From TNPC issue #4.06...

High-speed Internet Connection: What To Do When Yours Goes Down

by Lee Hudspeth
March 22, 2001

I've got DSL at my office. My DSL provider is Verizon/GTE. Since its installation a year ago, I had only experienced one partial day's interruption in service due to a DSL hardware problem (some equipment located at the GTE Central Office that covers my neighborhood had to be reset, something the engineer was able to do over the phone in a few minutes while I waited). Last week, Friday March 9th to be exact, my connection failed in the morning and wouldn't come back. The problem wasn't resolved until Monday the 12th at 5:00 PM when the engineer who came on site tested the company-provided router/modem, found it to be belly-up, and replaced it. I learned some things about the reliability of my Internet connectivity backup plan during those long four days.

I thought I had a bomb-proof backup plan: use NetZero for free dial-up. NetZero is a package you can install on your PC to get a free dial-up Internet connection. It's free because the connection you get harasses you mercilessly with advertisements.
http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/406/tr.cgi?netzero

Note that there is also a 40 hour per month ceiling, as explained by very fine print on NetZero's site, "Free access limited to 40 hours per household per month. Free access may not be available in all areas... If you exceed 40 hours in any given month, you will have the option to purchase a NetZero Extended Access Pass for $9.95 (US). This will give you unlimited surfing for the remainder of that month. Your free service starts again the first day of the next calendar month. If you prefer not to purchase the Extended Access Pass, you'll have 40 free hours of surfing beginning again the next month!"

My backup plan was to have NetZero installed and keep my old 56.6 Kbps modem handy along with enough phone cable to reach an alternate phone line's RJ-11 jack. Monster Cable Ultra-High-Speed RJ11 Internet Phone Cable (25'):
http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/406/tr.cgi?lee1

(Note that I happen to have multiple PCs so I use an aging Wintel box as the dial-up PC, so I don't have to spend any time re- calibrating the same PC from a high-speed connection to dial-up and back.) I had even tested this plan, successfully, about six months ago. But when I tried it this time, NetZero surprised me. Although the package connected me right away, it quickly informed me through the browser that it could only link me to a download site for an updated version of NetZero, nothing else. I downloaded the upgrade (to NetZero's ZeroPort v3.1.2), installed it, and from then on was unable to get connected. I tried every trick in the book, no go.

So I strolled down to the local newsstand, bought the latest issue of "Computer Shopper," kept the freebie AOL CD-ROM, and tossed the magazine in the recycle bin. Eight minutes later AOL version 6.0 was installed, happily talking to my modem, and I was connected to the Internet. AOL offers an "up to 700 hours free for a month" come-on, so this was all free (well, not counting the $4.31 I spent on the magazine). To avoid one month's membership fee of $21.95 against my credit card I'll have to cancel the new AOL account before 30 days tick by, but that's easily done.

If you can't find a magazine with an AOL disc included, you can go here to download AOL v6.0 (this assumes your connection isn't already down or you have a friend whose PC you can borrow for the task).
http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/406/tr.cgi?lee2

Since Verizon/GTE's SMTP (outgoing) and POP3 (incoming) email servers weren't affected at all by my hardware problems, I could use the AOL connection to run a browser then use my ISP's Web- based email interface to send and receive email. Very simple. If you use this approach, all you need is your email user id and password. You don't have to have an email client installed or calibrated for your account. Web-based email is a feature that allows you to send and receive email from any type of computer-- Wintel, Mac, Linux, you name it--anywhere in the world, as long as it has a Web browser. If your ISP doesn't offer this feature, you should find and switch to an ISP that does.

Why didn't I just set up an email client on the PC running the AOL connection to talk directly to Verizon/GTE's email servers? Answer: customer service paranoia. When I initially switched from being a GTE dial-up to DSL customer, several engineers warned me not to ask the Customer Service folks to have my account set up for both states. They warned of potential problems, problems that I admit I didn't take the time to have them explain. Maybe since then things have changed and there aren't any such problems, maybe there never were any, but I find it's easy enough to rely on Web-based email for a few hours (or even days) while leaving my account in its "pure" DSL-only state. (I still tried connecting directly to my ISP's email servers over a dial-up connection, but my userid/password was rejected.) Your mileage may vary, depending on your ISP.

Whenever you deal with a service provider or manufacturer's technical support personnel, follow our guidelines for getting the maximum benefit in the least amount of time. Our book "The Book That Should Have Come with Your Computer" includes an entire chapter on this topic: "Taming Technical Support." Especially salient to my DSL experiences is our eight-point "Using the Phone to Get Help" checklist on pages 360-361.
http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/406/tr.cgi?lee3

I used our checklist item 4 to avoid the run-around, "In the case of a relatively simple problem and if hold times aren't too long, call three times to get three opinions." During one of my calls the rep said, "Your [repair] ticket is still open but the timeframe for correction is unknown." I wanted more details, and to verify that progress was being made, so I called the next group up the chain of command, Verizon's National Customer Service Center. An engineer there promptly informed me that the ticket number I had been given was actually inactive, so she opened a new one that would get an engineer to look into the problem, and gave me a guarantee of resolution by no later than Monday at midnight. Bingo. Who knows how long I would have been without a connection if I hadn't used the techniques from our checklist?

If you've got a clever plan you implement whenever your high- speed Internet connection takes a dive, I'd like to hear from you.

You can reach Lee Hudspeth at:
mailto:leehudspeth@TheNakedPC.com

Return to Top

TNPC Hot Tips:

• Email out of control? Spam filling your inbox? People trying to steal your identity? Same here - until I applied these tips. You can too in a new multimedia e-book. Tame Your Email.

• DO YOU MAKE THESE MONEY MISTAKES? Do you know that trying to pay off your high interest rate debts first and/or paying extra on more than one debt is the SLOWEST way to get out of debt? Don't make these same mistakes. Learn more at by clicking here...