Time for another grumble and grouch

For the past few weeks I’ve been experiencing BIG problems with my Internet connection.

It’s not my ISP, I cannot fault them, if, and when, I’ve had need to call them on the ‘phone; I’m not shunted off to India, or shuffled off to Buffalo, oops the Philippines. I go straight to to their call centre, right here in Australia, Adelaide to be precise, and speak to somebody I can actually understand, and more importantly who understands me.

No; it’s the fault of the ‘pollies’, the clowns in Canberra who are in the process of ruining this country. Our Liberal Country Party. Think GOP and you wont be far off

Our previous government had plans for a national network that would have brought us a fast and furious/efficient Internet connection, but for some idiotic reason beyond all understanding the people voted them out and the clowns in.

Probably because the leader, Bozo, was a very rich banker, estimated to be worth over $A 200,million which is around $US 152,million; and it was thought that he could manage the country well. Didn’t they realize that bankers whether ex or otherwise put themselves and money first?

So what did said Prime Minister 🎩 malcolm turnbull  (to give him his correct title and dignity 🎩) do? He opted out of of the planned network, and changed to what he, and his cohorts, called the NBN – National Broadband Network, or more properly, C&N; 

           CHEAP & NASTY !

 

IT DON’T WORK! 😩😠

What is more infuriating, NBN is actually compulsory!

Wait!

That’s not all!

The new modem that I  bought recently, top of the line, cost a lot; won’t work with the NBN; I have to buy their modem, and why you may well ask.

Well, it seems it’s my own fault; I’m not keen on using mobile/cell phones, I can live without one, but I do want/need and like a  telephone that is not a camera: one of those old fashioned things, where you actually to talk to to a person; not have to read messages,  look at photos,  but actually speak.

Here we refer to these old fashioned  telephones as ‘landlines’; and my one has a really nice ‘ring’ which is not a ring but a blast from Tchaikovsky, ‘Swan Lake’, that even I can hear quite well. Not some miserable little jingle,or a vibrating/buzzing, from this  little contraption, that I have to carry, where’er I walk, at all times and in all places; so as not to miss a message or a photo.  Heaven forbid!

So, as I said, it’s my fault, because with this new state of the art Internet connection through NBN, I’ll need their special modem, as my land line will no longer be a separate line into the house, but has to come through the Foxtel cable, and the modem. 

I’ve never heard of anything so ludicrous; my phone has to come through the cable TV line and the modem.

“What happens if my Internet drops out” I ask, “tough, you have no phone connection”, is what I’m basically told.  “I’m paying for a phone connection, and I expect to be able to use it”, falls on deaf ears!

My ISP sent me notification, when the compulsory switch was to take place, and told me that the new modem would be sent to me, and the cost would be charged on two monthly accounts. Well they’re not really monthly accounts, as they just go ahead and deduct the cost from one of the War Offices accounts. she has more accounts than I have, and I think it’s a nice arrangement.

I haven’t asked her if she agrees, 😈

The new modem arrived a couple of days later, and to say I was disgusted  is putting it mildly. If the owner of these pages wasn’t such a wowser, who disapproves of expletives, I’d have something more to say.

Be that as it may the thing I received is a flimsy white ‘box’ made by Huawei, – some of you may have heard that that bloke who owns/runs facebook was selling stuff to some Chinese companies ( I still can’t understand how a Communist country; can have privately owned companies) which the United States regards as a big security risk, and first cab off the rank is Huawei!

Naturally, to make things easy all writing on this modem, is in another shade of white.  Brilliant; I kid you not!

All this started back in September/ October 2017,  NBN were scheduled to install their garbage on the 17th October. My first e-mail letter of complaint was sent off on the 18th; I won’t bore you further, by pasting a copy of that e-mail, but my reason for complaining was simple.

Their technician didn’t turn up to do the installation, I’d  waited in all day; and he did not have the decency to call me, or even to text me, to say he couldn’t make it, I just received a notice from NBN the following morning to say that they would be sending a technician on the 25th and to be there! Hence my first letter on the 18th.

There was a few small drop outs after the installation, but nothing to cause great concern.

Little did I know what was building up!

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The problems started about four or five weeks ago, the ‘net just dropped out, so I did what everyone does in such circumstances, turned off the thing with the flashing lights, the modem, and went made a cuppa tea, went back and switched on, Everything Jake!

But not for long, an hour or so later out it went again, didn’t bother with the tea this time, just went through the usual routine, same result. back up everything Jake!

Wasn’t long before it went again. Enough is sufficient! Onto the blower, hair bristling, staying calm, sort of; the people in Adelaide are always polite and helpful, so I’ve never blasted them, which is something I’m inclined to do, when the mood, or situation, gets me, blast the poor devil at the other end of the line.

