Well, well, well…
A few more phone calls and some increasingly impolite faxes later: Cineva Oriunde got sick of hearing from me. Guess who showed up today?
That’s right. Laurel and Hardy. Aşa e, nu?
After bickering with one another outside the apartment building about what parts they needed and what task they were about to do, they finally decided to come on up. I think they might have gotten off at the wrong floor once or twice, but eventually came the knock. They were nice enough blokes, just like Ollie and Stanley. They also bumbled the job quite a bit taking far longer than necessary chasing their own tails, just like Ollie and Stanley.
And the confused look on their faces was priceless. I’m sorry to report I operated tactfully and hence you do not get a photo of their puzzlement. They thought they were in the wrong apartment. Afterall, there was already a broadband modem here. And my gosh, just look at all those computers. Deja online? Wireless ce?!
It took some convincing to make them stay and change over to the new account. First they called Bucureşti to find out whether or not they should change the modem out for a newer one. I thought it wasn’t necessary, but the orders from on high came in that sweeping alterations where required. They studied the phone wires a bit, then examined the line splitter, before pondering the old broadband modem. Once they had exchanged a few quiet words between them, they determined it was safe to unplug.
I got the original box off a shelf so they could package the old modem up. Then came the new modem and a new line splitter. The wifi router continued to draw nervous glances and suspicious sneers. They needed to use the bathroom, call Bucureşti again with more questions, and then look outside the windows at the commotion going on (more on that next time) before they could bother to plug the new broadband modem into the electricity. More murmourings.
During this stage, they carefully unravelled the ethernet cable all the while having more discussions. Probably bickering over whether it was natural to have cable wound clockwise or counterclockwise. Should the twist-tie really have been black? These sorts of important musings.
One tech whipped out an IBM laptop and booted it up. He connected the cable directly to the broadband modem and proceeded to configure it, which consists of entering 2 DNS numbers and then changing the administrative password so that I, the customer, cannot enter the equipment I am paying for. He declared the modem to be working and disconnected his laptop.
Unfortunately, the all telling green lights were blinking SOS and he had to rethink the situation. And discuss it with his pal, who had been reading blank contracts and organizing his… pants. So, they reconnected their laptop and discovered that the LED readout was amazingly accurate: no connection.
I know what to do - let’s call Bucureşti! More discussions, this time threeway. And then the answer came down that no one in Bucures,ti had configured the new account yet, so it didn’t exist. So we all waited together, taking turns looking out the windows at the activities of the nearby school. The two of them talked more in low voices.
This pattern continued round and round. The modem worked. Oh wait, no, it didn’t work. Was my ethernet plugged in? Oh, it was? Hmmm… let’s see, why aren’t you using Windows 95? That’s what’s normal and works good. Ah, maybe this firewall thingie is getting in the way. Now, where exactly do we configure IP addresses? Because the handwritten notes in this booklet say we need to enter some mysterious numbers in somewhere, not that we have any clue what they are for or how it works. That’s why it takes two of us manly men to get this job done.
Prieteni roman, you must understand that both DSL and cable broadband companies in the United States do not typically come out to your house. Nope. They mail you a box and a very simple cheat-sheet of crib notes. Nothing difficult. 3 minutes later, you’re online without any serious wrangling. Dar aici? Ba nu.
So, they poked and prodded around the XP box I let them touch but they couldn’t seem to get it online no matter what they tried. I asked for the settings information, but they were extremely reluctant to part with anything other than DNS settings. However, this new modem in question is also a router and thus I’d need the LAN settings to connect. Apparently, they missed this concept back when they studied internet networking in 1965’s Ceauşescu high schools.
They wanted to touch my PC laptop. I bristled before politely explaining that they could commandeer that particular piece of equipment when they pried it from my cold dead fingers. Then I mentioned it was running a Windows Advanced Server and that scared them off anyway. They started to glance at the Mac laptop but that glimmering Apple logo nearly blinded them and they didn’t even ask. They gave a suggestive glance toward the shiny, tall silver and translucent tower and I grinned evilly, relishing the idea of dropping the “BSD” bomb… but they saw the smirk and turned back to the XP box.
Hmmm, what could be wrong? I made some suggestions that weren’t well received, so I kept my mouth shut and tried to find other things to do. They made more calls to Bucureşti, argued with one another over what numbers were in which book and applied to what situations without ever discussing why, and combed through various settings menus and file directies in Windows for quite some time until… a clueful BOFH rang up their mobile phone and very intolerantly (and loudly) barked instructions at them. They nervously got it right this time.
There were some more formalities as I asked them to repeat for me the information, so that I could configure the wireless router. When that failed, I explained that I needed the information to get the other computers online. Oh…. well, you see, Mr. American Idiot, you just click on this little blue “e” thing. Say! Where is your blue “e” interweb thingie?
Sheesh.
Ohhh… the other machines…
Anywho, two hours after I took the photo above, they were happy to escape out the front door amidst a chorus of “mulţumesc mult de tot” from Etaj Opt. So, it’s all sorted. I’m back without having to steal from… myself.
(Kyah, this time I win the bet fairly. But the Ukranaidian beat us all.)
May 10th, 2006 at 10:55 pm
I am sorry to report I had a similar experience in Washington, DC — twice. See, I live in building which is mostly serviced by one of those small companies that doesn’t give a damn about customer service because they know they can give you dirt cheap DSL. It’s the kind of company you’d name Sarin and Associates and actually have Sarin as the only employee.
