why did i not install cable broadband internet earlier?? this shit is fast. i did a speed test not long after it was installed and it came back at around 10,000kbps. that's almost ten times as fast as my DSL on a good day.

of course, it didn't come without a little pain, like most good things do. after the new cable modem was installed, and Jose, the pleasant and helpful cable tech* left, i somehow decided it was a good idea to update my router firmware. it was not a good idea. it was a horrible idea, for which i paid a day of my time and several follicles of my hair.

networks are temperamental things. learn from my lesson: if you must change a part of your network, change one thing only at a time. i changed two things. which meant that when things went wrong (and they went very, very wrong), it was exponentially harder to figure out why and how to fix it. was it the cable? was it the router? was it something else? fie.

the following problems arose after i installed the new software:

- Corinne and i both had about every fourth website come up not found. (this is the original reason for the firmware install.)
- my laptop would no longer connect to the wireless network.
- my voice over IP phone stopped working.
- the networked printer wouldn't recognize any computer.
- the home entertainment PC (think: TiVo) couldn't download new guide information.

as i tried to solve one problem, three more popped up. i linked a LAN port on the VOIP modem to the WAN because someone thought that was a good idea. that caused the network to go to shit. i changed the MTU and RWIN settings on my computer because someone thought that was a good idea. that cause my computer to lose all but a sliver of a connection to the internet. i deleted the guide information on the HTPC and tried to recreate it because SOMEONE THOUGHT THAT WAS A GOOD IDEA. that caused the computer to not only be unable to download new guide information but to be without any guide at all. (no guide = no TV.)

the moral of the story, aside from the previously mentioned rule to never change more than one thing at a time, is that just because someone, even an "expert", posts something that they think is a good idea, does not make it necessarily so. the other moral (there's a lot of them here to be gleaned) is that you really should try the simplest solution first.

the simplest solution in my case turned out to be buying a switch. of course, there were some other successes early on that involved, for all intents and purposes, banging on the router with a mallet until it worked. but the the golden spike in the railroad that is my home network was that switch.

now, all computers are happily guzzling at the spigot of the internet, downloading their hoo-hahs, connecting to their whatzits, viewing and processing gogiggities, fornockins and slimwhoozles. life is good.

but, back to my original point of all this: cable is good. we'll see about reliability but so far it's a) cheaper (though certainly not cheap), b) stupid fast. should have done it sooner.

* P.S. i think it's terrible what happened to the cable installer who fell asleep on a customers couch while on the phone for over an hour with his own company and was videotaped doing so. (see the internet for the video.) he was fired when Comcast should have said, "oops, our bad. maybe we should have an express line for installers. hmm..." seriously lame.