As I said, I stayed calm, and asked what was going on with my connection.

How they do it, I neither know nor care, but they checked my connection and told me everything was fine, and as it should be. I assured them it wasn’t as the damned Internet kept dropping out.

They put me on ‘Hold’ whilst they rang NBN, came back, and advised me that NBN were having problems in the area, and it should be fixed and working properly ‘very soon’ ; I’ve heard that before!

Next day same problem, more drop outs than Sydney Uni; 5 drop outs in a little over an hour, so, on the blower to Adelaide. The ‘teckie’ I got must have been new, or forgot I was on the NBN, as the first thing he told me to do, was to turn my modem off.  Silly me, I forgot, and did as I was told.  Bye bye ‘teckie’!

No Internet connection = no landline connection.

Few seconds later my mobile does what it does, when it wants me, made some sort of noise. My teckie was back! After going through the usual drill, he came to the conclusion that it would be best to get a teckie out from NBN. ‘Fine’ says me, ‘how soon?’  he told me he’d get onto NBN straight away, and they’d send me a date and time. Which they did.

I got a text message on my mobile, telling me that they would be sending a technician the following Thursday between 0800 & 1200, (they in there ‘dumbness’ actually said between 8 am and 12 pm,  – which actually comes a split second after 11.5999 am, a jump of 12 hours presumably. Why can’t they just use the word noon, it’s not hard and easy to spell and there is no such time as 12 pm or am). I was not asked if this was convenient; just told to be here!

Frustrated and fed up, I switched the computer off, and switched the idiot box on, which has been pretty much all that’s been going on the last few weeks; I’ve gone on line for a short time each day, emptied the mail box, acknowledged what was needed, got rid of the dross, turned off, and watched TV!

There’s plenty of rubbish. as we all agree, but there are/was a few programs that amused me, one in particular, which reminded me of some bloke/guy living on the Sandwich Isles, eating Spam sandwiches, which is what one does when one lives on those islands, whilst lounging around in a grass skirt. I might attempt a post on that, sometime in the distant future, just to wind said bloke/guy up.

Mostly I watched that series, ‘The West Wing’, again.  When you’re in for a long wait, what could be better? I love this program; I’ve watched it many times, all 7 seasons  20 plus episodes a season, there are so many mistakes, lack of continuity thrown in, that each time I watch the series, I find something new to amuse me and to pick! I must admit I fast forward through much of the action.

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The technician arrived at 9 am, which was pleasing, and a nicer, polite, more pleasant young man, you couldn’t wish to meet. He worked diligently for quite some time, I offered him coffee, but he politely refused and continued working. He found everything in house was as it was supposed to be, and then set about checking out side, where the men had laid the line, leading into the house, and joining up with Foxtel’s cable. Here he found a problem, the initial connection was faulty, and would have to be repaired /replaced by the ‘roll-out’ people; and he made temporary repairs, that he hoped, would keep it going, until such time as they came and rectified the problem.

About an hour after he left the damned thing packed up again. Same drill onto the ISP in  Adelaide (I cannot imagine the trouble, and problems I’d have had, had I had to have dealt with someone in some foreign country) and another text from NBN: identical to the other one they sent me.  They must just push a button and send this same message out in droves, just change the date and time!

I was fortunate enough to have the same techie call on me, arrived right on 0800; and I don’t know what he did, but it hasn’t cut out since his second visit. I think he did something to the Foxtel line, which is a definite no,no! After which he told me that the main fault lies with the Foxtel setup, and that they would have to come out, and change their installation from cable, to dish.; and also that as the fault was theirs, there would be no charge to me. Sounds good to me.

He asked me to get them on the phone, and told me what to tell them, so I did this, the War Office was standing by, to take over the phone, should I do my block with Foxtel.  Sahel, the teckie also stood by me to make sure they didn’t try and pull the wool over my eyes and charge me for their mistakes.

Naturally, Foxtel being a murdock money making machine, they started to tell me how much it was going to cost me, and how much extra, I’d have to pay, each month for satellite TV as against cable, and Sahel asked for the phone, and in his nice calm voice, set them straight, told them what was wrong, told them their obligations, and asked for a date for them to come and fix their problem.

Would you believe it; they did exactly as he instructed them, and they are coming between 0700 and 1000 hours on Tuesday 10th July to install a satellite dish, and they confirmed this instantly with an email . I was in a state of shock.

Sahel, then wrote down, and gave me his mobile phone number, and asked me to call him direct, not through NBN, or the ISP, when the dish has been installed, he would come out and check make sure that they’ve done everything properly straight away.

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Hopefully, what Sahel did the last time, will hold out until the 10th July, and I might get myself motivated.