I have been without internet for over a week due to a failed internet provider modem. Just got the internet back yesterday evening.
I believe the modem may have been 5 years old.
There was only 1 LED lighted on the modem and while talking with the Carrytel help person trying different things, the LED lights got very dim and finally no LEDs were lighted.
So the help person arranged for a Cogeco Tech to check out the cable signal.
A few days later, the Tech spent about an hour checking for signal at various points in my cable system and said the signal was good.
Talked with the Carrytel help person again and after some prodding from me, he agreed to send a new modem.
So they sent me a new modem which took a few days to arrive at the post office.
I then had to phone Carrytel again to tell the help person the Serial number and MAC number of the modem.
He then had to contact Cogeco to make the new connection.
Oh by the way, my home phone is a VOIP phone, so when my internet isn't working, niether is my home phone working. :-(
Luckily I do have a cell phone but I only have a certain number of minutes, per month with my prepaid plan.
So back on the phone again to the Carrytel person to see if the Cogeco connection has been completed.
The connection has been completed so I go through the process with the Help person on getting my modem connected.
After a long time, still using up my cell phone minutes, the modem LEDs have finished their flashing and I end up with one LED that just keeps constantly flashing and there is no internet connection.
The Carrytel help person seems to think there is nothing wrong with the new modem and keeps suggesting that there must be a bad patch cable or something else.
I keep reminding the person that the Cogeco tech has said the cable signal is good.
I am still on my cell phone, burning up my minutes,
Finally the person agrees to send me another new modem and emails me a shipping label to send back the defective, new modem
So now I have to find a way to go somewhere, to get an internet connection, to access my email, securely, and download the shipping label email and print it out on my home printer.
After another few days, the second new modem arrives at the post office and I go through all the same contortions to get the new modem MAC address to Cogeco so they can make a connection to the second new modem.
Back on my cell phone to the Carrytel person to go through the power up of this modem and after quite a few minutes I get all 4 LEDs lighted and solid, no flashing, and I turn on my computer and have internet connection again. :-)
I suspect the whole world is going to fall apart someday soon. Sorry about your troubles. And dealing with a company's help lines does not match the pleasure of dealing with small local companies years and years ago.
I feel bad that I recommended Carrytel way back then. My experience wasn't as bad as yours. It sounds like they make little to no effort to help their customers. I bet the new modems weren't new. They probably sent you back the defective ones that other customers sent back, thinking it was just a problem with those users.
When I was with Carrytel, I had no problem getting a replacement modem. After the replacement didn't work properly, I contacted them asking for a technician. They said there was nothing wrong with the lines, so they wouldn't. Instead, they offered a new, new modem. I switched to Cogeco.
Cogeco sent out a technician to check the lines, and he found a problem with an outside cable. It had been buried, but somebody dug up part of it. He blamed Bell.:o He said Carrytel should have sent a technician (from Cogeco), but probably didn't to save money.
I didn't stay with Cogeco long after they screwed up the time they were coming to do the switchover and then kept telling me "he will be there soon." They cost more, too. So I went back to Start, now Start/Koodle/Telus/Alcatel. I was previously happy with Start but Carrytel was way cheaper. Now we've learned why.;D
What we want to know, Bill: Did you get a regular phone plan with unlimited minutes?:) That must've been expensive on a pay-per-minute plan.
Speaking of phone service, I don't think you can get analog phone service now. Bell, probably the last company to offer it, is moving (trying?) its customers to digital (internet-based) phone service. I guess they're tired of powering those POTS lines, but it was a nice fallback.
Quote from: buster on June 14, 2025, 10:13:41 AMI suspect the whole world is going to fall apart someday soon. Sorry about your troubles. And dealing with a company's help lines does not match the pleasure of dealing with small local companies years and years ago.
That was dark.