Me:<\/strong><\/td>\n| My Internet service is down again. It\u2019s been going down once or twice a day for the last month. I think there\u2019s something wrong with the modem.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | RCN<\/strong> Tech: <\/strong><\/td>\n | Did you try power-cycling the modem and all your computers?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | Me:<\/strong><\/td>\n | That\u2019s not the issue. Power-cycling always fixes the problem for a few hours but then the service goes down again. I shouldn\u2019t have to power-cycle everything twice a day.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | RCN<\/strong> Tech:<\/strong><\/td>\n | Are there any lights on the modem?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | Me:<\/strong><\/td>\n | There are three: two steady and one flashing. These are the same three lights that glow whenever the service goes down.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | RCN<\/strong> Tech:<\/strong><\/td>\n | Well, I\u2019m looking at your modem right now and it says everything\u2019s fine.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | Me:<\/strong><\/td>\n | Well, it clearly isn\u2019t fine because I have a laptop sitting here directly connected to the modem and I can\u2019t get an IP address.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | RCN<\/strong> Tech:<\/strong><\/td>\n | Did you power-cycle your laptop before connecting it?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | Me:<\/strong><\/td>\n | No! The point is not<\/em> to have to power-cycle equipment every time I want to connect!<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | RCN<\/strong> Tech:<\/strong><\/td>\n | Well, everything looks fine from here.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | Me:<\/strong><\/td>\n | But it\u2019s clearly not fine from here. Look, I\u2019ll reboot the laptop, just like you said. [three minutes later] <\/em>OK, I rebooted everything and there\u2019s still no IP address.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | RCN<\/strong> Tech:<\/strong><\/td>\n | Did you reset the modem?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | Me:<\/strong><\/td>\n | THAT\u2019S NOT THE POINT!<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | RCN<\/strong> Tech:<\/strong><\/td>\n | I don\u2019t know what to tell you, sir, because I\u2019m able to ping the modem just fine.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | Me:<\/strong><\/td>\n | But clearly the problem is between the modem and the devices connected to the modem. Can you ping any of those?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | RCN<\/strong> Tech:<\/strong><\/td>\n | I\u2019m unable to ping any devices connected to the modem unless they have an IP address.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | Me:<\/strong><\/td>\n | But the problem is that nothing connected to the modem can get an IP address because the modem isn\u2019t working right! Are you saying your diagnostics have no way of identifying a problem between the modem and the devices connected to it?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | RCN<\/strong> Tech:<\/strong><\/td>\n | You do have the option of buying your own modem.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | Me:<\/strong><\/td>\n | Don\u2019t I pay RCN a lease fee every month for this modem?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | RCN<\/strong> Tech:<\/strong><\/td>\n | Yes, three dollars.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | Me:<\/strong><\/td>\n | So doesn\u2019t that entitle me to swap the modem for a new one?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | RCN<\/strong> Tech:<\/strong><\/td>\n | I guess it does. Do you know the address of your local service office?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | Me:<\/strong><\/td>\n | Yeah, never mind\u2026<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" | OK, Vincent Ferrari I’m not, but this was still a pretty frustrating call. I’ve actually been pretty happy with RCN service overall, but it appears their network diagnostics leave something to be desired. Me: My Internet service is down again. … Continue reading |