- Our home internet’s down. It went down on Saturday, and came back on for a few hours on Sunday before the blessed “online” light on the modem went off again. It’s done this a few times before, and always switched itself on and off every two or three hours for a couple of days before sorting itself out – but this time it’s stayed off since Sunday. I called Shaw yesterday, and the earliest they can send anyone out on a weekend is April 21st. They said the tech will probably just replace the modem when they come. Well, can they just send me a new modem immediately for me to try, which the tech can take back if they manage to fix the old one when they eventually show up? No, they can’t. So we’re without internet for almost four weeks.
- I tethered my iPhone to my laptop yesterday morning to check my work email. However, I’d forgotten that I’d hit “refresh” on my iTunes podcast list just before realising that the internet was still down, and as soon as the phone connected a bunch of huge files started to download in the background, unseen by me. While I was checking my email, my iTunes downloads ate up 92% of my cellular data allowance for the month. My billing period just started, so I essentially can’t use cellular data until April 23rd – I’m keeping the remainder of my allowance for picking up voicemails and any emergency use. So without WiFi OR cellular data access at home, there will be no more Words With Friends, Drawsome, or other fun internet-based games while I drink my morning tea. This makes me sad.
- This just happened (and yes, I’m the one who left the post-it):
BRRRRRRRRR, BOOOOOOOOOOO, and BAH HUMBUG!
Come on Cath, at least you had a shower at all. Some weeks ago they turned off ALL our water at work without telling anyone and so I didn’t have a shower after cycling, no glass of water, and no cup of tea.
Or the time when the fire alamer went off when I was in the shower. Or the time we had a major earthquake and two of my colleagues were in the shower. Always bring a towel that is large enough to cover all your precious bodyparts.
The internet-thing is really realy stupid though.I suppose they will still bill you for the weeks without internet, as any self-respecting internetprovider would?
Freezing cold showers on rainy March days still suck, even in the absence of earthquakes. Yes, they suck less than earthquakes, but they still suck 😉
Turning off ALL the water with no warning is ridiculous! At least I had a cup of tea to warm me up (kinda – it took a while to get fully warm).
I forgot to ask about getting our monthly bill reduced, because it was taking all the brain power I could muster not to yell at the poor tech support guy. I realise he’s absolutely not to blame for Shaw not hiring enough techs and not allowing tech support to send people new modems in the mail, but not yelling at the only available representative of the company whose attention I had was still difficult. I suppose now I have to call back… sigh.
you forgot the “bill reduction” well, lucky for you that should be only one phone call away,.. it sounds absolutely rediculus (i can’t spell)! 4 weeks to change a modem?! Then again, it sounds like comcast here so I’m not really that surprsed.
you know though, what’s happy about the week of the 21st of April??? (apart from getting internet)
*drumroll* I’m coming to town!!! WOHO! Vacation times!! And meeting famous Dr Cath 🙂
WOOHOO!!!
Wanna come round to my place and spend four hours waiting for the Shaw guy to show up?!* It’ll be AWESOME. We can order pizza!
*”some time between 12 and 4″ obviously means 3:55
How are you going to order pizza without any minutes left on your cell phone?
(sorry)
I have minutes left – tons of them, I could call the speaking clock for hours at a time – but no data allowance. i.e. without WiFi, I can’t use my iPhone to check email, use the internet, or play games that require the internet.
p.s. there was an American student in my block of student flats during the first year of my PhD who was ALWAYS in the shower when the fire alarm went off, which it did once every few weeks at all times of the day or night (drunken toast making will do that). She claimed she just showered more often and more thoroughly than “you dirty Europeans” (said jokingly – I think), but we decided it was more likely that she just liked being clad in only a towel when the firemen arrived.
How in the world does Shaw get away with taking four frickin’ weeks to get to your place to change the modem?? They should give you free internet for a year for dealing with that nonsense!
I’m sure they know that we know that Telus are just as bad!
What a horrible day! I hope today is better for you.
Can you just buy a modem and cancel the one with Shaw? We did – didn’t like the rental ‘terms’ on the Shaw package so bought our own. Worked out much cheaper too. Of course, when it breaks we are on our own, but given the price difference I think we end up about even.
I hate the long wait time for Shaw. When they cancelled our cable two days after moving in (activating the previous owner’s disconnect request two days AFTER activating our connect request) they initially told us it would be 4 weeks for it to come back on. In the end, after a combination of complaining that we couldn’t work from home when needed and pointing out the Shaw technician who disconnected us was technically on our land without our permission, they came out in three days. Took lots of complaining though. Perhaps some whining. Might have been a spot of yelling (no, I am not proud of that).
Well I had a nice hot shower (although the water pressure was pathetic), and we have a publication date for a certain paper you may be familiar with (yes, just one of the two closely related papers that were accepted by the same journal in the same week. No, this doesn’t make sense). So it’s definitely off to a better start than yesterday!
I remember you telling me the story about Shaw activating the previous owner’s disconnect request after activating your own connect request. Ridonculous! Maybe I will just buy a modem…
It’s Rogers here, who I do not like at all, but actually are quite responsive when things aren’t working. But generally speaking I am not a fan of any of the big three options in this part of the country (Rogers, Telus, Bell).
I did meet a previous Executive VP of Telus recently, but in a social situation that precluded me venting about their cell phone service. 😉
A couple of our friends work for Telus, but can’t get us a discount or else we’d switch 🙂
Did you happen to see the Rick Mercer Report this week? He had a skit about an online dating site that makes sure you’re matched up with someone who’s at the same point in the [“Bell SUCK, I’m moving to Rogers” -> Rogers honeymoon period -> “Rogers SUCK, I’m moving to Bell” -> Bell honeymoon period -> “Bell SUCK, I’m moving to Rogers”] cycle as you. I LOLed.