Pica Pica

The back story: we had two computers, a desktop and a laptop. Internet connectivity is through a wireless router provided as part of the package by Telstra (the dominant telecommunications company here, formerly owned by the Australian government).

The main story, in bullets:

• Laptop computer meets very serious accident.
• Order and receive new one from Dell.
• New laptop will not connect to Internet.
• Spend an hour or two on this – it becomes clear that although the laptop sees wireless networks belonging to neighbours, it simply does not see our own.
• Contact Telstra support. Spend two or three hours on the phone to them. They cannot fix the problem. They blame the new computer, and the fact that it is running Windows 7. They say “We do not support Windows 7 yet, it is too new”. They also say that they do not support the router any more, because it is too old.
• Contact Dell support.
• Spend considerable time on the phone to Dell. Eventually one of their technicians says “If your computer cannot see your router, perhaps your router is set to be invisible. Try changing these settings: xxx”.
• This works.

Coda:

A week or so later, somebody rings up from Telstra, wanting to know if the problem was solved. I tell them that yes, it works now, but no, it was no thanks at all to Telstra. I point out that although it was outside the scope of Dell’s responsibility, they spotted that the failure to see the router might be due to the router being invisible. The caller says that he is just looking for some feedback. I suggest it would be a good idea if their support staff knew about the equipment they are supposed to be supporting.

“And is there anything else I can help you with?” I decline the offer, but I do remain polite.