I have a great deal of sympathy for customer service people, because they have to deal with people like me.
Especially the folks who sell and maintain Internet-related services. They are patient, enlessly kind, and willing ot explain things but ... too often, I just don't get it.
I do okay if they can tell me something practical to do ("Okay, Mike, now click on "Preferences" — its up in the upper left hand corner ... that's it. Good. You're doing great!"), I can handle that. But when they try to explain to me how things work (or lately, why things aren't working) I'm clueless. My friend Ted tried to explain to me how the Internet works yesterday, and I nodded along with him, because I understood the words he was saying, but the words did not conjure up an image that I could import into my knowledge file. After all these years, the whole deal is still a mystery to me. And no amount of experience with it nor the many conversations I've had with techies talking about it has improved my lot.
Today was no exception. This afternoon, I was trying to find out why I could receive e-mail, but couldn't send it. I installed my new DSL Modem Friday night and was initiated into the world of high-speed access with the help of a very nice fellow from Qwest who talked me through it like a pro (he was the pro, not me). We got everything all hooked up and — WOW — everything seemed to work. And gloriosky, was it fast! While he was on the line with me, I opened my browser and quickly found a couple of my favorite spots. I opened my e-mail program and right away, several e-mails dowloaded. Ah, that works, too! Delighted, I thanked the tech guy, hung up and whiled away a couple of hours traveling the world on Google Earth.
Woke up yesterday, nothing worked. I ended up having to restart my computer and then unplug and then replug the DSL Modem to get things going again. Once it was up, everything seemed to work. I decided to post on my blog again after a long absense, in part because I wouldn't have to wait so #$%&@ long for the old dial-up access to work. So I happily composed a post, put it up and composed an e-mail to everyone I know saying "I"m back" and ... I couldn't send the e-mail. It wouldn't go. It tried, then told me it couldn't do it.
After a long talk with the a techie at Qwest and then a techie at my ISP (a weekender, who couldn't figure it out and will have to have one of the regular 9-to-5 techies call me Monday) I was told I could send e-mail from ny ISP's WebMail feature. I, of course, did not know my ISP had a WebMail feature. So she graciously introduced me to it, and I was finally able to get off an announcement that you could find me here again.
I do feel a little better: Today, neither of the techies I talked to could figure out why it wasn't working. It shoulda. It coulda. I just didn't. And they can't tell me why. So I don't feel quite so dumb.
But I am getting a little niggling bit of paranoia. So far, the only things me and my techie phone pals could figure out to do about my DSL problems has been restart or unplug/replug. In fact, when you call in to talk to a techie on the DSL service line, they even have a recorded announcment suggesting that you unplug your modem and the plug it back in before you talk to the techie, with the assurance that "many times, this takes care of the problem." They don't even know what your problem is yet. Just unplug, replug. It all starts to sound like some strange ritual, performed to appease a capricious virtual god.
Maybe I don't want to know how the thing works, yo?
Hi Mike,
ReplyDeleteOK, maybe you don't really want to know all of this, but I've GOT to try... :)
The unplug/re-plug method of DSL repair works for the same reason that many other things work. Like for example, if you end a call with your phone you have to hang up your phone before making another call. Or if your PC locks up, often you can just shut it off and start it up again, and during startup, it resets all things back to their default status, so you aren’t locked up anymore. DSL is kind of like both of those. The reason you hang up the phone is to alert the central office that you are no longer on the call. So then when you pick up the phone again, it knows to give you a dial tone. It’s similar with DSL. When you unplug it, the host realizes you aren’t connected anymore. So when you plug it back in again, it knows you want to establish contact again. And since you are starting things back up again, just like your PC, it resets everything back to default states again, so everything works again because nothing is locked up. I don’t know all of the causes for lock-ups, but somehow variations in line voltage, bad software, and unusual spikes can cause your PC and/or your DSL to lock up. So that’s why the first thing you always try is a “cold start”, which is better than a “reboot” which doesn’t set everything back to known states.
As for the other conversation we had about ISPs, it looks something like this:
You your computer DSL Qwest CO your ISP the Internet
So you talk to your computer with the keyboard. Your PC is talking to the Qwest CO via the DSL, and Qwest forwards your information to your ISP (Internet Service Provider) who has purchased hi-speed connections to the Internet. So while you are using your client software (software on your computer such as Outlook and Internet Explorer), those programs know about your connection to the DSL etc. But email as such has to have a host, either at your ISP (qwest.net, pcisys.net, etc) or via web-based services such as Yahoo mail, G-mail, or hotmail.
This process looks a lot more like the post office than the phone network. You type data on your keyboard (similar to writing a letter), you hit return or click a send button (similar to putting it in an envelope with an address), your computer, the DSL, the Qwest CO do nothing except send it to your ISP (like getting a letter to the Post Office). The ISP reads the address and sends it to the correct destination (similar to how things are done at the post office). The internet, then, is the backbone so all the ISPs can talk to each other.
Does that help?
Ted
Hey, Mike!
ReplyDeleteMy comments won't rival Ted's, I am sure, but I couldn't resist getting on and letting you know that just as you have entered the world of high-speed, so Cynthia and I are, too! We'll all be high-speed together. I feel like a groupie :-)
ellen
Thanks Ted and Ellen,
ReplyDeleteStill feel more like an idiot than a groupie. And still haven't got my e-mail problem solved. Not sure I like the idea of all those ISPs taking to each other either, Ted. Sounds like some kind of plot.
Also having computer troubles at work: See next post.
M.
This is why I have Comcast....
ReplyDelete