Day: March 13, 2012

So last night I did a modemectomy perhaps it’s a more accurate to say modem transplant.

Gotta say it’s nice being able to surf the web without incessant hangs.

Things had gotten to the point that three out of five web pages would refuse to open for no apparent reason. After the page would  time out and I got the ever so helpful Verizon “That page doesn’t exist” (Excuse me, Google doesn’t exist? I was just looking at the page!)

I’d hit the retry and boom there’s the page I asked for in al it’s glory. Obviously something was seriously wrong but it wasn’t obvious, the logs from the old modem didn’t say anything, it was as if for a few moments the modem was on a coffee break and not processing any requests. Then everything would resume as if there’d never been a problem.

I really started getting suspicious of the DSL Modem when I started seeing DNS errors. I found it highly unlikely that I’d see a DNS error on sites like Google, or Microsoft. I was convinced that the modem was failing when the streaming porn sites started reporting DNS errors.

The major companies might screw up their DNS entries and take themselves offline, BUT Porn sites? NO WAY not when their income is generated by charges billed per minute.

So there’s a nice shiny new Netgear DSL modem in the wiring closet.

I’ve got to give credit where credit is due. The folks at Netgear did a very nice job with this machine.

The set up was smooth. The one little glitch I encountered was solved by their built in troubleshooting. (I’m always amazed when the machine makes a suggestion that is helpful.) Someone put some thought into the software and I’m impressed.

As an aside, this is the second Netgear device I’ve installed recently.

A few months back I replaced a Cisco 5 port switch in the livingroom because it was creating so much Radio Interference that I couldn’t talk on my Ham Radio. Replacing the Cisco with a Netgear solved the problem. Since then I’ve removed all the Cisco switches I’ve been able to and the RFI problems have been greatly reduced.

As an aside, my cellphone has a lot less dropped calls here at the house. I can only surmise that the interference was confusing the cell phone too.

Sorry to the non-techies reading this I know posts like this are dry as dust to you. On the other hand my technical friends might appreciate knowing about my experiences with this brand.

I’ll see if I can’t come up with a steamy sexual post in the next few days. That’s something that ALL my friends can enjoy.