After The Storm

Without reveling to much detail that will get me in trouble... I work for an internet provider that covers 20+ states. I am tech support. I'm the guy that takes the heat when your internet goes down. Pretty good at it too... fix over 90% of the problems. Bad modems and farmer John digging up the high speed cables are out of my control.

Heads up - if you are still using AOL please do your self a favor and leave now. This is to far over your head and I grow weary of the mind set.

There have been a lot of winter storms and just plain ole bad weather across the land lately, and here is what I here the most. First I hear about how power was just restored to a community and the first thing people do is use there phones to complain about not having internet. Oblivious to the fact that the head end needs to reboot there servers also to get everyone back online.

Most folks realize that they need to reboot there modem to get a sync light but neglect to rest there routers also. First things first... You must have a solid sync light or connection light on the modem. If not, then chances are that repairs are being made on a 'city wide' basis. So what works 9 out of 10 times is this. Unplug the modem and router and turn off the PC. Plug in the modem by its self so it can establish an IP address to the rest of the world. Give it about 60 - 90 seconds. Then plug in the router. Again giving it time to grab an IP from the modem. Lastly turn on the computer. Now the NIC has a chance of finding your router.

There are many other things that could go wrong, but like I said, this works over and over again. These are just a few basic steps you can take before calling up your internet provider saving everyone time and frustration.