Cable and Wireless

We have been without internet for the last six days. When we don't have internet we don't have American phone service. (Vonage) It is our lifeline to home. And when I don't have it, it doesn't make me very happy. Thank God we do have the ability to go to the Yacht Club and get online but that requires going out and fighting the traffic and maneuvering the pot holes and it's just a chore.

Cable and Wireless is the phone company here that provides our internet service. It took me awhile to get use to that because I thought they offered cable T.V., too. But they don't. The cable company is Cornwall Communications.

For the last month the internet has gone out every other day if not every day. One of us would call the service rep and they would make us unplug the power cable to the modem and type in a series of numbers in the address bar and blah, blah, blah. I grow weary of doing the same thing over and over. Just fix it and make it stay on! Sometimes they would get it up and it would work for a day, two if we were lucky. And, it always seemed to go out on Friday, just in time for the weekend. This last time they weren't able to get it working even after walking me through all 542 steps. So, they said that they would send a technician out in one to five business days. That was on Friday. I woke up this morning to rain and the Jamaican phone ringing. After I woke Todd up to go answer the phone, he said that Cable and Wireless wanted to know if we were still having trouble with our internet. He told them yes and the man told him that he would be here sometime today. When I looked at the clock it was 6:37 AM. Now, I have never had a service call that early in the morning. But, since it was the internet repairman...he could have called me at 3:00 AM and I wouldn't have minded. With it raining, I quickly asked the Lord to not let the power go out just in case the repairman were to come. That would be just my luck. The internet service man here but he can't fix it because the electricity was out. Sure to his word, he was here at 8:30, the power stayed on through the rain and now I just pray that the internet will stay on.

While we are on the subject of utilities. How many of you have your cable company's phone number memorized? Well, I do. Let me tell you about my special relationship with Mrs. Green at Cornwall Communications. I think the cable goes out more than the internet does. So, we have to call Mrs. Green and let her know and she tells us to put the box on channel five and turn it off and she will reset it. We do this at least once a week. Sometimes I have to unplug the box and read her the 39 digit number on the bottom of the box. Awhile back, I wanted to get ESPN and Todd wanted the Golf Channel. They call it a sports package and it costs a few dollars more but we agreed that we wanted it. We called and they told us to put the box on channel five, turn it off and they would add it. Sure enough they did. However, every time Todd would have a few minutes to watch golf, the channel wasn't working or if the power would go off which here that can happen daily, we would have to call and tell Mrs. Green our sports package wasn't on. She would tell us to put the box on channel five and turn it off and she would reset it. This last time Todd went down to pay the bill he told them we didn't want the sports package anymore because it was never on. They told him that all he had to do was call them and they could add it back on. He told them that he was tired of calling and that he shouldn't have to do that. They told him that if he changed his mind to give them a call. After all, isn't that what every satisfied customer should have to do? Yesterday was the Biggest Loser finale and NBC wasn't coming in good so I called Mrs. Green. I didn't even have to identify myself. After I said, "Hello Mrs. Green." She immediately said, "Hello Mrs. Hood, how are you today?" Something is wrong with the system when the cable company recognizes your voice. I bet you can guess what she told me to do. That's right, put the box on channel five and turn it off. But this time she told me that she knew the number on my box that I didn't need to read it to her.


Note: Sorry Uncle Howie, no picture of Nathan calling one of the utility companies.