Nearly a week without an update… well, you can blame my router for that one. Let me tell the story.

About 2 weeks ago, I ordered a nice upgrade to my ADSL. A 1Mbps line – very sweet 😉 . Anyway, it took a week for the order to be processed and the regrade carried out on the server.

During the night before the new line was supposed to come online, I lost all net connection (tho I didn’t find out until the following morning). Being the not-too-fussed sorta chap that I am, I merely let this slide as part of the upgrade process. So I went to work, expecting to come back to super-fast download speeds. Uh-huh. Still no connection. My ISP’s support line closes at 5. I get home from work at 5.10. Bugger.

So anyway, the next day, I phone them up and explain what I know – that I was due to be regraded and that the line stopped working 2 nights ago and I’ve had no ADSL since. The support monkey on the end of the line reckons that BT haven’t finished the regrade properly, but as it’s a weekend, there’s nothing he can do. So no net access all weekend either.

Monday rolls by, along with another call to tech support. BT then go check my line, clear a fault and report back to my ISP. As I have no net access, I do not find this out till the next morning. So again, I go home and expect super-fast downloads. Again, uh-huh. Sigh. I try everything – resetting the router, swapping cables… basically everything I could think of.

So today, another call went in. This time a BT engineer came by my flat to check everything from my end. He was able to get connected using his own laptop and modem. So again, I come home and try absolutely everything I could think of, to get the router to connect. Still no joy. So one quick trip to PC World later and I’m back at the flat with a USB ADSL modem. Shock horror, it works first time. The jump between 512Kbps and 1Mpbs is amazing.
So my router is bust. With it goes my wireless and my network. It’s only 2 months old as well. Methinks tech support will be giving me an RMA so I can return it and get another…

On the bright side, at least now I have a chance to sort through the 180 e-mails that were waiting for me…