MMMiii!

I had a call the other day. The woman said something like the lightning hit the transformer outside and knocked out their power, so the transformer had to be replaced. She said there’s nothing wrong with her computer but her internet went out. The internet light is red on the modem and the modem is broken. She said.

Usually, on DSL modems, the DSL light has to be a solid green. That means there is a connection to the network. Then in some, there is an Internet light. That’s the PPPoE or the Authentication. Green would usually mean the modem is authenticated to the network. A red light would usually mean an incorrect username and/or password is in the modem. For some, it means that there is no username and password in it. And still, in some, it means that it is bridged.

Taking these things in account, of course I asked the status of the other lights. They’re all green. But we couldn’t access the modem. Tried troubleshooting the NIC–it seems to have been busted.

I tried explaining to the customer that it’s a possibility that the modem and/or the NIC has been affected by the surge.

They said they get a lot of power surges in the area so they have a surge protector. It’s not possible that something in the computer could have got broken. And it’s just the modem that is broken, not the network card.

——-Start of Irateness of customer——-

well… they seem to think that Surge Protector == will protect all devices forever. and as if their devices are invincible as long as their on surge protectors.

Well… depending on the surge protector, either devices won’t be protected as much, or will be, but only for a certain period of time.

I don’t know … *sigh* If the transformer blew up, I would think it would have taken a lot of … i don’t know… electric current? to make it explode. oh well. I’m constantly on a battle with surge protectors.

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