> > > > > I have just spent about 45 minutes trying to connect. I
> > > > > appeared to be connected but unable to do anything. No
> > > > > mail or news servers could be found and all pages timed
> > > > > out. My IP Addy was 210.86.52.255 - what should I
> > > > > do about this?
>
> > What can my ISP do about it?
> >
> > Did you know that my ISP does not allocate me IP addy?
> >
> > Why did you assume that I did not call my ISP?
> >
> > What would you do AFTER you called your ISP 10+ times
> > with this exact same problem and had called the ADSL help
> > desk too (the one for my ISP) and called (actually they called
> > me) the Telecom ADSL help desk?
>
> A more important question is if you did not wish to get the call your
> helpdesk answer, why did you not provide all of the information. If you
> want help with an issue only providing half the information is only going
> to piss off the people trying to help.
>
> People cannot read your mind, and giving them sarcastic commentary after
> they have tried to help based on the information you have provided is
> somewhat unfair.

Maybe so but they could have assumed that I had done the obvious
and called my ISP already. They could have listed the options
available in the order I should try them.

Every time I have asked for genuine help from this list I get people
telling me that how I asked. I am told that I supplied TOO much
info or not enough info. I am told that it is not an ADSL problem
when it is. I am told that I should not have called who I called
when I should have. I am told that some solutions that I should have
tried were obvious but the person did not think that they were
obvious enough for me to have already tried them - some even come
back then and say that I should have said all I have done (like you have).
If I did it that way someone (maybe even you) would have told
gone through my post point by point telling me why I should not
have included that information.

It would be nice to have got a reply like this

Try these things

1 - phone your ISP help desk
2 - ...........

The problem is that I am not sure what 2 is cos no one has come
up with that yet and I wish that would - except for the guy who
e-mailed me that he can give me an ADSL connection that works
100% of the time.

I subscribe to a number of news groups and mailing lists where
I am one of the technical experts - I would never reprimand someone
asking for help because they did not word their question correctly. I
thinks that one should supply help willingly and showing respect for the
person asking. If someone is asking for help chances are that they
do not know the answer and may also not know the correct way
to handle it - if they did, they would not be asking.

Chrissy - who still wants to know what to do about being allocated an
IP addy that will not work.

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