Connectivity

Who knew that just connecting one little laptop to the Internet could cause so much TROUBLE?

I got hired by this really cool little company in Bend mere days before I left for my vacation. I brought my laptop and figured that I would continue working at night after the kids went to bed and when they were napping. No problem. All I needed was access to the Internet. All the software that I need is loaded on my handy dandy little laptop.

Seems pretty easy, huh? I mean with wireless networks galore or merely hooking a network cable into a router I am golden. However, that would mean that there is a stable wireless network that is open close to you and / or that your parents would actually have a router that you could plug into. That would be a big fat negative for my ability to connect to the Internet.

My parents have a simple cable modem with one port that connects directly to their computer. I found that their neighbors had an open wireless that I could jump onto, but for some darn reason the signal strength varies from "Excellent" to nothing. Usually it sits at "Very Low". After getting booted out of my program several times, I finally resorted to unplugging my parents computer from their cable modem so I could hook up my computer. Shouldn't be a problem, right? WRONG

Evidently my parents cable provider has to push a new IP address to every computer that is on their network. The cable modem should do it, but it doesn't. My poor hubby spent HOURS and hours during the big party here on Saturday (more on that later) sitting on the phone with technician after technician trying to get my parents computer back onto the Internet. Forget even adding a router, that was a hopeless venture. Nothing worked and nobody had a clue as to why. It wasn't until after the party, late at night, that we finally got a technician that had two brain cells to rub together (one guy seriously told me to call the computer's manufacturer) and he did some magic push from their customer service software and everything worked again. Even the tech doesn't know why it worked.

So, after causing such horrendous issues I am back to where I started with my connectivity problems. I just hope that this company doesn't think that I am some total loser. I remain hopefull that my parent's neighbor's wireless signal strength can at least remain somewhat stable for just the two remaining weeks that I am here. Here is hoping....