Welcome back, internet!!!!

Cable & internet out one night.

Cable modem dies another night.

(Why, oh why, did the networking equipment company I worked for not do any cable modems??  I have routers and switches and modems and gateways and probably an ADSL product or two laying around, but I'm screwed when it comes to the cable modems)

And of course, you can just go pick up a cable modem at one of their stores.... which all close at 6pm.

Not very useful.  And even more useful when you've got two people who are getting slammed at work and are lucky to even leave the office by 6pm.

But... today the hubby escaped work early and picked up a new modem.  When I first got home I was really more interested in looking at the casing and trying to figure out if I could decide which vendor it really comes from (bit-o-truth for you out there... no matter what the name on your wireless router, there are really only about 3 or 4 places in China that come up with the basic designs, and then they're slightly re-worked by the company whose name appears on the outside) than listening to the hubby.  Who'd been trying to get the modem working for an hour before he called customer service.... which had him on hold for 45 minutes.

While he fumed and waited... I hopped on one of the unsecured wireless connections around here and did a quick search for the program that wouldn't download (I could go on about DNS servers... but I know I'd bore you).  Then plugged - with a wire - the laptop into the router that is connected - with a wire - to the modem.

Poof.

We has internet.

I do not know WHY... STILL... the first thing they do not tell you to do in instructions or while you're waiting on the customer service line, is to set up a blasted wire connection.  I know, life is fun without wires.  But sometimes, when you want something to work, you need a bleedin' wire.

Grumble.