The mysteries of phone lines

Yesterday our internet access went out, just like that, while I was in the midst of inputting a very long survey into SurveyMonkey. (I do not get paid for advertising SurveyMonkey. I just like saying it because it sounds so darned silly.)

First - and I hesitate to say this lest I jinx it - I appear to be having my first-ever high-quality technical support experience with Earthlink. They are giving me direct phone numbers to call, and telling me my all-powerful, mystical Trouble Ticket Number - and I haven't even had to unearth embarassing prom pictures of high-level company executives, can you believe it?? They are calling me back - them, calling ME back! They are not satisfied with a temporary solution and have asked me to monitor the situation for 24 hours and then call them back. Let me repeat: THEY HAVE ASKED ME TO CALL THEM BACK. This is a vast difference from the guy who told me he was connecting me with the person who was physically beaming my signal from the tower.

Nonetheless, I do not understand how, after three years, suddenly our phone line cannot absorb the juice coming across the line, and requires a lower speed to remain stable. Did they suddenly speed things up? Did the equipment change? Did rats nibble on my line? We are in Seattle, after all, probably the second-most-wired region in the country after Silicon Valley. Surely it can take whatever juice the DSL machine wants to pump our way? These things are a mystery to me.

But for once, I dare to have a little glimmer of hope that my buddy Mia knows what she's doing and will sort it all out, and I will not have to make it my life's work for the foreseeable future to dog, pester and stalk Earthlink employees and their third-party vendor partners. Let's hope it's true.