Becoming unwired is one of many steps in going wireless
Published 2/14/06
Okay, all I wanted to do was provide my family with a wireless home. All my friends who had gone wireless told me how easy it was and, looking at me warily, said that maybe I could even do it.
For those of you who still live in the old wired world, you achieve a state of wirelessness by going to the computer store and buying a router, a handful of adapters, a couple of cables, a box full of wires and spending most of your waking hours talking to technical support people in Calcutta. I wouldn’t be able to articulate this so eloquently had I not recently traveled the wireless pilgrimage myself.
We decided to go wireless because we have multiple computers in our home—and laptops that come and go. With wireless, of course, the whole family can be on the Internet at the same time, you can share files back and forth and you can have a second, third or fourth computer down the hall, downstairs, upstairs or even outdoors, as long as you don’t take it across the county line. Something like that.
How does this work? Well, the router connects all your PCs into a network so that the computers, as the literature says, can “talk” to one another. It’s true. I heard two of ours talking the other night. One said, somewhat hoarsely, “I think I have a virus.”
I found myself talking to my computers on my journey to wireless. The first router I bought didn’t work. I think it was just too cheap to work. So I went back and bought one that was twice as expensive and it worked—for awhile. When it appeared that something wasn’t set up correctly, I called the manufacturer who walked me through a simple 54-step configuration process. That might have been the beginning of my problem. You see, although I’m sure this tech support guy was a brilliant troubleshooter, he couldn’t speak a lick of English. I guess that’s why I was left with the impression that the antennas on your router have to always be pointing east or that misplaced furniture can interrupt the signal between the router and the other computer’s adapter. So I was always moving chairs or telling people to get out of the way of my signal or accusing the cat of breaking my Internet connection. Meanwhile, I had a weak signal and couldn’t stay connected.
So I called the manufacturer back, listened to all my options, finally got someone on the line and immediately hung up. It was even worse English. And frankly, I was becoming a little unwired.
In the last of my ten conversations with my broadband provider, I was told that my particular router model had a history of problems and that I needed to download a “firmwear update.” Had I not known that the show had been cancelled and was now in syndication, I would have sworn that I was on Candid Camera. So I called the manufacturer again to see if the update download was actually a hoax.
As a matter of fact, he told me, it was not a hoax and he would escort me through the download. Over the next few half hours we played in the Internet Options icon, checked and re-checked my SSID numbers, typed and re-typed my router’s IP address, powered down, powered up, unhooked cables and counted to ten, re-connected them and still had slow or no Internet connection. My tech supporter, who told me his name was “Lem,” was extremely patient, friendly and determined to solve my problem. He stopped to speak with his supervisor a number of times and at one point we both took bathroom breaks. At 7 p.m. I told him that he was probably ready to go to dinner. More like breakfast, he said. Lem was troubleshooting my router from the Philippines. Around 7:30, following a three and a half hour conversation, Lem said, “I think I know what your problem is. You have a defective product.”
The following day I exchanged my router and hooked it up to my computer. It only took a few minutes. I can now route Internet into my crawl space if I so desire.
Honestly, wiring up a home network left me feeling a little clueless, if not brainless. But who cares. At least I’m wireless.
Okay, all I wanted to do was provide my family with a wireless home. All my friends who had gone wireless told me how easy it was and, looking at me warily, said that maybe I could even do it.
For those of you who still live in the old wired world, you achieve a state of wirelessness by going to the computer store and buying a router, a handful of adapters, a couple of cables, a box full of wires and spending most of your waking hours talking to technical support people in Calcutta. I wouldn’t be able to articulate this so eloquently had I not recently traveled the wireless pilgrimage myself.
We decided to go wireless because we have multiple computers in our home—and laptops that come and go. With wireless, of course, the whole family can be on the Internet at the same time, you can share files back and forth and you can have a second, third or fourth computer down the hall, downstairs, upstairs or even outdoors, as long as you don’t take it across the county line. Something like that.
How does this work? Well, the router connects all your PCs into a network so that the computers, as the literature says, can “talk” to one another. It’s true. I heard two of ours talking the other night. One said, somewhat hoarsely, “I think I have a virus.”
I found myself talking to my computers on my journey to wireless. The first router I bought didn’t work. I think it was just too cheap to work. So I went back and bought one that was twice as expensive and it worked—for awhile. When it appeared that something wasn’t set up correctly, I called the manufacturer who walked me through a simple 54-step configuration process. That might have been the beginning of my problem. You see, although I’m sure this tech support guy was a brilliant troubleshooter, he couldn’t speak a lick of English. I guess that’s why I was left with the impression that the antennas on your router have to always be pointing east or that misplaced furniture can interrupt the signal between the router and the other computer’s adapter. So I was always moving chairs or telling people to get out of the way of my signal or accusing the cat of breaking my Internet connection. Meanwhile, I had a weak signal and couldn’t stay connected.
So I called the manufacturer back, listened to all my options, finally got someone on the line and immediately hung up. It was even worse English. And frankly, I was becoming a little unwired.
In the last of my ten conversations with my broadband provider, I was told that my particular router model had a history of problems and that I needed to download a “firmwear update.” Had I not known that the show had been cancelled and was now in syndication, I would have sworn that I was on Candid Camera. So I called the manufacturer again to see if the update download was actually a hoax.
As a matter of fact, he told me, it was not a hoax and he would escort me through the download. Over the next few half hours we played in the Internet Options icon, checked and re-checked my SSID numbers, typed and re-typed my router’s IP address, powered down, powered up, unhooked cables and counted to ten, re-connected them and still had slow or no Internet connection. My tech supporter, who told me his name was “Lem,” was extremely patient, friendly and determined to solve my problem. He stopped to speak with his supervisor a number of times and at one point we both took bathroom breaks. At 7 p.m. I told him that he was probably ready to go to dinner. More like breakfast, he said. Lem was troubleshooting my router from the Philippines. Around 7:30, following a three and a half hour conversation, Lem said, “I think I know what your problem is. You have a defective product.”
The following day I exchanged my router and hooked it up to my computer. It only took a few minutes. I can now route Internet into my crawl space if I so desire.
Honestly, wiring up a home network left me feeling a little clueless, if not brainless. But who cares. At least I’m wireless.
posted by Jack W. Williams | 11:46 AM
1 Comments:
Way to go, Jack! We haven't cut the cord yet, and aren't likely to anytime soon. When we do, maybe you and I and Lem, and your cat can get together and figure it all out.
Nice article!
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