That's funny right there, I don't care who you are are.

That sounds unfortunately familiar. The husband often ends up helping the tech person. I hate it when you get those outsourced drones too. You just know they are sitting there running down an itemized list of things you've already checked and that there's a good chance you will eventually be passed on to someone else (if you're lucky!).

As to TDO and AOL ... I wouldn't feel sorry for the AOL folks. This sounds like a battle of equals to me.

PeggyU-
...battle of equals... BWAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHA!

You asked the question. Here's the answer of this simple folk!

If you think Teresa is TDO, you haven't seen me with a computer. The first one Macintosh (now 15-y-o.) was just word processor. I learned it fast. Last year, I decided to go hi-tec and internet. I got a Dell, installed by the company. Never worked. 24-hour-service. You should have heard me with Ramesh at 2a.m. His accent! My accent! He would put me on hold q.5 min. for 20 min. By the time he would get back, I was swearing at him in French. I'm sure he was doing the same in Swahili,or whatever!. The guarantee was still good. I packed the whole thing and returned it with such a letter that I got my money back in 10 days!!!

Now, what to do? I called the high-school. I said I was an old lady and I would make a donation to "something" if they would send me two smart kids to buy and install a new computer. They were here the next day. They call themselves "computer nerds". We went to Future Shop, got a Acer Window Vista, put it up the same evening. They taught me a few tricks, are on call for any problems. They eat loads of chips and sandwiches, drink cokes a-plenty.

You're a "computer nerd", Denny. Congratulations! Simple folks get out of problems with people like you. LOL

WTF do you have to "install" DSL? The Modem/router takes care of the PPP part and the rest is just TCP/IP on your network.

Jesse, some of the cable/dsl companies require you to run a program on your machine to log into the cable service. Don't as me why the make their customers do such bullshit. It just gives me an extra source of income every now and then when someone asks me for help.

Oh yes. As someone who has had to fix a computer after A-O-HELL has wreaked havoc on it, I have told people I would rather wipe the machines and start over from scratch than deal with it anymore.

What is this Tech-Support you speak of? Is it some sort of service for people who don't have a Mac?

Claudia: You are resourceful! That was a very good way to go. They will sell their souls for food. This also applies to college students, btw. Our oldest son has done this sort of thing for people.

Even though I am an engineer (mech) I hate dealing with computer problems. I can do it, but I have to be sober, because I don't have the background in it, which requires me to think my way through it logically. Maybe that's why I hate it so much, it delays my drinking. I've got one of those wonderful DSL boxes which require me to run their software. I've had to reinstall it twice to make things work. I don't bother with India anymore. "Please to tell me sir, have you turned off your computer?" The DSL box itself gets turned off to reset about 3 times a week. Sheesh. If I designed crap like that I'd be fired.

Jesse - Charlie is right. What you essentially do is set up for a manual install and type Fastaccessdsl in the ISP box. It puts an icon on your desktop. To deinstall you send the icon to the recycle bin.

Way back when pterodactyls still ruled the skies, I had DSL. Support was somewhere in Kansas (told ya it was long ago). After having to call tech support and speaking with one of several very nice--and very frustrated--ladies virtually every time I logged onto the Internet, cable modem became available in my area. I dropped DSL like a flaming rock. Since then the most I have had to do in all the years I have had cable modem is reboot both the modem and my computer. I will have DSL again when mastodons roam over the North American ice sheet!

DeDog.

You all just make it too danged hard. If the 'puter is screwed up, grab a beer, call your grand daughter, go watch tv or take a nap. She'll tell you when it is fixed.
Works every time.

brilliant ideas claudia and peggyu.

i've had fastaccess since it was available in the 'hood (2000?). the only time i've had trouble was when trees would fall on the lines (which ain't rare in these parts). never had to install anything on the computer. what a pita.

glad yer back on hi speed, denny.

Pip

Denny, check your E-mail settings. I've had two tries sending an E-mail to you bounced.

ralph - try gocinatlanta@bellsouth.net

Back in the early days.... early 80's late 70's of computer controlled telephony switching... whenever I got a call from a customer I always had him turn everythiing off and then do a cold start, and then bring everything back on line one by one....

You'd be amazed, well maybe you wouldn't, at the number of problems this "fixed."

I dropped cable modem "like a flaming rock" because at least in my area, the cable company will not offer a consistent price. Three months of gotcha pricing, followed by a STEEP price increase until you bellow at them, then you get a "special" price for 5 or 6 more months, then the price goes nuts again.

AT&T is providing me with rock-solid DSL at a reasonable speed, phone service with Ringmaster, 200 channels of television, and unlimited long distance for $70 a month less than ComCast's admittedly-faster cable modem, but dodgy phone service that will not handle an outgoing FAX, crappy TV reception, and repairmen who don't show.

And the price stays put.

Many moons ago, when comcast first offered cable modem, we were one of 5 subscribers in the area... and the only Mac.
Service drops, no biggie, I still have dialup. Whoops, no I don't. The installer guy deleted my modem scripts. !!@#$%^
Went on through AOL and got scripts, got dialup back, and called CSU.
"Now, sir, if you'll just select your My Computer icon...'
"I have a Macintosh."
-crickets-
"Oh. Let me send you to Level Two."
Several minutes later(every single time), I'm talking to Windsor, Ontario and comparing the weather. It was a boogered modem which they replaced at no charge and on my schedule - three times. Maybe the fact that I mentioned to level one that I had dialup and an outdoor antenna and didn't really need to send them money every month helped.
Now the service hardly ever drops, and when it does, I power cycle the modem and the router and all is good again.

Poker Player - No I wouldn't. I was an IBM CE back then, which is why I know the term Poughkeepsie reset. A few years back, my friend Cindy's microwave oven broke. She was gonna be gone when the repairman was scheduled to arrive. She asked if I would come over and be there when he arrived. She would get me some carryout food for dinner. While she as picking up the food, I unpulgged the microwave waited 60 seconds, and plugged it back in. By the time she got back with the food, the microwave was all fixed. She canceled the service call and all she was out was the cost of my dinner.

Chuck - No children. No grandchildren.

Harryk9 - I don't have cable service 'cause my cable company is Comcast. I had enough problems when they were my cable provider. I didn't want to put up with their BS as an ISP. Hence Dish and AT&T DSL.

I try not to frickin' touch any service that requires me to "install" their software. First, it's buggy. Second, it is usually a form of spyware, reporting on your system to their service.

I temporarily dropped back to DSL in my area of TX. Their DNS was flaky. Latency was horrible, especially in the evening. And then one day my wife's web site uploading stopped working. We called them up. They sent a guy out who attached his laptop directly to their router (no firewall) and proclaimed it worked. So, being the geek I am, I finally started digging into it. Turns out they changed their DSL MTU size and never told anyone. I had the MTU size tuned for throughput (Windoze of course.) They changed it enough so it killed uploads.

After we went through 3 months of their crap we went back to Verizon FIOS (whose billing department is modeled on one of Dante's levels of hell.) Throughput is incredible. Latency is non-existent. DNS actually works. Just don't get into any billing problems...

An oldie but a goodie, Bryan: I assume you've heard this?