What to do when your internet goes out (besides spending 2 hours on the phone reaming out your service provider).

Monday, October 9, 2006 at 10:33am by Gina Laverde in Life

It could’ve been the recent storms or perhaps the construction men across the street (who also carelessly smashed my neighbor’s car), that destroyed our internet connection.

I don’t know. The Comcast customer service rep doesn’t know or care. And after a failed house-call that gave us about a half hour of connectivity – they won’t be able to have another tech out to area until this afternoon (“possibly”).

It became quite clear to me, after about 12 minutes on the phone with a service rep, that these people have way too much control over my business life. They’re worse than dishonest car mechanics – adding on “possible” costs and mentioning things like re-wiring and I.P addresses. Even suggesting that I didn’t have my modem hooked up properly. And I just cannot afford to cancel service.

Most importantly (and easier said than done) is not to get “had.” My whole business revolves around e-communication, and if I’m not hooked up – I lose money. If you’re in the same boat – calmly (freak out) and slowly tell your story to the phone rep. You will get better service for being kind and having a touching story.

You need to get an understanding human being on the other end of the line. Ask for a manger or supervisor if you need to. And know your stuff – my provider suggested doing something with my I.P. address – and I don’t know about you, but that just doesn’t sit well with me.

End the conversation with a scheduled time for service, and accept the outcome for whatever it may be — before you’ve wasted too much of your day. Yeah, you will feel like you’ve suddenly been transported back to 1995 – when you didn’t have to check your e-mail every three minutes.

But business must go on, and there are a few things that you can do without the World Wide Web.

Start by phoning important clients who were expecting e-mails from you. And take advantage of the “personal” talk by asking for insight on upcoming projects. Add voice to the relationship – it will strengthen your connection.

Have an employee or partner respond to urgent messages in your business e-mail. Hopefully you have someone you can trust to do this.

Get to the stuff you’ve been putting off. Do you have proposals or memos that need to get done? Or how about that priority list that you’ve only had time to write in your head? What part of your business plan is lacking in content?

Read some of that business reference book that’s collecting dust, and make yourself a healthy lunch.

Call your mom or anyone who you neglect when you’re with your computer.

Get yourself completely ready for when the internet comes back on – because you will inevitably be a bit behind.

If your business relies only on the internet then I’m sure you already have multiple connection options at hand. But, for the rest of us – make sure to at least have a cable or DSL provider plus WI-FI capability. This way, you can take your lap-top over to wireless spot if necessary.

If you work at home and are close with your neighbors – suggest sharing a router (or passwords) so that you can use their service when yours goes out.

This week, my internet died. My neighbor’s internet also died. So the shared router was useless, and I felt pretty useless too. Even with the reading, writing and laundry that I finished – I know next week will be swamped with catch-up.

So, I’m going to take my son to the park now – because that’s something I miss. When you get disconnected from the working world, and you’ve done all you can to repair the problem – take some time to enjoy yourself.

Relax and have fun while you can. You are a young entrepreneur right? Good! Then you have at least 30 more years of work ahead of you.

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