The problem with dealing in the high-tech world we live in is the ability for it to come crushing down when one component malfunctions.

I had issues with my cable this week, which led to the arrival of network provider man on Tuesday (resolved) and now, the death of my router which runs my VoIP protocol for my office phone.

I spent yesterday, crossed legs on the floor of my office doing some good old-fashioned troubleshooting. My conclusion was that the TA (telephone adapter, aka router) was malfunctioning.

My phone and peripherals are paid for by my company. I say “paid for” because that’s about the extent of it. You’d think that with a company of 400,000 employees they would have a Help Desk for home office employees, but no.

Either you have the technical prowess to DIY or you don’t. In my case, I would categorize myself as “above average” in the area of technical ability, but sometimes, a home network with servers, routers becomes far too difficult to maintain if it isn’t your day job.

And I really don’t think my company will spring for my own personal tech support.

But I digress…

So I call the internet phone provider thinking that all I will need to do is report the router is bad. Send me another one!

oooooh no… not so fast grasshopper….

I called tech support at 9:30am to find my wait time is estimated at 25 minutes. Are you kidding me?

Actually no, my wait time turns out to be 40 minutes.

I’m connected with support, and the lovely Brigette comes to my aid. I give her my info, she says, “what’s the problem”, and I step by step take her though it. After my one minute explanation, Brigette is stumped. Then, as I hear her typing away, I realize she is READING FROM A SCRIPT. Then, she asks me to repeat my problem again. and again. and again.

“Brigette, can you please transfer me to your Level 2 person?”

And she’s on it…. well, sorta. She can’t figure out how to transfer me to Janice, her #2 person.

Ten minutes later, I am explaining the situation (again) to Janice. Janice seems nice enough, but is also stumped. She asks me what I think the problem is.

I said, “IT’S the router!!!!” I did say it nicely, and I didn’t even shout it, even though my brain was telling me to.

“Hmmmm, I think I’ll just send you a new router.”

Thanks Janice. I already told you that.

So, the net-net of this story is I went thru TWO people only to diagnose the problem myself, and have the techs repeat it back to me.

I won’t name the provider, because this scenario scares me. I wonder how many people they manage to actually “help” in a days work.

I should be charging them for my service. sigh.