Some internet problems are a lot more obvious than others.

For one ISP worker, that became pretty clear when a customer called because his internet and phone had both stopped working.

At first, everything sounded normal, and the line test didn’t show anything obviously wrong.

So, after running through the usual questions, the worker finally asked the customer to send a picture of his setup.

That’s when they noticed one very important detail the customer somehow forgot to mention.

Read on to see exactly what happened.

Customer apparently believes that the internet runs on magic

For the past year or so, I’ve been working tech support for a well-known ISP.

My job is to help people fix problems with their internet, and yes, 99% are elderly or Kevins.

This particular customer call starts out pretty normal: no internet connection, phone not working, etc., etc…

After troubleshooting several items, he decided it must be the hardware.

I start a test on the line to look for faults, but this can take a while, so I also check the general setup, asking the customer to confirm what is plugged in and where.

The line test comes back clean apart from not getting a signal back from the router, and the setup sounds correct. I even ask the customer outright if there are any signs of damage to anything, and he says no.

I’m at a loss and leaning towards a fault with the equipment. Just as a last shot, I get the customer to use his mobile to send me a picture.

Then, he saw the problem.

His router is indeed plugged into the correct phone socket. The socket, however, is just lying on the floor. There is zero physical connection from the router to the phone line.

Me: “Is…is that socket actually connected to anything?”

Customer: “No, it fell off the wall this morning.”

Apparently, the guy didn’t understand it the first time.

Me: “Well, there’s the problem. We’ll need to send someone to repair the socket. Otherwise, nothing is going to work.”

Customer: “But I’m supposed to be working from home, and my boss is expecting me on a call soon. Can’t you just press a button at your end and make it work?”

Me: “……………..so an engineer will be with you on Thursday.”

Oh no! That poor guy, though.

Let’s check out if the people over at Reddit have ever encountered anything similar.

The story reminds this reader of a call.

Here’s someone who gets it.

And it’s the same for DirecTV customer support.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a tech support worker who told a manager a computer needed replaced, only to be told no thanks.

This is enough to drive anyone crazy.

Calls like this would get so annoying after awhile.

There’s only so much someone can do when a customer refuses to understand how something actually works.

And expecting an ISP to magically fix a physical problem from miles away is asking a lot.

Hopefully, the engineer had a little more luck explaining it.