Friday 15 February 2008

Linksys Gateway V Etisalat - The facts

OK, so the internet was off again this week - mid-week this time though. I got home on Monday and it was down. Interestingly there had been a power cut at home that day, and I think that is important.

Y'see I got to thinking about the other times it was down - once because we hadn't paid the bill, well, yeah, that was Etisalat but it was my own fault. It also went down when we bought this new computer table - once it was built we had to unplug everything to run the wires through the table. Result - no internet for a day or so. Then (about a week later) I wasn't happy with the gang socket being on the floor so I moved it and hung it from the side of the table (at a point where it is pretty inconspicuous and out of the way of my feet. While I was doing it the linksys transformer fell out. Result - three days without the internet. Then, Mrs Dubaibilly was playing some game or other on the computer and managed to knock the transformer out with either her leg or the chair. Result - 2 days or so without internet. Then I came home to a power cut and was off Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

So, you may say, Billy, why didn't you piece the evidence together earlier - well, in my defence, there where none of those occasions where I wanted to go on the internet immediately after unplugging the linksys. And really, modern electronics shouldn't work like this.

Like what exactly?

Well, and this is what makes it so ridiculous; If I turn the linksys off now and then immediately reconnect it, it will take between 12 and 36 hours to connect to the adsl line and a further 0 to 36 hours to connect to the internet! That is ridiculous! I can only assume that some micro-capacitor in the electronics is really not working properly and is constantly discharging thus stopping the electronics doing what they are supposed to.

I have had etisalat out, they have checked out the line and say that nothing is wrong. The guy who supplied and fitted the linksys gateway thing (we have it 'cos Mrs Dubaibilly needs to use her company's lap top at home now and again) swears that there is nothing wrong with the linksys and the problem lies with etisalat!

So, the guy is coming round tomorrow to prove to me that there is nothing wrong with the linksys. He is going to do this by bringing another one which he will connect to the system after disconnecting mine to see if the fault happens again. I have insisted that he bring an adsl gateway by a different manufacturer! We shall see, but until he comes tomorrow I will not be switching the linksys off because I have a connection now and I don't want to lose it!

1 comment:

Keef said...

That Linksys thing sounds well dodgy: I had one in Dubai and I thought it was a bit slow to connect. Like two or three minutes, not hours and hours! Also the transformer was prone to falling out of the socket.