We'll see how long this lasts

I am so mad at my ISP that I could bite nails.

We've been having internet issues for over a week now. (Partly the reason for my little break since it never worked when I had time.) Spotty service -- in for an hour, out for three -- plus, we could receive email through Outlook but not send. All in all, the whole thing has been unreliable at best.

We have a little family website, really nothing more than a portal for our frequently used sites and such. But it does allow us to have our own domain for email addresses. Our ISP had decided to block the port that we were using for outgoing email.

The domain was fine. Skeeter checked that first since the server had experienced an outage not long ago. The problem was definitely with the ISP, so we called customer service. (Crazy idea! Calling the ISP customer service for a problem obviously on their end!)

The goon on the "customer service" line (HA!) was no help. He spent 15 minutes of a 20 minute call telling us that we should be using the email address they provide. Skeeter asked for a supervisor (uh, twelve times!). When the guy finally said he'd check, of course, one was "not available." After listening to my little tantrum, Skeeter searched around on the internet and figured out that the port was blocked. Change a few little numbers and presto! We can now send mail!

Well, we could until this morning at about 9:30 when the whole thing went out. And it was out all day, continuing through until we left for the evening at about 6:30. It was back on when we got home at 10.

It's been on for three hours now. I'm not keeping my hopes up though.