It took me two weeks of almost daily calls to get them to come to my apartment and set up the DSL. They–well, he– insisted I should have a modem, while I told him that if I had a modem I would certainly be able to spot it. After all, I live in a studio not a three-story townhouse!
By the time the guy actually came I had already figured out a way to get wireless by holding the laptop against the screen of my open window or by going up to the roof and covering it with a towel so the sun wouldn’t get in the way. It took him five minutes to set it up and I was ready to kick his ass that I had to wait almost two weeks for a guy who literally hooked up two ends of a cable and set up an IP address.
When my router died last week I knew I was in for fun so I called the company (him) again and lied. “Listen,” I said “I took off from work to work on a project. If I don’t get my Internet back, I lose money.” It was a more elaborate lie, but it worked. It only took two days for them (him) to come replace the router and another couple of minutes to set up a new IP address.
Sometimes, my Romanian adventurer, life is almost as hard for an Ameroman.
May 11th, 2006 at 1:32 am
god! that was painful!
I’ll have to give you a minute by minute report when I get mine. May 22 if the gods are with me. :-)
May 11th, 2006 at 11:28 am
i tell ya… it’s like a monkey fuckin’ a football over here sometimes..
May 11th, 2006 at 3:11 pm
So conditions are worsening in American, Cristian? Heh. I suppose some of this technology madness is somewhat universal. But choosing a DSL firm named after the chemical sarin wouldn’t be on the top of my list. Still, I suppose it’s a tad better than Sauron & Associates!
Wireless reception against a window screen. Hahahaha, that deserves a photograph for sure! Very innovative of you to ‘tap into an existing resource by leveraging the local grid.” I foresee consulting in your possible future…
Kyah, what I didn’t understand was if your connection is technically a satellite feed (normally very expensive yet slow) or a radio wave (which it sounded like). Bring the pain!
Alec, that always gets me laughin’ dude. There’s gotta be an animated graphic of that somewhere…
May 11th, 2006 at 7:27 pm
yeah, its radio. I could get satellite but it wouldn’t be much better than dial up and way more expensive. Now I’m reading a book on wireless solutions. got any tips on security?
May 12th, 2006 at 2:00 am
[…] So, what exactly was happening the other day to distract the Romtelecom guys during their long anticipated visit? Well, directly outside my apartment there is a local scoala serving 1st through 8th grade for the cartier. Normally, these kids play fotbal (soccer) all day long, with rare allowances for handball or basketball. They tough it out on the concrete “fields” in coed matches (or mostly all-male after school hours). But today something different was happening. […]
May 12th, 2006 at 10:08 am
The very first thing I recommend is to change the administrative password on your wifi router. Make it something complicated with upper case, lower case, numbers AND special characters. You won’t be typing this often, so it’s okay to go hogwildly complex. Write it on a Post-It and put that in the original box (presuming you keep those things).
If you can change the administrator’s username (usually admin or blank by default) to something else, that’s recommended.
Be sure the option for “remote administration” is disabled (usually is off by default, but doublecheck).
A lot of routers come pre-set to allow special access over certain ports for the gaming community. Most gamers don’t know anything about computers, so the electronics companies decided to open up these ports rather than try to explain to gamers how to do it. If your family regularly battles it out on Game X, this is probably a good thing. If your machine doesn’t see online interactive gaming action, then I’d go in an close those ports up. It’s nothing exceedingly dangerous, so don’t have a panic attack if you cannot figure out where to do that. It’s just the general rule in security that if you don’t need something turned on, then turn it off. Smart, eh?
Okay! Now onto the wireless network itself. Give your network a unique name (called the SSID in geekspeak) and find the checkbox option “Broadcast SSID” (or very similar) and turn that off. This will prevent your router from shouting to your neighbors and drive-by hackers, “Hey, man I’m over here. Come get online through me!” Basically, if it is not broadcasting the ID, then only folks you specifically tell the name to will tend to know it exists.
Set the encryption (key) to at least 128 bits (the same strength your local bank uses). The helps keep your little packets safe while they’re floating around in the open air.
Lastly, set the network password. I’d use at least letters and numbers. Be more complicated if you can remember those things. Even if an unwanted visitor knows your network exists (or otherwise discovers it), then they’ll be locked out by the password.
May 21st, 2006 at 7:11 pm
Small world (picked this up on goodle search for “romtelecom wireless”)
I think I just had the same guys at my place here in Ploesti (im from UK)….and they had he same problem. Its taken 3 months since I signed the contract!! took connex 2 days to get satelite connection into our base.
Anyway, did you ever find out the IP settings for the router, im trying to use my wireless gateway here.
Cheers
Jack
May 21st, 2006 at 8:30 pm
Heya, Jack
As far as I can tell, if you have the normal ADSL with the Speedtouch 360 modem, then you should set your wifi to be DHCP and specify your preferred DNS settings.
On the other hand, if you have the upgraded ADSL2 with the Speedtouch 546 router/modem, then DHCP will not work. Try setting your wifi router to have the fixed IP of 192.168.1.1 (or .2, .3, etc) with the gateway of .254 plus specify your preferred DNS settings.
Let me know if that information works out for ya!
October 16th, 2006 at 4:04 pm
[…] And then when I moved across town, the whole Romtelecom circus repeated. […]