Vacuum Cleaner vs DSL Modem

Aug 17 2006

Some devices are too dangerous to be operated by men. Now vacuum cleaning your room at 11:30PM doesn’t sound like a good idea in the first place, but I still don’t quite grasp how I could have knocked out a DSL modem so that it cannot sync anymore. The phone line goes through a UPS even!

Now if only Network manager didn’t disconnect me every 30 seconds off the Airport basestation that I blown dust off and connected to an analog line. It’s good it still retained the dialup ISP data that still works. I wonder how much a dsl modem is these days…

Update

Now this is like an episode of Outer Limits. How can this even be possible. Computers, gotta love them. So like I mentioned above, I probably nuked my modem in a very very weird way. At least that’s what I thought. I did disconnect the modem/phone cable while cleaning and after reconnecting the modem would get no sync. But when I took it to another place, it synced and got an IP without changing the settings at all. So back home, no sync. So I put it in front of a splitter. No sync. And so I thought I’d leave the ISP try to figure it out. They did mention that they indeed see some issues and are ‘investigating it’. But not wanting to helplessly wait for them to finally come over, I took the modem while I visited my parents. Hooked it up again of course and it worked fine on this line too, got sync and IP assigned (PPPoA). My dad had some problems with his wifi routyer (with annex b dsl modem) so he bought a new one and I configured it for him, taking the old beast home. I hooked it up and to my surprise it got sync and IP! So I hooked my old modem thinking the ISP guys have fixed it and… bummer. No sync! How on earth is this possible??? How can a modem that worked here for over a year suddenly stop and only work elsewhere????

Now who has a voodoo doll of my modem?? It’s a very basic Alcatel/Thompson 510i onetouch btw. None of those ‘does it all’ monters. Doesn’t logic apply to DSL? I would so want to work as a support guy for these things :)