The Disconnected World Of Durango Jones In Texas

The following was written last night when I was lamenting my world without an Internet connection. This morning I am back at Miss Puerto Rico's and connected...

I am still without an Internet connection in my abode. This is like when the water is turned off or the power goes out. You don't realize how much you use something until it is gone. Two seconds ago I was trying to think of a word and thought I'll just Google it. Doesn't happen without an Internet connection.

I am cut off from email. I can't blog. I can't read a blog. I can't Tweet. I can't read Twitter. I can't read news. I can't Scrabble on Facebook. I can't check my Google Account.

I am so forlorn suffering through this hell I am living.

I don't even know how cold it is, or if some impending weather disaster is about to zap me, because my Internet connection is not working.

How did people ever live without an Internet connection?

Charter Communication Internet Woes

Yesterday afternoon my Internet connection ceased being connected. I dread calling Charter Communication and eventually being connected to someone in the Philippines calling himself Joe and not speaking English very well.

Well. Yesterday's call brought fresh aggravation. After I'd entered all the identifying info I was told there were outages all over Alabama. I'm not in Alabama.

Then I was told to hold for very important information about my area. A woman's voice came on telling me the date and time. And then told me due to Hurricane Ike my area was experiencing widespread outages. She then gave me a number to call to find out when service would be restored in my area.

Well, I'm not in the Hurricane Ike damage area. So, I hit a button. A voice told me I really needed to listen to the message. And then it played again. I went through 3 rounds of this when another voice asked if I'd like to speak to a customer support technician. Hit '1' if you do.

I hit '1'. Almost instantly a woman answered speaking perfect English. She asked identifying info including the last 4 digits of my SS #. Then she told me there were problems in West Fort Worth. I'm in East Fort Worth I told her.

She then told me she saw no problem with my connection. She then wanted me to reset the modem. Had already done that. About then the connection started working again.

Before I got off the phone I asked if she was in the Philippines. No, she said she was in Florida. She said people are often surprised not to get a Philipino.

So, this morning the Internet went out again. I dreaded it, but I called again. This time I didn't get the Hurricane Ike message. Instantly got a real person on the line. An American. Is Charter improving customer service? So, someone is supposed to arrive to fix the connection between 2 and 4 this afternoon, calling an hour before to confirm.

We'll see how that goes. In the meantime, I'm using Miss Puerto Rico's Internet Connection. It's DSL and I don't believe it has ever been down.