It's not us, it's them

 Well...

I had an interesting morning, this morning.

My mom needed to update and print an document on her Acer all-in-one computer, which is connected to an HP all-in-one scanner/printer. As this is the first time she's printing since we got the new Comcast modem, it's time to report that we potentially got screwed with Comcast. 

Like my last update regarding the new modem and my Dell laptop not connecting the the Canon Pixma printer, my mom's computer isn't connecting to her printer too. We failed to check her connections over the past week because she doesn't use the computer that often, and both printers are seen wirelessly by our phones, just not by the computers.

And that's after I uninstalled everything Canon from my computer and reinstalled it all. I didn't think to check hers.

So we called Comcast this morning to check on the modem and see why all of a sudden our printers don't want to be seen by the computer networks. The first tech we spoke to, said she's not a printer person. We are calling the internet agent for the company, and as we are having problems with our printers, Comcast cannot help us. They don't provide service to things they don't sell. Therefore, she can't help us, as everything is 100% fine on her end. 

The suggestion is that we do one of three things, if not all three: 

a) call the computer manufacturer for troubleshooting help

b) call the printer manufacturer for troubleshooting help

c) take everything to Geek Squad for troubleshooting help

    She legit said "go to Geek Squad".

We said there's no way we're calling or going to these other companies to fix a problem that Comcast created. Where we've had how many modems with the cable giant, and this is the first time we're seeing connection errors, it's not possible that all of a sudden our computer / network is blocking the printer. It has to do with the modem, as this wasn't happening prior to last month. She said there's nothing she can do; everything is fine on her end. Go call Dell, HP, Canon and Acer for help then go to Best Buy and have the Geek Squad fix the problem. 

My mom hung up on her. 

About 15 minutes later, we tried again, because my mom desperately needed to print her document, and I needed to find the wire to connect the computer to the printer. We got another tech, who, in other forms of trying, told us the same thing the first tech did. Not Comcast's problem, it's a PEBKAC issue for Best Buy to fix. 

Considering the guy decided to make us look foolish - he wanted to play a game with us, which I caught on to, real quick. He asked us to turn our computers on, check our WiFi network, open up our browser. He started spelling out the link to the NY Times, and when I questioned it, he said to just do it. We said we're on it, he said that by going to the Times, it proves we have internet. By calling for help on something that works, means they can't help. They aren't in the business of troubleshooting devices that they don't sell. Especially since our cell phones can print on the printers but our computers can't. Everything is working perfectly.

I said that that isn't possible. With this new modem, our computers say there's an error message. After uninstalling the drivers, the programs, the everything... to reinstall it all, and the computers say there is a problem finding the printers, it has to be a block or something coming from the modem. The guy said no; if we call HP and Canon, those people can walk us through resetting the network / passwords / everything wireless related to the printers, to be able to then connect to the Comcast modem. Since Comcast only deals with their own internet, cable, voice, the agents who work for the company cannot do anything else to help us. They can see our information on their screen and everything is running in tip top shape. Not their fault our printers are now not working. 

Uhm.... I'm not the smartest person in the world, and I don't pretend to be. But it feels like Comcast is trying to pass the buck again, on a problem they have a hand in creating. We've had these wireless printers for almost a decade (at least the HP one), and we've gone through at least half a dozen modems in 10 years. This is the first time we're having to hard wire our wireless printers because nothing can talk to each other. It just doesn't make sense to me. 

In all my life... in all the times I back end stuff... in all the times I've got to find a work around.... to all of a sudden have a wall put up and be told the thing blocking everything is working fine, seems odd. I mean, the printers are obviously on the network if the phones can see it, sometimes, but then the computers can't see the printers, there's a glitch somewhere in the system. Nothing has changed except this new modem. 

Even now as I write this, hours later, the phones have stopped seeing the printers. It worked for 5 minutes earlier, and I thought it would be okay. But obviously I was wrong. The printers have forgotten the network or whatever the issue is, and until I can figure out how the effing hell I can reconnect two printers, I'm sticking to the fact that Comcast is a giant piece of shit company. I wish there was a better alternative to having internet and phone, because this ridiculously fucked up conglomerate needs to have better competition and the competition has to have better people trained in customer service. 

To hang up a call and feel like setting fire to all your devices and living off the grid should not happen. I truly felt like destroying everything I own today... because the customer service end of Comcast made me feel like we're useless and dumb and don't know what we're doing. Not everyone is like that, and every time we have an issue with the cable or the phone or something else, they are the ones who can't fix it... they say it's working fine on their end... even if we're on our cell phones because the phone line is deader than Ötzi the Iceman after his defrost in the 1990s. Like, who's fault is this?? 

I don't know anymore... can we have something simple again?????

Cheers;