Act I 
A very nice technician arrived two hours earlier than expected. This created a bit of excitement since he had to install a filter on every phone in the house which meant some furniture had to be moved to gain access to the wall plate. Not too big a deal as we had just purchased a new computer and were planning on buying a new desk but we hoped to take our time, not rushing.  Ah well, such is life. 

The technician was not from SWB exactly since he didn’t have any SWB ID but he did have the work order and other papers. You see, the offer for the DSL was so popular that SWB subcontracted the work to an outfit called ASI. ASI subcontracted to an outfit called FXI and the technician worked for them but was paid by SWB so, confusing as it is, it was interesting. Interestingly, he wasn’t allowed to tell me the name of the real companies involved since their instructions were that they worked for SWB! 

Our friendly tech opened the box that SWB had previously shipped to me. The box contained a CD plus some plastic parts and an external modem which momentarily surprised me since I was expecting the internal one. Not to worry said the tech — been there and done that. He started working and, in no time, was ready for the test. 

He told me that he had been installing these systems for 10 days and none (yup, none) had connected. He suspected that it was because SWB had not "partitioned" their system for the customer but they should be up and running in a couple of days. 

ACT II 
The system powered up and promptly didn’t work. Test after test and phone call after phone call were next on the agenda. The tech was authorized one and one-half hours (he spent five and one-half hours total) to do the job and needed approval to remain. He received it and kept trying one thing after another. 
  

The external modem was an Efficient Networks, Inc Speedstream 4060. Someone (not further identified on the three way phone patch being used to try to get me up and running) said that this was a "bad" modem and to try to install the Speedstream 3060 internal modem. 

The tech had one on the truck and he switched the modem out and — Praise GOD — it worked!!! All I had to do was click on an icon or two and open a browser and it was magnificent.  What a relief. 

Ahh, but wait because we now enter: 

ACT III 
Two days later the connection was down. SWB verified that the systems were all up but both my neighbor and I were down.  (He had managed to connect the day before after his 17 year old son "messed" with the system after three different SWB folks had tried - see Catch 22 above). 

I called the help desk and waited the traditional 40 minutes (played a few games while on hold) and was walked through a fix. Only after removing a few icons and files did the help desk man tell me to reinstall some files. Naturally I didn’t have that particular CD so they kindly offered to mail me one and it should arrive in a few days. 

Result — internal dial-up modem won’t work right, DSL is down and I am a very very unhappy person. My wife is walking softly, my church friends won’t look me in the eye, and the dog has disappeared for some reason. 

I finally had an idea and asked the neighbor to borrow all their CD’s connected to DSL. They had the one I needed and I installed one file and I now have DSL up and running for over one week. 

It is as great as I had hoped and very fast, indeed. 

After action tips: 

• Verify ID of techs.  I had no problem here, but - better safe than sorry.
• Watch out for Catch 22.
• Don’t expect it to work right away.
• Don’t erase a file unless you have the ability to restore it.
• Expect at least a 45 minute wait on hold - try not to be bored.
• Don’t expect it to work all the time - or right away.