I’m beginning to really despise Time Warner Cable, and yet I can’t exercise the consumer privilege of switching providers. Time Warner holds a de facto monopoly on cable broadband, and DSL? Kind of hard to get a DSL when one doesn’t have a telephone landline to begin with, and naked DSL isn’t offered in our area.

Three weeks ago. Our web connection was spotty and the television feed was either full of artifacts or dropping random channels. A few service calls later we get a tech to come out and troubleshoot – some ancient cabling was replaced and a signal booster put in, while the modem is claimed to be fine. Two days later the television goes out entirely, but the internet is still working. Another service call, and the new yet broken cable booster is replaced. All is well.

Two days later the web connection stops, well, connecting. After time on the phone and some troubleshooting with Time Warner we get signal again, this time with the advice to reboot the cable modem if and when the signal goes out. We end up with a connection that works for about 15 minutes after a modem reboot, if luck holds. Another tech comes out and claims we need to replace the cables running through the attic to the modem, and that it’ll cost.

Our attic is more of a crawlspace, filled with rusty nails sticking down out of the roof and decades worth of dust and fiberglass. Several uncomfortable hours later I’ve finished running new cable and we have a connection better than we’ve ever managed.

Three hours later it’s dead again, only working for a few minutes after a modem reboot. We only get a consistent connection when the modem is in the garage, bypassing the cables in the house. Either my new cabling is borked, which is weird because it does work for a bit after reboot, or the cable modem that we were told is fine by Time Warner is a piece of crap.

To whomever is maintaining the open wireless a little west of us, thanks. Seriously. You’ve been a lifeline.