Xcountrymove

I'll be the first to admit that I am not technically gifted, however, I am pretty good at troubleshooting a problem. You may ask why not just call Verizon technical support, but I will get to that in a second. I could list all the things I tried but I don't want to bore you. Trust me when I tell you that I tried all the tricks in the book (except for the one that actually fixed the issue). It was becoming obvious that I wasn't going to be able to fix the problem myself so I had no choice but to call the dreaded technical support.

First, you have to deal with the annoying automated voice system. I realize that companies save money using these systems but do they understand how much people hate using these...... Next, you have to go through the usual bs of repeating your information to a live person (when you finally get one) even though you have already entered it using your phone. Once you finally get somebody to help you they ask if you tried turning off your modem, blah blah blah. To make a long story short (after a 45 minute call), the first person I spoke with wasn't able to resolve my problem so they told me they would run a few tests on my line and get back to me.

The next day I when I get home there is an automated message on my answering machine telling me that the problem has been resolved and that the ticket has been closed. I think to myself, wow, they fixed the IP problem within a day. I go upstairs, turn on the computer, and guess what, same problem. I call back Verizon DSL support and go through the same routine to get to a live person. They basically tell me to try the same things the first person told me to do (check the filters, disconnect the modem, turn off the computer) and then ask me to go into the command prompt and run ipconfig/all, ipconfig /release and ipconfig /renew. I plead with the women telling her I tried this before and that it isn't going to help. Sure enough, I run the tests just to humor her and I continue to have the same problem. After about an hour, she recommneds that I go out and buy a new ethernet card because it is definitely a hardware problem and that this will solve my problem.

I was sure that a new card wasn't going to fix the IP issue but I was desperate. I went to Circuit City after work and picked up a new ethernet card making sure it was a different brand then my original one in order to ensure that I wouldn't have any driver conflicts. Guess what happened? I installed the new card and continued to have the same issue. I called back Verizon DSL support (now I'm mad because I have no internet connection plus I just spent $30 on a card I didn't need) to vent my frustration. After an hour on the phone, the technical support person told me there was nothing further they could do and that my only option would be to cancel my DSL service.

After I hung up the phone (a total of over 4 hours if you add up all the calls to Verizon DSL support) the dim lightbulb in my head finally went off. I thought to myself that I couldn't have been the only person to have had this problem. I would turn to Google for my answer. I typed in "no ip problem verizon dsl" and quickly realized that there were others who have had the same problem. After clicking on a few posts, I finally found my answer. Here is the solution in case you suffer from the same problem, by the way, I am running XP.

Go to start, control panel, adminitrative tools and services. Now, find the DHCP Client option. Right click on it and hit Properties. You can select start under Service Status and that should get you on the internet. It is important to remember that you need to have this going when you turn your computer on the next time so go to "startup type" and select "Automatic". The last thing you need to do is restart your box.

The solution seemed so easy and commonsense (granted I would not have thought of it but as I said, I'm not technically literate) that I have no idea why the people over at Verizon DSL did not suggest doing this. I definitely learned my lesson when it comes to technical phone support. Instead of spending hours upon hours on the phone, try searching for the problem first. In 9.9 out of ten cases I think you will find your solution.