I have recently been having some internet issues. The first time, it stopped working one evening. I noticed that a utility crew had dug in to and completely torn up the closest main street and decided it must have something to do with that. Because I despise calling for support, I held off. It was not up the next morning, but had returned to working by the time I got home from work that evening.
Research the Problem
Over the next couple of weeks, I had periodic outages. Each time my modem lights were not behaving like they should. The “Internet” and “Activity” lights were blinking quickly; first one, then the other. When I did have access to the internet, I did some research on what the lights could be telling me. Because the “DSL” light was always lit, I was pretty sure that the service was there. My research confirmed my suspicions, when the “DSL” light is constant there is DSL service. Usually a blinking “Internet” light means that the modem is having trouble authenticating with the provider. More research indicated that my modem, a SpeedStream 4100, often has overheating issues and stops authenticating with the internet provider. This was a possibility, but unfortunately, the lights on my modem weren’t telling me anything for sure.
Research Replacement Products
Since I was leaning towards the idea that I the problem was with the modem, I did a quick internet search to see what it would cost to replace the modem. I have done this in the past by purchasing a replacement from Best Buy. My first inclination was to order this Actiontec Modem from Amazon. But since I wasn’t certain what the problem was I decided to hold off.
Be Prepared Before Calling for Support
When I got up Saturday morning, I discovered that my internet was down again. I thought about just running to Best Buy and getting a new modem, but since the light indicators weren’t fitting in perfectly with any of the information I had found on the internet, I decided to bite the bullet and call AT&T. Honestly, I might have just bought a new modem if I was certain of my PPPoE settings. AT&T internet uses PPPoE which means that instead of the service always being on, it has to “call” AT&T and give a user name and password to connect. Last September, when I changed to “Internet Direct” service, internet without a phone line, they changed some of my user information. So I wasn’t certain what the PPPoE info was that I would need to set up a new modem. After much difficulty getting a live person, that I won’t go into here except to say, if you have “Internet Direct,” it’s a good idea to keep your account number somewhere you can access it if you are having internet problems. For AT&T’s purposes, that number is your phone number. I finally ended up with a person in the U-Verse department. After I explained to him that I had tried to call the DSL number multiple times, he was very nice and waited on the line with me until he had a DSL agent. She was also very polite, although not overly knowledgeable. I could tell that she was just following what the screen in front of her was telling her to do. After jumping through all of her hoops, she said that the problem was somewhere on my end, she could send out a technician. It would not cost me if it was a problem outside of my house, but if it was inside there would be a $110 fee. I asked her if that included a modem problem. She said that it did. So what it boiled down to was that if the modem was bad, I would have to pay $110 for someone to tell me so, then another at least another $75 to buy a new modem from AT&T.
Knowing that I could get a modem for under $75, that my current modem was several years old and the model prone to overheating issues, I opted to buy a new modem on my own. The agent helped me with the setting information I needed and then I was off to Best Buy for a new modem. Fortunately, they had the modem that I had seen on Amazon. I ended up spending $10 more, but wouldn’t have had a modem from Amazon until Monday afternoon, so I decided it was worth it. It took some time to set up, I believe that was mainly because it’s not an AT&T preferred modem. But I got it up and running and again have internet. The moral to the story is to do some research before you call for customer support and blindly follow where they lead. If I had done that, I would have ended up spending almost $200, compared to the $55 that I did spend.
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