Friday, October 11, 2013

Sometimes it's WHO you know

When we moved from the other house, we brought the router and the DirectTV receiver we were already using.  The DirectTV guy simply hooked it up to the dish the sister-in-law left behind, so it was an easy transition.  

I'm not sure I had even tried to use the DirectTV app on the Ipad at this house until today.  When I tried, the app couldn't find the receiver.  With football season in full swing, I like to be able to put on headphones and watch recorded shows on the Ipad while Cliff is watching his games.  

First I called DirectTV customer service, but I couldn't seem to jump through enough hoops to be able to talk to the right person.  Now that it's over, I remember that the best way to get help is to act like you are leaving DirectTV, because that gets their attention. 

However, it finally occurred to me that my son has managed a crew (I guess that's the right way of saying it) of DirectTV service guys for many years, and he knows this stuff inside and out.  Good grief, how could I have forgotten?  I have personal tech support at my beck and call!  I messaged him on Facebook.  

It took awhile, because first he had to do some troubleshooting, and with me not knowing all the terminology, that wasn't easy.  For instance, he said, "The DirectTV receiver has to be on your network, either hard-wired or with the adaptor on your router," I would answer like this:  Well, there used to be a little box wired up to either the modem or the router, I don't know which; but when we moved, the guy took it out and put one in the living room instead."  

Because what do I know from hard-wired?  

Anyhow, he finally asked the right question and I finally gave the right answer.  He told he how to find my IP address so I could type it in on the Ipad app, and once again I am connected.   

And this is the kind of stuff you will get on my blog until something blog-worthy happens.   

7 comments:

  1. Make up something about aliens and cow dissection.

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  2. Nothing like having children who know more than we do. Sigrid is in the 3rd grade and she knows more about tv and computer settings than I do. We want to watch netflix and she is instructing me. Do this, do that, pick this, pick that. Then we are in business.

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  3. Thank goodness he knew what to do to help.

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  4. One of the worst things about moving nowadays is having to hook up (or RE-hook up) all of your electronic contraptions.

    I yearn for the old days, when you could simply plug in the damn TV and instantly watch "Gunsmoke".

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  5. Glad you got it working. I always go to my children for technical advice. One of them will know the answer. I'd be lost as far as all the terms go too.

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  6. Tech stuff is SO tricky. That's why I dread changing anything, even getting a new phone, tablet, etc. Nothing works the same and there are always issues to resolve. Glad you could get personal attention!! :)

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  7. I have used computers of some type or other for 30 years, believe it or not, but I go to my kids when I get stumped. I can't even imagine what kids are going to know and be able to do in the next 10 or 20 years. Glad he got it figured out for you. I love watching shows or movies on my nook when there's nothing on TV.

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