Bingo !

Started reading Wodehouse again. And realized, almost immediately, what I had missed.

Anyway, it also made me realize just how similar my thought processes are to those of Richard Little. Past lessons have taught me to just rest on my posterior and wait. With time, these thoughts will disappear .

Switched to Airtel BB

After a rather long wait of about 5 months, got an airtel broadband connection at home.

The airtel story started about 6 months back. I wanted a broadband connection at home to play Diablo 2. Some research indicated that the only affordable service was from Airtel. Called up an airtel rep, and he promised a connection by the weekend. Forked out the 300/- he demanded as initial deposit, and was all set to get the connection. I was even taunting a friend of mine, who applied for Airtel connection but did not get it because the access point near his house was full.

Imagine my state of disappointment when the said day came and went, and no Airtel chaps turned up. Subsequent calls to tech support were always answered with statements like "it will be done this week sir" or "it will be done in 2 weeks sir".
Finally, someone told me those dreaded words : "Full access point". .

Heartbroken, I took a connection from Zee access. I shelled out a mini fortune (according to Indian standards) as the initial cost, including the one-time non-refundable deposit and the charges for a new cable modem. These chaps at set the connection up by the appointed date. All was rosy for a day, and then things started going wrong again.

Started with me trying to access google.com. The following dialogue took place between me and the PC.
K : Go to google.com
PC : Page not found.
K: What ? Not possible. Why dont you ping google.com ?
PC: 100% packet loss.
K: Damn. Do you have an IP address at least ? Did you get one from the server ?
PC : I am using (some blasted auto configuration IP).
K: Damn. Cant you even get an ip properly ? Let me talk to the ISP and see how this can be rectified.

So me called the Tech support guy.
K (After trying for about 10 mins) : Hey, I am not getting an ip address.
TS : But why do *you* want one ?
K: Hold on. You got it wrong. I am a subscriber of yours, and I am trying to "surf the internet". And when I tried to get a dhcp address, I got some junk.
TS : Tell me how many lights do you see on the modem.
K : I see 5 lights.
TS : Can you tell me the intensity of each one, and the frequency with which each light blinks ?
K : Er, they all seem pretty bright to me, and except one, all others are steady.
TS : Hmm….That means the link is up. Can you try these commands ?
K : What ? Tell me.
TS : Try "ipconfig /flushdns" , "ipconfig /releasedns" "ipconfig /release" "ipconfig /renew"
K : Hang on. let me try this
phone in hold for 3 mins while I stare at the pc, the pc stares at me, and nothing happens.
TS : Hey, are you there ?
K : I have issued the commands, and waiting for a response
finally, after about 5 mins, its done.
K: Still no dhcp address.
TS : Hmm. Can you repeat the sequence ?
Another 5 mins pass while I try this.
K : Nothing yet.
TS : Hold on for a sec.
K on hold for 5 mins
TS : Can you issue those commands again, and reboot the pc, the modem, and your tv and fan ?
K: Eh, why ?
TS : Just try it. I have completed an advanced voodoo spell here, and if you do this, you will get an IP address.
K: I will give it a shot.
Reboot, and get an ip address.

K: Wow. Got an ip address. Thanks.

And this repeated once in 2 days. At the end of a week, I figured out I was shelling out more to call the tech support than to call my parents, and decided to use a static ip address. But this was not the end of my troubles.