I need to vent!

[MV75]

My Netgear modem (yes I know it's craptacular) died last week (connection dropouts every 10 minutes). Got it replaced with another one which keeps dropping out of connection too ( but less frequently) on the first day of working. Thought it was a Bigpond error, so called them - they told me to call Netgar because nothing was wrong with their lines - I call netgear for help, they tell me to go to Bigpond.... ...FML about an hour of wasted phone time with no help on either end but my conclusions is that it's just netgear's crappy modem, judging by other 'colourful' experiences posted on the interwebs.

Thank heck I'm buying a 2wire modem from Telstra next week (same brand as my very 1st modem, I can trust it works but downside it dies after about 4 years of use). Just got to hold onto this piece of crap modem until next year where I can exchange it for a gift card to spend on something else useful...

Also a tip for any net users out there, don't buy your web hardware from DSE, I made a huge mistake doing that. I asked the people working there if the modems were good and they didn't know what they were doing apart from easily taking my $$$. That's also another thing to rant on while I'm here, what DSE is becoming - I went to my local one recently and asked for a Funway Electronics starter kit - the girl there had NO IDEA what I was talking about - Dick Smith Electronics eh? More like Dick Smith Cashsuckers...

You might have had a bad line filter too. It happens, they do die. I've had no troubles with netgear. I'm using a dg834 right now with an intention of upgrading to a dgn3500. I did have troubles when I first got the modem as it was just when I churned to tpg adsl2, I had to get their settings and change things such as multiplexing, vpi and vci Probably the same as bigpond, those settings might have to be set.

As for dse, wow, people still don't know? They are going electrical / computers. That's why it's not electronics anymore, just Dick Smith, and the "techsperts" thing came in.

Even jaycar isn't as well inventoried as they used to be. The whole state of electronic stores is very bad these days. I have no choice but to order online as I've recently done a couple of projects from vintage-computer, and the components used you just won't find at jaycar. Heck, couldn't even find a basic 12f629 pic there. You can forget about an atmel 28c64.

I usually use futurlec, but last week put an order in with farnell.

whats MSY and ccpus quality of their service like?

I might try MSY as theres 1 10 mins from me....

msy, don't expect any sort of competency aside from looking at inventory levels on a computer screen from the staff. Same as just looking at the boxes for information. They have no product knowledge at all. Also don't expect inventory. It's always a gamble at msy. In short, you really have to know what you specifically want and be able flexible to change brands and levels of gear on the fly if you need a specific type of component.