Are you sure it's not just in sleep mode?

In the wake of a very bad thunderstorm, this field service pilot fish is dispatched to a client's restaurant to test and replace a patch cord after lightning blew up the cable modem.

"My ticket said to replace the cord between the cable modem and the router," says fish. "The internet provider had replaced the modem, but the site was still on its backup wireless connection because the router still could not communicate through the modem.

"The support desk -- which was on another continent -- believed that either there must be a defective patch cord or the ISP had sent a defective modem."

It only takes a few minutes for fish to spot the real problem: The router's WAN port has been destroyed by the same blast that took out the original modem -- along with a printer, a dishwasher and several other pieces of equipment, according to the restaurant's manager.

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