Friends are lovely but....

[JanieB]

My landline is down. Has been since about 2pm Friday. Only way I can get a connection is in a local pub or at a friends.

I'm trying to run an Internet business for my son. I've told him the problem but he's totally lost the plot over it. Trouble is I'm trying to sell stock online but I have to be actually in the same building as the stock. I know he's stressed because he's having a biopsy on Tuesday but because he's my baby I'm as stressed over it as he is.

I can't get a human being on the line. I want to know what the actual cause of the problem is. It's obviously a problem with the line itself or do they think I'm too thick to understand?

My real problem is that his dad said that if he left the business in my hands it would fail. He spent the the last 7 years of our marriage making me feel inferior. The problem with the Internet (according to my son and his father) is that he has proved to be right.

My son has now said he doesn't want to talk to me, he's cancelling the account and he doesn't want me at the hospital on Tuesday. This is all because of a problem with the Internet.

All I've ever done with all my children is support them. I'm devastated and all because the Internet failed.

[lottie dolly]

Cannot help with your internet,but i can and do as to the son and his tantrum,i have had plenty of them to deal with from all of them,since long after leaving work humhum,please do not fret over it,try and be strong,just let it wash over you,and see what happens,if nothing after a week,send him a text just to ask how he is,and take it from there,whilst we are worrying,they are not,sometimes it's better to give them a little space,do not let them see you are worried,even if you do,i have had to learn this with our youngest especially,simply because there are underlying issues to consider.

[muddled]

I don't know what to say to make you feel better!

None of this is your fault. But you know that already.
Nor does an impending biopsy excuse your son's ingratitude....as you say, you are as (if not more) stressed than he is about it.
And your boys father sounds like a real charmer.
Again, you knew THAT already too.

I wish I had some pearl of wisdom to make everything right but I don't.
I guess it's time for you to pour yourself a large one, put a chill out cd in the slot and take a deeeeep breath.

At least no-one can ring your phone to have another go at you.

[JanieB]

I'm on my third large one. Lurking in the corner of my local. It doesn't work as they've all disappeared for the loo or fags. Time to go home. Thanks for the support.

[Mushaville]

I'm sorry that theres not much advise I can give on the son situ BUT I can help with the internet issue!

Will do

Firstly -
Are you plugged into the master socket in the property? all testing has to be done from there is there.

Once you are into the master socket - is there a working dial tone on the landline is attached too? If not, contact the voiceline provider to get it sorted. If there is then is there any noise on the line? Try dialling 17070 to do the BT quiet line test and see if there is noise on that - if there is then contact the voiceline provider.

If you have a working dialtone - what kind of BT socket are you plugged into? If you can post a pic that would help a lot xx

[JanieB]

Thanks Mushaville,

I'm actually very au fais with communication problems, my degree was in that area and I was married to the man who lead the team that wrote the software for the first BT number change. My problem is that Talktalk when I ring them obviously have my number down as one that has a problem and only give the advice that they are dealing with the problem and will come back to me in 72 hours. OK, I trust them to sort it out but I would really like to know what caused the problem in the first place.

[greenishfing]

Thanks Mushaville,

I'm actually very au fais with communication problems, my degree was in that area and I was married to the man who lead the team that wrote the software for the first BT number change. My problem is that Talktalk when I ring them obviously have my number down as one that has a problem and only give the advice that they are dealing with the problem and will come back to me in 72 hours. OK, I trust them to sort it out but I would really like to know what caused the problem in the first place.

The staff at their call centres, somewhere in Asia have probably no idea what the problem is. When I was with them and was offline for a week they kept sending me useless and incorrect texts.

Sorry to hear that your son is behaving so badly.

[Mushaville]

Thanks Mushaville,

I'm actually very au fais with communication problems, my degree was in that area and I was married to the man who lead the team that wrote the software for the first BT number change. My problem is that Talktalk when I ring them obviously have my number down as one that has a problem and only give the advice that they are dealing with the problem and will come back to me in 72 hours. OK, I trust them to sort it out but I would really like to know what caused the problem in the first place.

Haha no probs! You probably know more about the BT side that I do then - I work as a Technical Support Executive for an ISP so I go into tech mode when I see someone with a BB issue :-)

Line issue are always a pain in the bum but when its over a bank holiday you just want to bang your head against a wall don't you! I have to spend my bank holiday tomorrow in the office chasing up BT WLR3 on about 15 faults...I'm expecting it to take around 5 hours

[Jungle Jane]

You could get a USB dongle,then you can get wifi anywhere when you plug it in. Arg0s sell them. I've got one on the 3 network. Its for emergencies only. You can buy a top up for it when you get it.

[Hazel at the Hill]

...or tether your phone to your laptop and use it as a wifi hotspot.

[Coopers]

Hi, in all honesty having such reliance on Internet and phone lines to carry out a job will inevitably have an issue at some point. Large organisations have issues but they'll have redundancy, failover etc. obviously your sons enterprise is a lot smaller but this should prove to be an experience not a dilemma.

You face an issue, how do you get around it and then you use that knowledge for next time.

It's all about lessons learnt. If he wants his business to get big he would do wise to learn this...

As for you, good on you for caring. But certainly don't get stressed. It's a family business and $hit happens.

Tell him it's time to write a bcp (business continuity plan)...

[Scarlet]

Tell him it's time to write a bcp (business continuity plan)...

I totally agree. My OH runs a business from home and we couldn't be without the Internet. We have a second Internet connection as backup.

[CherryBerry]

Hi JanieB, I am sorry I cannot help but I can really, really sympathise with you. We lost our Broadband connection for 12 days very recently. The landline was working but no internet. Both landline and broadband are with BT so I suppose that made it easier but the whole experience of dealing with the "customer service" team was so frustrating that it had me in tears, twice. I do not have your knowledge of how it all works and just kept getting the same questions over and over about the socket and plugging and unplugging for what seemed like forever. Eventually (and I mean that) the lovely BT engineer came and mended it. He was brilliant but the experience of getting him to the property was truly awful. What was really a shock, as other posters have said, was realising how dependant we have become on the internet. We live in the middle of nowhere and I was alone at the time. I don't think we have any option for a second connection as our BB speed is 2mps at best. Ah, the joys of the countryside. Anyway, you have my sympathy and I hope it all gets sorted soon.

[SkyChild]

I used to work in a BT call centre and TalkTalk piggyback the line from them. The staff in the call centres usually aren't told what the original problem is unfortunately so even if you can get a person, they won't be able to give you anymore info.

hope your son manages to calm down and see that it's completely not your fault

[JanieB]

My BB is back on. BT have been working on underground lines near our telephone exchange for several weeks now. It turns out that they accidentally disconnected me and several other people in the area.

My son has calmed down and apologised and the business is continuing. He's only been able to deal with the business himself for a couple of days and can't see the impractabilities of dealing with stock from somewhere else. I've had to make abject apologies to several customers and hope they forgive me for being lax.

I'm determined to make this a success; a) because my son needs an income stream and b) to stick 2 fingers up to my ex.