Hawaiiantel is our Internet/phone/TV service. They apparently did some maintenance work overnight and warned us that we MIGHT lose our WiFi connections.
(I actually wrote a blog post about this last month and it somehow disappeared so I'm having to rewrite it.)
Anyway... when we woke up the following morning... sure enough. No Internet. No TV. So Art followed the email directions and unplugged and replugged the whatchamacalit. Nope. Still nothing.
So Art called Hawaiiantel and spoke to a Karen. She said to look for the Alcatel Lucent Nokia flat white box which is about 5x7 in size. It turned out that it is over the garage crawlspace. Art was supposed to pull out the power cord for 10 seconds and then replug it. She said we should not touch the Fiber cord. No idea what that would be.
In case we were unable to figure it out, she was sending out a technician the following day to do it for us. If we managed to do it, we could cancel the technician visit.
Okaaay...
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Art got the ladder and climbed up into the crawlspace over the garage. I followed after him.
Good gosh! There were lots and lots of wires and these three boxes. Don't know if there were more boxes on the other side. I know our techie son-in-law installed a whatchamacalit in this crawl space for cameras he set up around the perimeter of the house too. Anyway, suffice to say there were lots of boxes, thingamajigs, wires, plugs, etc. Ack!
"Shouldn't you just leave it for the technician tomorrow?" I asked.
"Huuuummph...." he said.
"You can't even know which plug it is." I informed him.
"Ummmhmmmhhh," he answered.
"What if you make a mistake and pull out the fiber cord? Didn't Karen say you were not to pull out the fiber cord?"
"Ummmmh..." he said... while never looking up and continuing to trace the wires to the different outlets.
It's true that he's an electrical engineer, but he's always told me that's different from an electrician.
I finally gave up and went into the house since I had the feeling he wasn't paying attention to me.
About 20 minutes later he came back to my office and said, "Turn on your computer."
Bingo! It was working. He turned on the TV. It was working.
Yup. Everything was working. As he left my office, I swear he was wearing a bit of a smug smile. 😏
I'm feeling fortunate that none of my boxes are installed in crawlspaces. In fact, they are maybe three feet to my left where I'm typing this response so are very easy to access.
ReplyDeleteAlthough too new to make general statements about my current service, my old service required me to power cycle the box three or four times a year.
Good for Art!
ReplyDeleteI hope you praised him and gave him a cookie. Boys sometimes need that form their girls. 😊
ReplyDeleteMen don't like the questions and comments when they're working a problem I've learned (though I still ask like you).
ReplyDeleteOh they do. Where we live we get frequent outages and the whatchamacallit has to be rejigged. In winter this means wading through snow to the tower we host. My engineer pushes and pulls and flips switches. I do not. At least yours is under cover. And yeah, he earned the smug bit.
ReplyDeleteGood grief. I don't even want to think about all those wires and connections!
ReplyDeleteI laughed reading this... I know I shouldn't, but it sounded so familiar. DH is also a retired electrical engineer and we've gone through similar circumstances. I worry that he will electrocute himself or make things worse, but generally he knows what he's doing and is careful.... as I'm sure Art is. Glad you got it all fixed.
ReplyDeleteGreat job, Art! As I've mentioned to John (who was an electronics tech), all those wires look the same to me, but not to someone who is more familiar with electrical things. (even if they're not an electrician!)
ReplyDeleteIt’s great to have an Art!
ReplyDeleteAlways trust Art. He knows his stuff.
ReplyDeleteIt's kind of scary how much you have going on up there is the attic. Yes, it's good to have an Art.
ReplyDeleteArt Is Cool! 😎
ReplyDeleteYour secret space over the garage looks like spy headquarters. Glad your overly-credentialed engineer figured it out. He could get a side-job helping others in the neighborhood! Yep, he deserves a cookie, or a big watermelon, right? Linda in Kansas
ReplyDeleteToo funny! You remembered about Art's watermelon cravings. LOL! As a matter of fact, he just bought one at Costco last week, but it was so bad that he is putting it in the blender and turning it into a thick juice. It think it's just too early in the season or something.
DeleteWell done Art.
ReplyDeletePleased he got it fixed.
All the best Jan
Art deserves to wear a smug smile and the providers need a tuning up too. Maybe their wires are mixed up.
ReplyDeleteElectrical engineers!
ReplyDeleteHard head! But well done!
ReplyDeleteWell done, Art. Men like to solve technical problems - well, my man does and so does yours!
ReplyDeleteHe's a real gem! And glad you're back to normal again. :-)
ReplyDeleteHa! I can guarantee that you are correct. He did have a smug smile. I've seen that smile before on MY husband's face, and it is invariably after he's successfully done something that I don't think he should have done. Men are a curious kind of critter, don't you think?
ReplyDeleteYou both are hilarious. I love this. Thanks for sharing your tale!
ReplyDelete