Technical Assistance

Much of the past couple of days was spent on an effort to install a wireless router in our beach house so we can use the laptop downstairs where it is cooler in the summer and often more convenient than our loft where the computer is located. The first problem I had was with what I assumed to be Bell South who provides our DSL broadband service. It seemed to me that the modem wasn't working so I called their help number and before it was over I had talked to 2 of their phone representatives who gave me very detailed instructions to make changes in my computer and modem intended to solve my problem. Each of them was well-intentioned and mostly competent but there was a problem. I couldn't understand either of them since they were Indians from India and maybe in India for all I know. So, I spent the better part of 2 hours trying to hold on to the phone receiver, type, make attachment changes in the wiring of the modem, and react to instructions from someone speaking with an accent so strong I had to repeatedly ask him to repeat what he had just said. After all that, they came to the wrong conclusion and I made two trips of 45 miles each into Charleston to get computer attachments which later proved unnecessary when another Indian working for Cisco Systems solved my problem with dispatch and less of an accent than the other two at Bell South. Or maybe I am just understanding them better. At any rate, I sure do wish we could get English-speaking workers who had expertise in computer technology to work for what ever these companies pay persons who provide this service.