So our internet problems started a week after we got back from our Christmas break, and now, two months on, have finally been resolved! It's silly but we feel so relieved to know that our internet is back to normal. Scott had come up with a 'work around' (that I blogged about here) that allowed us to browse, email and do some video skype, but it wasn't the same as we felt constantly constrained. In the end, it took about 48-hours of intense hassling of TE Data and things were finally sorted.
The ridiculous thing was that 3 days after the problem started an engineer visited and identified the problem as being with the cable to the house, not internally in the house or at the exchange, and that this could only be fixed by Telecom Egypt. This was then followed by 4 weeks of phonecalls to TE Data to request that they put pressure on Telecom Egypt, but was met by 'we have no estimated time for the job to be completed'. We finally were told that we could follow up directly with Telecom Egypt, but had no luck with this route either, nor the 'official complaint' that was made and promised to be resolved within 14 days.
On Monday we decided that we'd had enough and we'd try and get our money back from TE Data so I visited the office and saw Technical Support to say that after two months we'd had enough of no internet. They were surprisingly helpful (unlike anyone on the phone) and said that they would try and fix the problem one more time from the exchange and then send round an engineer again if not. Worth a try, I guess.
So the engineer called that night and then visited on Tuesday afternoon and within 5 minutes diagnosed no problem on the line, but said our lack of internet was because of our router. Erm... so how has this happened in two months of not using the router? That afternoon I take the router in to Technical Support and they say that yes there is a problem with it, but as it is out of warranty I need to buy a new one. Of course buying one then and there isn't allowed because it is Scott's name on the account and so as I don't have his ID they won't let me purchase one!
That evening we try two different routers we have sitting around the house and neither work on the line, but we've come this far and so we decide to fork out for their official router if they really think the problem is solved. So I go back with Scott's passport ready to buy one and sit forever in the queue to pay; only to then find out that I need my ID as well (and a driving licence won't do). The thought of catching a cab home and then back again and joining the queue again on a busy evening is beyond me and so I scrabble around and remember that I have a picture of my passport saved onto my phone. The girl agrees this will be sufficient, but only if she can print the photo. So I then need to log in to their wifi and email her the photo. The photo is terrible and printed A4 size looks nothing like a passport, but she lets me give her my money in the end (we later find out that by buying the router in my name, the account has changed name too!)
Over an hour later I get home with the new router and we plug it in. The lights flash and then turn off and on again rather randomly and after about 15 minutes of flashing they are suddenly stable and it appears that we have internet. Yey!
Then we had a power cut for an hour.
The saga doesn't quite end there though as the following morning no lights will appear on the router and the automated response from TE Data's Helpline is that our account has been suspended. We finally speak to someone and they won't put us through to Technical Support (about the lack of flashing lights indicating a problem on the line again) until we've paid our outstanding bill (even though they have agreed that our account should be credits for the 6 weeks we paid for but received no service). We're torn between calling it quits and paying the money just to see if it will work when Scott gives in and points out we've come too far to leave it now. He pays the bill and by the time he walks home from the office we're online again. Phew!
The ridiculous thing was that 3 days after the problem started an engineer visited and identified the problem as being with the cable to the house, not internally in the house or at the exchange, and that this could only be fixed by Telecom Egypt. This was then followed by 4 weeks of phonecalls to TE Data to request that they put pressure on Telecom Egypt, but was met by 'we have no estimated time for the job to be completed'. We finally were told that we could follow up directly with Telecom Egypt, but had no luck with this route either, nor the 'official complaint' that was made and promised to be resolved within 14 days.
On Monday we decided that we'd had enough and we'd try and get our money back from TE Data so I visited the office and saw Technical Support to say that after two months we'd had enough of no internet. They were surprisingly helpful (unlike anyone on the phone) and said that they would try and fix the problem one more time from the exchange and then send round an engineer again if not. Worth a try, I guess.
So the engineer called that night and then visited on Tuesday afternoon and within 5 minutes diagnosed no problem on the line, but said our lack of internet was because of our router. Erm... so how has this happened in two months of not using the router? That afternoon I take the router in to Technical Support and they say that yes there is a problem with it, but as it is out of warranty I need to buy a new one. Of course buying one then and there isn't allowed because it is Scott's name on the account and so as I don't have his ID they won't let me purchase one!
That evening we try two different routers we have sitting around the house and neither work on the line, but we've come this far and so we decide to fork out for their official router if they really think the problem is solved. So I go back with Scott's passport ready to buy one and sit forever in the queue to pay; only to then find out that I need my ID as well (and a driving licence won't do). The thought of catching a cab home and then back again and joining the queue again on a busy evening is beyond me and so I scrabble around and remember that I have a picture of my passport saved onto my phone. The girl agrees this will be sufficient, but only if she can print the photo. So I then need to log in to their wifi and email her the photo. The photo is terrible and printed A4 size looks nothing like a passport, but she lets me give her my money in the end (we later find out that by buying the router in my name, the account has changed name too!)
Over an hour later I get home with the new router and we plug it in. The lights flash and then turn off and on again rather randomly and after about 15 minutes of flashing they are suddenly stable and it appears that we have internet. Yey!
Then we had a power cut for an hour.
The saga doesn't quite end there though as the following morning no lights will appear on the router and the automated response from TE Data's Helpline is that our account has been suspended. We finally speak to someone and they won't put us through to Technical Support (about the lack of flashing lights indicating a problem on the line again) until we've paid our outstanding bill (even though they have agreed that our account should be credits for the 6 weeks we paid for but received no service). We're torn between calling it quits and paying the money just to see if it will work when Scott gives in and points out we've come too far to leave it now. He pays the bill and by the time he walks home from the office we're online again. Phew!
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