It all started when I noticed that my ISP was offering up to 8MB connection at the same price I was paying for 1MB, I know my line can't handle 8MB due to the distance to the exchange where I live, but after checking online it seems I can get up to 2MB on the line so I opt to upgrade. The next day I came home from work and I could not get online. So I done the usual thing of checking the phone was working and then checking the connections for the extension lead. No joy! I then do the usual, check the modem uninstall and reinstall, try the other spare modem all to no avail.The next thing is to call up the ISP and see what they have to say.
Well thats when the fun begins.
Day 1:
I call up and get connected with a very nice woman in India (not so good a start as my ISP obviously uses Indian call centres so we both are going to have trouble understanding each other). We go through the usual things that I have all ready tried (See above) she then says they will call me back in the next 24 hours after they have tried something.
Day 3:
I don't get a call back so I call them again the next day and get asked to go through all the same stuff again, which I refuse to do as I tell them I have already done it myself and again with the woman 2 days ago and it also involves moving my computer half way across the house to the main telephone master socket.
So they check my line (why didn't they do that the first time???) and there does appear to be a fault at my local telephone exchange. I am told this will be taken care of and I will be back online in a maximum 3 days.
Bugger that means nearly a week of no internet access, no way to check my bank account, no online gaming with you guys and a host of other things that I need internet access for, that old saying you don't know what you got till it's gone is true.
Day 4:
I call up British telecom (this company supplies my house phone and are the ones in charge of fixing any line faults) to get an engineer out to check all the sockets in my house just to make sure the problem is not with my connections and he duely appears an hour later (fast service or what
) and they are all working fine I am told.Day 6:
3 days pass and i'm still offline.
Day 7:
4th day since my last contact so I call them, and guess what? I am asked to check all the previous things again! I refuse again saying that "You have already done this and you have already checked my line and found a fault at the exchange which I was told was going to be fixed by yesterday at the latest but hasn't been" They then say they need to call me back as they need to check and find out what the exact status of the repair is.
Since they are in India and my exchange is in England this is going to take time.They do call back this time, The fault is being worked and I am assured that I will be online by tomorrow evening at the latest.
Day 8:
Still no broadband.
Day 9:
I make another call and they tell me that i will definitely be online by tomorrow afternoon, I remind them, not so diplomatically that i was told something similiar yesterday, but am assured that it will be fixed.
Day 10 (late evening)
No Broadband!
Another call and i'm told that yet again they will have to call me back as they need to check on the status of the repair 
Day 11(Sunday Morning 08:00)
I get a call at the above time on a Sunday morning (not that early for some but remember I work till 01:00 and I am up till 04:00 nearly every night so this is a damm early call for me) the Fault is more complex than first thought and they need to replace some wiring at the exchange.
No emoticons at this point as i have lost all hope of getting back online within the next month by now and it is 08:00 in the morning and i have had less than 3 hours sleep so far. I'm told it will be fixed by tomorrow.
Day 12:
You guessed it!
Day 13:
Get a call and am told that the fault has just been fixed and could I please check if I can get online now! A quick glance at the computer tells me the answer is no as the little green light on the modem is still flashing indicating it is getting no signal down the line, but in a vain hope I restart the system. Still no Broadband, So I am told that she is checking the line right now and it does appear to be working can I please plug the modem into the main master socket to check there, this is a waste of time at this point as I already called out a British telecom engineer to test all the lines and sockets in my house and they all got a clean bill of health, but to humour her I say i'll do it but it will take about 5-10 minutes to move the computer, plug it all back together and restart it, "Ok" she says, and waits for me to do this.
PC moved and restarted, NO JOY! So she tells me the she just needs to check something again and comes back a minute later and says the the line is definitely active and that if I can't get online now the problem must now lie in my modem and she will get a new one sent out immediately but it might take 5 days to arrive. Guess what i'm thinking at this point? I try to explain that the modem is fine as I have 2 and they both show the same error fault and that the line must still be faulty, but she quickly says that we have to wait and check the new modem first and says goodbye. Less than 30 seconds later the little green light stops flashing and stays on constantly! I tentatively click on the internet explorer icon and i am instantly back on line again
. Go figure? But is only at my previous speed of 1MB.After waiting a few minutes for 300 + emails do download I get 10 yes that's 10 from my ISP dated today stating that my order to upgrade has been processed and completed but to expect varying speeds and possible short loss of service for the next 10 days while they test the line for it's maximum capacity. HO HUM
Currently I am running at 800Kbs less than what i had Geez
On the up side, the down time did let me get my entire system reinstalled and it is now running faster than ever as I alter how microsoft installs XP to let me get a faster windows XP Pro experiance, didn't get the chance to do it properly when i got my new processor, GFX card an hard drive last year.
Overall it's been a complete nightmare.
