That felt good...

Wow, that rant felt good.

Turns out, all I needed to do was UNPLUG the cable modem from the wall (I went ahead and disconnected the ethernet cable, and the coax just to be sure) for 30 seconds.  Did the same for my laptop and my wireless router.  Just hitting the on/off switch on the cable modem wasn't enough to reset it.  Why the Comcast rep didn't mention that fact is beyond me.  (I guess that's part of the fun of being a tech support person.... and we've all probably heard tons of funny stories about stupid things users do in response to things tech support people tell them to do.  (although I'm not calling myself stupid here))

I think I'll still play some XBOX with my son for a little while after I get back from taking my wife on a hot date at the IHOP.  (nothing in the world like breakfast for dinner)

Comments

  • Anonymous
    August 18, 2003
    The reason are the following

    1. The device acts like a capacitor & needs 1 min to discharge

    2. Memory leaks in the stack software - after about x GB transfer, no usable memory buffers left.

    Ricky
  • Anonymous
    August 18, 2003
    I was wondering about your rant...I thought the whole point of VPN was so that you didn't need to have ports like 135, 139, etc. open...

    So what games do you play with your son on XBOX? Are you on XBOX Live? My son's a little young for video games yet ( < 6mo.), but I'm a confirmed XBOX fan. :-)
  • Anonymous
    August 18, 2003
    They must have blocked all ports except 80 (and probably 443). I specifically asked about the port used by my company's VPN, and they said, yes, it was blocked too. Go figure.

    I have 10 or so games andProject Gotham racing is my favorite, although Midnight Club is cool & I might buy it. The graphics are so-so, but the AI cars are cool. (Plus it's a rush to have 6 different cars taking different paths to a checkpoint.)

    I have an xbox live subscription but burned myself out within the first month. Had to quit so I could get some sleep.

  • Anonymous
    August 18, 2003
    IHOP rocks!
  • Anonymous
    August 18, 2003
    "Why the Comcast rep didn't mention that fact is beyond me."

    I worked in a call center once, and it's weird. Even if you know the solution to a problem, you still have to stick to the scripted answer sitting in front of you.

    For that reason, call center work is very frustrating.

    You have to keep all the correct answers deep inside of you where the customer will never see them.

    I'm glad I don't do call center work anymore.

    The rep you talked to was probably also answering the phone for QWest, Dell, and Sports Illustrated. He doesn't know if he should tell you that you can't get DSL at your location, that your PC will be shipped within 22 weeks, or that your football phone must have gotten lost in the mail.

    Actually, now that I think about it, it was a pretty fun job :)

    Still, though, coding for a living is pretty cool, too.
  • Anonymous
    August 18, 2003
    I was just about to go to bed when I realized that I had nearly missed the opportunity to post the world's dumbest joke in your blog.

    I was thinking about the rep, and about how he might have been really busy with calls about the latest and greatest worm.

    So, being a rep, and being really busy would make him...

    [Go get behind a bad-joke shield (seriously)]

    ...an overloaded operator!

    HA AH AHHAHA HAAH! WOOOO HOO HOH AHAHA HOHOHOHO!

    I'm sorry. I feel really bad about that. I'm going to bed.
  • Anonymous
    August 18, 2003
    i guess that's why i feel so at home with vb.... no operator overloading. ;)
  • Anonymous
    August 19, 2003
    The comment has been removed