Connected, Mark II
I may have my Internet connection back, albeit tenuously. Twice in the last 24 hours, I seemed to get the connection back. Each time, I tried to examine the configuration of the brand-new "modem" that Verizon sent me (By the way, it's not a modem, it's a router with a single port. Modems don't have IP addresses and routing software. This thing does.) Each time, the connection went down the toilet for several hours. There are those of you who will give me crap about me being a conspiracy theorist, but I'll bet you a cup of coffee that the router is booby-trapped. This makes putting the wireless router back on very interesting; since the Verizon router has to be converted into a bridge to put the Linksys router on line, it will not happen for quite a while, if at all.
The original problem? A snafu on Verizon's side of the wire. That took only seven calls to their "service techs" to come to light, including the four that proceeded no further than "we only support Windows". It looks like having put XP on an old box for the sake of a couple of games has come in handy; I seem to be forced into having two hardware/software sets: the one I run day-to-day, and the one I tell Verizon about.
Let's see when I next lose the line, shall we?
The original problem? A snafu on Verizon's side of the wire. That took only seven calls to their "service techs" to come to light, including the four that proceeded no further than "we only support Windows". It looks like having put XP on an old box for the sake of a couple of games has come in handy; I seem to be forced into having two hardware/software sets: the one I run day-to-day, and the one I tell Verizon about.
Let's see when I next lose the line, shall we?