Internet Connections

Qwest is my internet provider and bundled with my home phone. I've noticed my internet getting slower and slower over the last week. Hulu was the first place I noticed it. The audio was coming through fine, but the pictures were like watching a bad slide show. I tried YouTube and it was the same thing. Next, I did all the things that could be my computer's fault for the slowness, but it all pointed to Qwest.

Then my friend Mike told me to run a speed test. I had not heard of this before, but it'll tell you what your download and upload rate is to see if it is your internet connection. Mine was 1/24th of what an average user's is so I called Qwest.

A Qwest representative went through all the diagnostic stuff with me and thought it might be that my filter went bad which happens a lot. She said that is why they send four of them. Thankfully, I don't believe in throwing anything electronic away and dug into " The Drawer of Cables" (say it in your head with a loud echoy voice to make it seem important). I first found a filter from my cable system in LA which didn't work. I then found the right filter. Lo and behold, it made no difference. My speed was still in the tank.

The rep is sending someone out on Monday between 8a and Noon (nice and specific) to take a look. Hopefully, it will be back to normal or faster even. She did warn me that if I did anything to cause the slow down that they would charge me $85 to come out and fix it. I can't think of anything I could have possibly done, but we will see on Monday. I'll add an update to this post once it is done.

So if you don't see me online anywhere on Monday or Tuesday, you know they broke it more by fixing it.

Monday Update: They bumped me and they should come on Tuesday. Not happy.
Tuesday Update: I've gone from a .4 to a 1.5. Wheee! And it could have all been fixed over the phone if Tech Support knew what they were talking about. I didn't need a filter and my moment just needed a flick of a switch.