Telus Internet

Being offline since late Wednesday morning. Lost internet connection just before noon. Normally a reboot of the modem and router was all it required to reconnect. This time it was different. Not one to throw in the towel easily I tried a few other procedures. Still no joy. Finally had to take the dreaded step, called Telus' tech support. And the ride began.

Trying to contact Telus by phone and navigate its automated answering is always a challenge. The people responsible for its creation and installment must have reserved a special place in hell.

Anyway, finally was able to speak to a live person on the other side of world who promptly guided me through the same battery of tests that I had done. She even got me to dig out a spare cable and switched it. Still no joy. Now I was on the phone for close to an hour when suddenly I was told that Telus was doing an upgrade and services will resume the next day.

Fast forward 24 hours and I was talking to Telus tech support again because still no service. Thirty minutes into the conversation the tech support person asked whether I've received my new modem or not. Huh? What modem?

To make a long story short, after over two hours with Telus tech support staff and supervisors from billing and customer services the following are to take place:

1. tech support sent a wireless modem by courier
   
2. customer service, on the safe side, will do the same. I'll have to send the extra one back.
   
3. a free month of service which is supposed to offset the cost of new modem that I have to buy while waiting for the new modem to arrive. Buying a modem at a retail store is Telus' idea despite the fact that nobody but Telus has ADSL modems. And Telus has no retail outlet in BC. Go figure.
   
4. one month of faster connection - FREE. No, I haven't noticed any different in speed.
   

No, the new modem hasn't arrived yet. I'm online because my hardware supplier happened to have a spare ADSL modem kicking around. With the start of the long weekend I don't expect to see the new modem until Tuesday at the earliest.


This is the modem at the heart of matter. It is old. The one and only ADSL modem we ever had and we were one of the first to have ADSL.


This is the spare modem that I'm using while waiting for the latest and greatest modem from Telus to show up.

Yes, the thought of switching ISP did crossed my mind. Even went and contacted Shaw for info. Will spend the next couple of weeks canvassing friends and associates on their experience with cable.