“Well, if it storms, the TV won’t go out”

This was one of my reasons for switching from DirecTV to U-verse. Whenever there was a thunder storm or even just heavy rain, the signal would go out due to all that stuff between the satellite orbiting above and the tiny dish on my chimney. So, for this reason among others, we put in U-verse for everything.

Last night there was a huge storm with lots of lightening. In the middle of it, our TV went blank. So much for things not being affected by a storm. It was after midnight, so I just shut things down and went to sleep.

This morning, when I turned on the TV, it was clear I was not connected to the outside world. I checked all the TVs, and they were the same. And, of course, the broadband connection to the Internet was down as well.

I called the 800 number in my owner’s manual and, after saying “customer service” about 10 times, the computer voice asked: “You say you want to speak to a technical representative. Is that correct?” Damn right, dude.

Kevin, the tech, took me through all the steps of rebooting the whole system, getting the broadband reconnected, and then rebooting each TV one by one. The problem, it seems, is with the signal coming to the house through their wires. In a lightening storm, the amount of electrical charge in the air or with hits nearby can scramble the signal causing the breakdown.

So much for the idea that since our signal is coming from underground wires instead of from the sky that storms won’t interrupt it. But at least I have a clue how to reboot the entire system when it happens again.