I volunteer at a local Internet Service Provider (ISP) and, more often than not, when a person phones the office with a connection problem the problem can be solved as explained above. However, I will never forget the one call we got from a very angry client maybe five years ago when she phoned to say that her dialup internet connection didn’t work. She just couldn’t quit complaining about the Internet and about Mexico in general. When she finally calmed down, the technician asked if she were in front of her computer. She angrily responded, how can I do that? Even the telephone in my house doesn’t work. I’m at a payphone. She continued to rant, suggesting the Mexicans could learn a lot from the Americans. It was with great pleasure that the technician explained to her that her dialup connection worked over that very telephone line that she said didn’t work.

The technician had a hunch; he figured that this terribly angry lady had simply forgotten to pay her phone bill as she had often forgotten to pay us at the ISP. He also knew that for perhaps a week after a phone is turned off for non-payment she could still receive calls but could not call out. With even greater pleasure, he phoned her and suggested that, if she were to pay her phone bill, she would again be able to phone out and to have internet.

Check things out before calling. Often the problem is yours. Just three weeks ago I began to believe that the reason my Internet speed was getting slow was because of a problem at the ISP. I had done everything I knew and still the connection speed was very slow. The owner/technician of this ISP patiently listened to my complaints, asked a few questions, came up to the house one afternoon and replaced my 4-year-old Ethernet bridge (modem).  And suddenly my service was great again.

So yes, ISPs do sometimes have problems. But more often than not the problem is at the user’s end.