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Internet problem in hotel - solved fast

The hotel I stayed at in Helsingborg had just opened and the internet access was dodgy - there was an American journalist who had not been able to email to his office using his Apple laptop. They let me speak to their ISP who told me what the settings should be but they didn't work. As I was using Linux I could get some information, I was getting a faulty IP number.

I made several telephone calls to the UK and Germany and enquired in the local Apple shop, then the hotel people let me speak to the ISP again - this time they gave me a fixed IP number which didn't sound right but it worked.

Next thing was the computer at the reception desk had lost its internet connection, which was obviously because I had taken the IP number, so I disconnected and their computer regained its connection. I asked about router and they said they couldn't get to it, I asked where ethernet cables came from room and they showed me a box in a cupboard.

I noted make and model number and looked it up on the internet, it turned out to be a network switching box, not a router.

The hotel promptly called an IT person who found there was no router, he got one from a late-opening shop, fitted it and everything was quickly up and running.

When I left, the hotel thanked me for the help and didn't charge me for the international calls I had made.

Somehow, I can't see things happening like that in Britain. It would have been, more likely, 'nothing wrong with our system, must be your computer, Guv', so things don't get sorted out.

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