Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

You are here: MacNN Forums > Community > MacNN Lounge > So This Happened To Me...

So This Happened To Me...
Thread Tools
ghporter
Administrator
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: San Antonio TX USA
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Sep 10, 2016, 08:35 PM
 
Some time Thursday morning, Something Bad happened. To my connectivity, that is.

We have Uverse, which has been surprisingly robust (and speedy to boot). But at some point before noon on Thursday, my wife said "this page is taking an awful long time to load." So I tried it with my desktop. Oops, "no Internet" errors. Long story short, we lost Internet, telephone, and television. And so did a BUNCH of others.

It seems that somewhere along the chain between AT&T's world and mine, some device affecting 36 "terminals" (not sure exactly what hardware that was), failed/was damaged/whatever. Each terminal supposedly supports 300-500 customer pairs, so that's a bunch, right?

I found out how much I depend on being able to connect to the world for trivial things. Which was "a lot". On top of that, I had a few things going on that sort of made me want to keep tabs on them and so on, so it wasn't comfortable.

This morning, I sat there over breakfast doing a crossword puzzle on my iPad when it said "ding!" The sound of an email being delivered to my WiFi-only iPad. Ah.... So after about 40 hours, my connection was restored. And my world hadn't ended by that time or anything!

I remain amazed at how much angst this outage caused, but I hope I've learned from it.

Glenn -----OTR/L, MOT, Tx
     
reader50
Administrator
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: California
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Sep 10, 2016, 10:54 PM
 
Being disconnected bothers me too.

I refuse to merge my home phone service with internet - no double plays here. So if internet fails, I can fall back to phone. There is free dialup available in CA, maybe everywhere. It's intended for the poor, but there are no ID checks. Anyone can dial in for old 56K internet, and have basic service. My router has a 56K backup modem for this very purpose.

If your smartphone allows it, tether for (expensive) backup internet. Should be OK if you use it sparingly.
     
Cap'n Tightpants
Addicted to MacNN
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: Shaddim's sock drawer
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Sep 11, 2016, 08:46 AM
 
AT&T is the worst, this is known. When we had them the service would go out every time it rained, and it once took them 5 days to restore an OC-12 class business connection (that I was paying an obscene amount of $$ for), claiming they had to wait for a new switch from a vendor in Asia. They simply do not care... unless you leave, and then they cry and try to saddle you with bogus disconnection fees.
"I have a dream, that my four little children will one day live in a
nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin,
but by the content of their character." - M.L.King Jr
     
ghporter  (op)
Administrator
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: San Antonio TX USA
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Sep 11, 2016, 09:08 PM
 
I did some important and time-sensitive stuff with my MBP tethered to my iPhone; it worked fine. It was just a real hassle.

I'm waiting for Google to actually lay fiber in my area. As in the 4 blocks or so of a particular street that they have already installed fiber trunks AROUND but not yet "to." I've seen Google Fiber's posted pictures of the work in progress - and it was literally up to an intersection at the end of my neighborhood. But when that fiber is available, I'm going to dive in.

Glenn -----OTR/L, MOT, Tx
     
Ham Sandwich
Guest
Status:
Reply With Quote
Sep 14, 2016, 05:08 PM
 
Would that mean switching from AT&T (or in my case TWC) to get Google Fios (or whatever it'll be called)?
     
ghporter  (op)
Administrator
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: San Antonio TX USA
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Sep 18, 2016, 09:01 PM
 
Sorry for the delay - things have been crazier than usual lately. Yes, I'd jump ship from AT&T to Google.

Glenn -----OTR/L, MOT, Tx
     
   
Thread Tools
 
Forum Links
Forum Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts
BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Top
Privacy Policy
All times are GMT -4. The time now is 06:48 AM.
All contents of these forums © 1995-2017 MacNN. All rights reserved.
Branding + Design: www.gesamtbild.com
vBulletin v.3.8.8 © 2000-2017, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.,