AI Figured Out What was Wrong with my Internet Provider
Have a Repair Problem: ask AI
On Joe Rogan’s show, Marc Andreesen, the Silicon Valley investor, claimed that AI has passed a threshold where, on almost any topic, it can give better answers to your questions than noted experts. I have my own example of this.
Almost twenty years ago, I switched from Comcast as my internet provider to Verizon FIOS. My Comcast service was spotty at best and the repair people they were sending out were incompetent. I even wrote about it. Verizon worked well for most of those years, but about two months ago, my service began going out every few hours, and I would have to go downstairs and reboot the entire system by unplugging the router.
I called Verizon and after the usual runaround, they agreed to send someone around. He replaced my router with a new one, and for a day, the service worked fine, but then it began going out again. I called Verizon a week later, and they agreed to send someone else out. This time, the repair guy replaced the ONT box on the outside of our garage, which receives the FIOS signal from the cable in the ground and transmits it to the router. Everything worked fine for about a day, and then lo and behold, the service began going out.
This time, I got so exasperated that I arranged Comcast to come back and replace my Verizon service. On the appointed day, the repair guy never showed up. When I complained, the service representative said that the repair guy had said there was no one at home. (My wife and I were home all day.) I didn’t know what to do. My friend Larry advised me to describe in detail to Gemini my experiences with Verizon, which I did.
It wrote that “Given that Verizon has replaced both the router and the Optical Network Terminal (ONT) outside, the issue likely lies with faulty coaxial cabling (MoCA signals), a loose connection in a splitter, or inconsistent DHCP lease renewals from the network.” It recommended that I look first to see “If the coax cable running from the ONT to your router is old, damaged, or passes through a faulty splitter” and if “the power outlet powering the ONT (often in a basement/garage) may be faulty.”
I called Verizon again, and this time, and they sent a third repairman out to fix my internet system. I told him what AI had said, and he agreed that the only remaining solution lay in the cable from the ONT to the Router and in the power supply box in the garage, and he replaced both. Voila -- my internet system has been working perfectly ever since, and that was two weeks ago. AI had figured it out.
Oncologist kept her terminal with AI on facing both of us the entire time she was talking to us. She's known for being the best of the department, and I don't doubt it. She was simply using AI like a checklist making sure she didn't skip mentioning anything. Later I used it to explain the parts I didn't understand and to become more explicit with medications etc.
I doubt AI will come close to replacing doctors anytime soon. A doc looks at you the entire person and makes judgement calls, but it can help all of us to work more efficiently and better. Later a nurse reviews what we need to do and what to watch out for and when to call the 24 hour line. It's all on paper, off the computer, prepared by AI, the nurse is watching to see that we are understanding each part. Irreplaceable.
For overworked professionals doing complex demanding jobs, AI can help.
Wow! Congratulations!
I've been very happy with my Verizon service, but I live in a condo building with many customers, and one or two competing Internet services, so Verizon knows they have to perform at a high level to keep our business.