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Network Damage 2

Well, locals tell me that Saturday there was a really bad storm complete with golf ball sized hail, so I guess that’s what messed up the network.

I got a new power supply for the firewall/modem, but it still did not come on. I called my ISP and asked about buying a new router. They said they would ship me one or I could pick it up. I picked it up and met the shift sysadmin. He’s from Louisville, so we talked about Thunder and moving to Atlanta. My ISP is a really small outfit, but they’ve done well. It turns out that the modem they had ready for me was the wrong kind, so he sold me the “right kind.” I don’t know much about DSL, to be honest. He didn’t know how to configure it, but offered to let me take a crack at it and said that the morning person would walk me through if I wasn’t already on-line.

Anyway, I didn’t get it all figured out. I did get it on the network, but it doesn’t seem to be routing my packets. Oh, well. I guess I’ll finish it up tomorrow.

I called my insurance company to file a claim. I have a rider for computers with no deductible. I don’t really know if that covers the LAN hardware too. I might be stuck replacing the stuff on my own. I estimate there’s about $350 worth of damage. The lady at the insurance company who took the report didn’t even know what a network was. I told her that the network card in my computer had blown and she asked all kinds of questions about the computer. What color was it? Where did I buy it? (I bought it at NASA, which confused her even more). What size was the monitor? Finally, she asked me if I had received a quote on what it would take to fix it. I told her I already did fix it and that it only took one screw. The part was $35 and if they want to have someone fix it again it will run around $110 – but I already fixed it. She couldn’t comprehend someone fixing their own computer on the same day. The network parts were a total mystery to her. She doesn’t know what a modem is, what DSL is, what a switch is, or an access point. She said someone would call me back and I only hope the person who calls back is more knowledgeable.

If my rider doesn’t cover network gear, it was all plugged into a UPS with a $150,000 power warrantee. I don’t know anyone who has ever collected on one of those. Somehow, I think my insurance company is the better bet.

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