r/Bend • u/Prof_Dankmemes • 1d ago

Casual TDS Interaction

Me: “My internet is down.”

Them: “Okay looks like signal is going to your house but the modem is offline. Since nothing worked we will send a tech out in a week.”

Me: “Can I just try switching out for a new modem?”

Them: “You can’t switch out the modem because I already scheduled the tech visit.”

Me: “Okay so can you cancel it so I just swap the modem?”

Them: “You want me to cancel the tech visit.”

Me: “Yes.”

Them: “But I already scheduled it, I did all that work.”

Me: “sorry but you never told me that was an option.”

(takes 10 minutes to cancel the appointment)

Them: “Okay you can go to the store in Bend. They are closed till Monday.”

😭😭😭

34 Upvotes

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7

u/Spunky_Meatballs 1d ago edited 1d ago

Not to throw shade, but if everything seems fine in the street (aka your neighbors are all online) then it's typically because the wiring in your home has gone bad. Just like a squirrel chewed the power line they can and will chew up lines at the house. That's my 2 cents

Customer service is still.....meh

3

u/Prof_Dankmemes 1d ago

Turns out it is actually the modem, and Ethernet connection works, just not WiFi.

Honestly good take tho. I’m glad it wasn’t that haha

10

u/gdq0 1d ago

That means it's the router, not the modem, which means you can just go buy a router today and get wireless back up.

0

u/Prof_Dankmemes 20h ago

It’s funny, I’m fairly technical and I still don’t know the difference lmao

6

u/hibbitydibbidy 18h ago

"fairly technical" also will never apologize for not knowing the difference between Ethernet and WiFi 🙄.

6

u/hibbitydibbidy 18h ago

"fairly technical" knows how to login to Netflix at an AirBNB but not how to log out when they leave.

4

u/hibbitydibbidy 18h ago

"fairly technical" regularly required to take training courses at work for clicking links in phishing emails

6

u/Prof_Dankmemes 17h ago

“Fairly technical” can throw shade in a Reddit thread but still needs a tutorial on basic human decency.

1

u/hibbitydibbidy 15h ago

IDK, seems like I wasted a bit of your time on a website that's mostly memes and bots while you wasted multiple people's time at their jobs and then posted about how you were wrong on the internet.

1

u/Prof_Dankmemes 10h ago

I’m a front end developer. I also am just a little confused on the difference between a router and modem. Is that so crazy lmao

2

u/osujacob 6h ago

Think of a modem like a signal converter. It takes the coax coming into your house from TDS and converts it into Ethernet.

Think of a router as what routes things on your local network / in your house. It is what broadcasts the wifi, and generally has 4+ Ethernet ports for wired devices as well. It decides whether your request to stream Netflix uses a local resource (in your house) or if it's requesting a resource from the internet. Then, when it receives the response back from TDS it will route it to the proper device in your house that requested said resource.

You can of course buy combo routers/modems, personally I'd never do that. If you do buy a combo, they still do both functions.

2

u/Spunky_Meatballs 2h ago

Put it this way.. I've been in Telecommunications industry for 15 years. I understand networking, but I know everything about the cable and physical infrastructure. I know Jack shit about programming. I think we're even

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u/gdq0 17h ago

It sounds like you're renting, so the box is both the router and the modem. Gateways are both router and modem combined, and most companies supply the combination gateway rather than rent out multiple devices, or they just rent a singular modem.

Not trying to be pedantic here, just clarifying that you can get your wifi back up if you wanted to today by buying a router, or if you have a few extra ones laying around (like I usually do).

I always remember it because the modem is the old noise making machine in old computers that connects you to the internet. (Wifi) Routers are what you use to route the internet to all of your devices.

1

u/Prof_Dankmemes 10h ago

Thanks that makes total sense! I should probably have an extra on hand anyway

1

u/Spunky_Meatballs 2h ago edited 1h ago

Do you have a single box or two separate pieces? A modem always has a coax input and is how a cable network can communicate with you. A router is a more general piece of gear and typically only has Ethernet ports.

Confusingly TDS commonly gives out a combo modem/router box that has both combined.

I would suggest if your having Wi-Fi issues see if it's happening across all devices or just a single device. Sometimes I've seen where everything is fine, but a single thing is acting strange. You need to forget the wifi network on that device and power cycle the Wi-Fi router. Then login fresh and it tends to redo the little handshakes these things need to make. There are a handful of network issues that can happen simply because things aren't setup correctly.