apparently as part of the fix, they installed a ‘repeater’ which is supposedly designed to enhance the signal between the ‘nerve centre,’ the antenna, the rooms on this side of the building, and the office area, which of course needs a consistent connection as well. So all week we’ve had spotty, ‘fast-but-not-working’ internet access on this side of the building, while apparently the office side is ‘perfect.’ None of this happened before they installed that repeater.
They’ve been here, of course they have, and after much knuckle dragging, head scratching, and motionless staring at my screen (I kid you not!) one even admits he’s ‘not the computer guy – he retired when he had his leg amputated’ and they go away. I tell them as plainly as I can that something has happened since they installed that repeater.
This morning my connection seems more stable than its been all week, consistent at that 11MB sweet spot, and sure enough ten minutes ago the one who apparently is the computer guy has just knocked at my door, telling me my connectivity should be good through the weekend. They’ve unplugged the repeater, which was, apparently causing my signal to come from either the repeater (bad, >11MB) or the antenna (good, constant 11MB) whenever it wants, rather than one or the other specifically and consistently. Apparently on Monday they’re going to move the antenna closer to me and the problematic users on this side of the building, and ‘force’ the repeater to send signals to the office side and for us to receive our signals solely from the antenna.
I think. At least, after a week of nothing, that sort of made some kind of sense. Whether they can actually do it though? Not holding my breath.
But, optimistically, I have to think, hey, surely eventually they’ll fix it. And at least it isn’t costing me any money. But when one of them (the non-computer guy) didn’t know what Windows XP Service Packs were, and the other (the actual computer guy) didn’t recognize Google Chrome as a web browser, I worry a little.....