Sometimes The Solutions Are Easy

Back in April I switched from Time Warner Cable To Verizon's FiOS package. I switched because I'd had some issues with the range of coverage from Time Warner, and I thought FiOS might be better, especially as they were offering their 50 MBPS download/upload package at a discounted rate.

Suffice it to say, everything doesn't always go perfectly. As a matter of fact, it was such a process that I did two videos of the entire thing, and then did a third where I reviewed both Verizon & Time Warner. Here's the first video, in case you want to hear the "thrilling" tale lol:

Now I'm on Verizon, and it hasn't been all that it was purported to be. I wasn't getting my 50-speed either way, and that was irksome. I spoke to the tech who showed up at the house one last time in my continuing adventure and he said the speed was only guaranteed if one was attached via an ethernet cord, which I wasn't, and neither is most of the technology in the house; sigh...

This was back in April. Saturday night I remembered that last year, when I was still battling my Time Warner speed issues, I had purchased what's called a router extender. It's purpose is to help boost the wireless signal from the router into the rest of the house if you're having issues. It hadn't worked well with the Time Warner modem, so I figured why not try it with the Verizon modem.

I went through all the gesticulations, then plugged the extender into a socket in my living room. When I went to test it... nada. Nope, it didn't work. I was irked, so I plugged it into another socket; nothing.

Frustrated by it all, I sat at my desk wondering what to do... and then I had an epiphany. One of the recommendations has been to plug the extender closer to the router for better coverage. Since that wasn't an option anymore I started to think... what if I could move the router closer in some way...

Chris Potter via Compfight

When I moved into this house in 2000, Time Warner set the original model down on the floor, behind my desk on the side. Back then, we didn't have wireless so it was never a concern. As the years have gone by and technology has changed, even the modem, the one thing that never changed was the location of the modem. Different techs from both Time Warner & Verizon had been here but had never been able to figure things out.

I wondered if I moved the modem from the floor to my desk, what would happen. I did just that, moving the modem from the floor. Then I ran the test. I had activity! Not exactly where I wanted it to be, but things had improved substantially.

I had one more step I could take. I had to do a little bit of work with the wires, which were crossed and bunched up, but I was finally able to get my modem sitting on top of my computer tower. Then I ran the test again... viola!

Not only did that work with my extender, but suddenly my computer was peppy also. All the speed I'd been promised and more was there on my computer. When I tested it on my Nook and my phone, all was moving way faster and better than it ever had; oy! That was probably my issue all along, but who knew? I mean, technicians, people trained in this stuff, never figured it out, never even tried it.

But I had, and wow, how simple a solution was that? 🙂

That kind of thing seems to happen all the time, and not just with me. We ponder these issues that come up for hours, trying to figure out how to address them, and we make them really difficult to do.

Sometimes it's a very easy process to address an issue. I talked about this some years ago in a post I titled Simple Solutions where I talked about something that was giving me a bit of consternation and how my wife fixed it for me in less than 10 seconds. Wives are like that sometimes. lol

Not every problem we have is catastrophic. If we as leaders can figure out the easy way to get control, or the easiest process to follow, it might be the answer to everything. Imagine the stress that we'd be relieved of. Think about it, give it a shot, and if it works... let me know.