My post yesterday was short. With the not to good news from hospital I needed time to get my thoughts together.
The news is confusing really. I am sure Mavis Blog explained it better . Its just that its no more chemo at the moment ,doesnt mean no more ever. It was taking its toll on Mave and they said it should be viewed as quality of life not quantity. In other words its better to have a shorter but good quality than a long suffering existance.
That said doesnt make it easier. It takes a while to adjust. I am sure we are not talking weeks or months. Mave is unsure if she will see Christmas. Silly girl. I said I expect you to see the one after that. WE shall see.
She came home depressed and down today. But after a short nap she is awake and perky again. This is how we must be.
We have a long way to go yet and we can still fight back.
The openreach Broad Band engineer is due today between 8 am and 1 pm. I have no idea what he will find. But I will be angry if he says no fault found. I am not sure what I will do. because as openreach or BT whatever own the lines. Untill the fault is sorted I am going to have the same problem. I had it with Tiscaly and then with BT and Now DTC Direct.
I had an unsolicited call from Talk Talk he said I had recently surfed his web page, was I interested in switching. He went n giving me the speel about casts and what he could give me. I said what about speed. He said wait and I will check. He came back with 1,3 to 3.2 meg download. I asked him how can he give me those sort of speeds ,He said he is telling me what my line can receive. I said Yer Ive heard it all before. My current provider said I will get at least 2.1 and here I am getting 0.110. He said thats not right. I said guarantee me at least 1.5meg and I will switch now. But he shuffled a bit. I asked him loads of questions and I could detect that he was backing off now. He wouldnt commit now that I pushed him. Did I want to switch now because he couldnt guarantee this offer later. I said AH!!! that old chestnut sign up now or loose it. I said thanks but if and when I decide to do it I will. When is a good time to get back to you . I said never. I will get back to you. He said ok and hung up. Derrrr!!!
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Well today I think the Broadband saga has reached new heights. The Engineer arrived at 8 .30 am as promised.. He said Morning you have a Broadband fault. Yes Come in. . He said I can see its on. Yes but its not very fast. So he put this meter on it. I can see straight away its not a broadband fault he said. Its a line Fault. OH NO ! The other engineer said its a broadband fault.
He asked me the history of the fault. I said we have been here 12 years and Broadband has never been good. Its just got worse lately.
I said if you wait till 9 am it will switch off. I offered a cup of tea. And he said look at my meter its going mad racking up faults. When it reached 800 he said it will drop out. As we watched the meeter go up and down we chatted. Then just after 9 am it died.
Ok he said now its off I can start a search. He left and said Ill call you back. About an hour later he called I said its on again. But intermittent. Ok he said I am off to check out the exchange.
He came back about 11 am. Well I asked what’s the score because what ever you did I now have 2.5 meg.
That’s impossible he said. Because you have 3. 5 meg from the exchange to the box outside the shop ( which is about 200 yard away) and from there to here you don’t have a connection. At least not in the box here in the car park. So where are you getting a supply.
We sat chatting again while he monitored it. It hovered around 2.6 to 2.8 meg. Then throttled back to about 1.3meg. He said its stable now. Hows that. I said disappointing but I can live with it.
So what did you find.
Your problem is at the exchange. He explained that I have 32 Cards for this area. And 16 allocated to businesses. The remainder to domestic. He said the wiring is in a shocking state. The Cards are Old and can no longer cope with the load. When the businesses start up in the morning around 8 am the load tries to share the overload with the domestic cards but they just fall over, Hence no net for me until they shut up at 5 pm when I get it back. But they still cant carry and load so the speed is throttled back to avoid collapse.
He said what is required to cure this is Shift and Lift. That means the cards need replacing with new uprated cards.. I will report this and hopefully it will get sorted. He jokingly said I know its up now but don’t hold your breath.
Sure enough it went off and an a few times before dropping out. Its 3 pm and I’ve no net and don’t expect it back till about 6 pm.
I phoned my provider and told them what he had said. They said Ok they will now raise for open reach to do this shift and lift thing. But it may take 24 hours to put in place.
If this works after 24 hours. Then its taken 12 years of fault reporting and engineers visits and lots of arguments and bad feeling. This guy today was the most precise and informative that’s ever come here.
I watch this with baited breath and hope for a result.
Mavis said she wanted to get up today. She is so unsteady on her feet and has no energy. She is being sick at the moment. She tried a short walk round the Garden but couldnt make it.
We decided what she fancied for tea. Steak pie with Mashed potatoes and beans. So thats my next task.
Well its now 7.05 pm still no connection. I doubt it will be on now. And probable not on tomorrow either.
I did dinner tonight but what a cockup. Saucepanns .plates cutlery tools everywhere everything going on on the stove and in the oven. Mavis giving me instructions. I burnt myself umpteen times. I was in a mess. But I served it and it was hot and we ate it.
Must practice more.
I dont believe it .Its 10 past 7 and its come on. So I will post before Iloose it.
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