Technology upgrades! Why do they never go smoothly?
Fibre optic cable has finally arrived in our little rural corner - well almost. They've been digging up roads and laying cables across the Vendée for several years now with rural places last on the list and, being rural, we're getting overhead cables like the old phone and ADSL lines. Fine.
Except that they've done something to the spahetti of wire connections in the big ADSL box at the end of our long rural road so no internet since Wednesday. Meanwhile, since Thursday they have replaced all the old timber posts with concrete versions and much whizzing up and down the road of men on bucket lifts to re-do all the wiring and connecton boxes for each house - 8 of us in 1.5kms so not exactly complicated.
Currently tethered to a mobile phone with 200GB of free data, as of today, for the inconvenience.
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
"The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
We have the the same problem @Obelixx no internet or landline and tethered to a mobile phone with free data. we don't know what our problem is and NDN came round this morning to say he has no internet. They are laying cabling about two Km away so maybe that has something to do with it.
When I had problems with phone and broadband a few years ago it caused much confusion for the BT/Openreach engineers. They checked all the cables for continuity etc and said it should all be fine - it wasn't. Eventually an engineer came to the house and spoke to an engineer in the exchange. They did all the checks again, replaced various bits and pieces, but still nothing. Then the engineer in the exchange checked a bit deeper and discovered items in the exchange had been wrongly labelled. All the bits they were removing and replacing were for another property. I bet they were P'd off too at their connection continually going off.
To be fair to the BT engineer he didn't try to BS the reason for the time it took to sort out.
@floralies - we reported the problem asap and they arranged to send a technician on Friday but he didn't find us and reported back that we weren't in when he arrived. Re-arranged for Monday morning with OH on parade to flag him down. He checked all our connections and leccy supplies and concluded it was an external problem - Doh! - and went to look at their ADSL box. He then came back and said too much spagetti and him not qualified to touch it so we reckon we'll get fibre optic before they fix the ADSL.
Had a similar problem during lockdown when our neighbours had a fault fixed and chappy unfixed our connection i the box on the pole across the road. That took ages and modem and router changes before they believed us and sent a man back up that pole.
@KT53 it's not airplane safety that is the issue but the pollution and then the exchanging of bugs via the ventillation system and airlines are turning out to be dreadful employers so No Thanks.
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
"The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
@Obelixx we had this problem ten days ago, chappy came out said he had checked our line outside which we knew he hadn't as OH directed him from way down the hill, so he came in changed the livebox and went away again and all seemed well for a few hours and then nothing worked. We called again and they were supposed to come last Friday, no one came, so called again yesterday and were told someone will come this Friday but he won't have to come in the house, which means the fault is outside!!
@Obelixx unfortunately for most of us in the UK, if we want to travel we have no practical option other than to fly. Those on mainland Europe can make effective use of the rail and/or road networks. We only go abroad once a year and it's a price we will pay.
The plane problem was caused by someone having brought their cats on board! The owner had been given the wrong information by a code share airline, and had the wrong paperwork. Back to the gate to offload passenger and pets, and left them to get the paperwork sorted and take a later flight. Luckily, daughter was being well looked after on board, watched a film and didn’t get stressed out by the delay. All settled in their accommodation and ready to start their holiday. Phew! I shall sleep better tonight!
@KT53 there are trains and ferries which take foot passengers and cars across the Channel and the North Sea. OH and I flew to Munich one year to go skiing in Austria - plane full of drunken Kiwis and then a coach to Zell am See. Same Kiwis on theflight back 2 weeks later and plane delayed for snow in Gatwick and then even drunker Kiwis the cabin crew didn't want on board.
Never again!
Thereafter we drove to ski resorts in France and later Italy. Summer hols too once we had Possum. Plan your journey well, take an extra day to make the driving easy and have a good night's rest and you're ready and unwound for your hols - and you can bring back lots of wine and oilve oil and other goodies.
@floralies - I hope they get it sorted soon. We've been told Friday or maybe next week.
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
"The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
Yep, as Obs said, crashing isn't really what I'm worried about on planes. The pollution and emissions, the certainty of catching any disease that anyone else on the plane has and being confined in a small space with screaming children, raving drunks and ignorant idiots all come further up the list. Along with claustrophobia, air sickness and the deep, crushing boredom of airports and queues for hours and hours and hours and hours.
I don't expect to travel abroad every year or indeed any year. I have been to France on the boat and the train, both of which work perfectly well but have many of the same issues as planes.
I'm not a sun seeker, don't enjoy beach holidays and have yet to visit a great many interesting places in the UK
Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
Posts
Technology upgrades! Why do they never go smoothly?
Fibre optic cable has finally arrived in our little rural corner - well almost. They've been digging up roads and laying cables across the Vendée for several years now with rural places last on the list and, being rural, we're getting overhead cables like the old phone and ADSL lines. Fine.
Except that they've done something to the spahetti of wire connections in the big ADSL box at the end of our long rural road so no internet since Wednesday. Meanwhile, since Thursday they have replaced all the old timber posts with concrete versions and much whizzing up and down the road of men on bucket lifts to re-do all the wiring and connecton boxes for each house - 8 of us in 1.5kms so not exactly complicated.
Currently tethered to a mobile phone with 200GB of free data, as of today, for the inconvenience.
Somebody once said that flying is the safest way to travel. Planes don't crash very often, generally only once.
Had a similar problem during lockdown when our neighbours had a fault fixed and chappy unfixed our connection i the box on the pole across the road. That took ages and modem and router changes before they believed us and sent a man back up that pole.
@KT53 it's not airplane safety that is the issue but the pollution and then the exchanging of bugs via the ventillation system and airlines are turning out to be dreadful employers so No Thanks.
Never again!
Thereafter we drove to ski resorts in France and later Italy. Summer hols too once we had Possum. Plan your journey well, take an extra day to make the driving easy and have a good night's rest and you're ready and unwound for your hols - and you can bring back lots of wine and oilve oil and other goodies.
@floralies - I hope they get it sorted soon. We've been told Friday or maybe next week.
I don't expect to travel abroad every year or indeed any year. I have been to France on the boat and the train, both of which work perfectly well but have many of the same issues as planes.
I'm not a sun seeker, don't enjoy beach holidays and have yet to visit a great many interesting places in the UK
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”