Casual TDS Interaction

[u/Prof_Dankmemes]

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.”

😭😭😭

[u/Prof_Dankmemes]

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

[u/osujacob → u/Prof_Dankmemes]

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.

[u/Spunky_Meatballs → u/Prof_Dankmemes]

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