What an ordeal.

Once Verizon bumped off its FIOS service to Frontier Communications on April Fool’s Day (appropriately enough) stuff happened.

We started hearing an unidentifiable *beep* from somewhere in the house, but it was of such short duration we couldn’t pinpoint the source. We timed it, and the missus and I positioned ourselves in various spots every 15 minutes attempting to triangulate it with no luck. We were hunting for an electronic cricket and after unplugging/dismantling every thing we knew that could beep, it kept recurring.  We thought we we’d been pranked by a friend, cursed him while searching likely spots he might have hidden a quarter-sized “beeper.” No dice.

On a whim I opened up the FAU closet and found the culprit. There was the Verizon FIOS equipment, and every 15 minutes it was telling us that its backup battery was dead. Bastards.

So I reset the alarm, yanked the battery. Silence for 24 hours, and then it began again – every fifteen minutes.  Hitting the reset button daily was a temporary solution, but we could finally get some sleep without that infernal beeping.

Perhaps it was just a coincidence, that I’d only imagined that the Utoobage was stuttering. Nah.

Then BAM.

Nine days later, our landline and internest access crapped out. The landline came back, but internet access and WIFI was dead. I called Frontier Communications. Technicians would be out the following day between 8AM and 6PM (a tight window) so I took the following day off without pay, as did the Frontier Communications techs who didn’t bother to show up or call to cancel the appointment.

Buh-bye, Frontier Communications.

Time Warner Cable has been deluged with calls from disgruntled Verizon / Frontier Communications subscribers to set up new services, so we waited it out.  Three “appointments” later, Time Warner Cable finally came through this morning.

I never realized how much we depend on internest access, and having to watch TV only added to the torture. Instead, I watched “End Of The Century” and “The Imitation Game,” and read Elliot Carson’s excellent book “Joe Rochefort’s War.”

Anyway, we’re back. Thanks for your patience, and we’ll try to make up for lost time.

Bunk

[Related post here, and no, that’s not me in the .gif.]