Quindici minuti in attesa

Jonas stares at the Wi-Fi icon on his laptop and feels a slow, steady irritation rise. The Wi-Fi network that worked perfectly yesterday suddenly does not work anymore. Not on his phone and not on his laptop, which he needs for work. When he tries to connect to the Wi-Fi network, a message appears: “No Internet connection.” Jonas goes through the automatic ritual—turn Wi-Fi off, turn it on again, wait, sigh—and nothing changes. Even the TV refuses to load anything, showing only an error screen. Jonas looks at the time: he has an important video call in an hour.

He walks over to the corner of the living room where the router is. The lights keep blinking, but not in a way that gives him confidence. Jonas unplugs the router, counts to ten, and plugs it back in. He waits one minute, then two. The Internet light stays off. “Okay,” he says aloud, “I’m calling support.” He picks up his phone and dials his provider’s number. A cheerful automated voice greets him and announces, “The estimated wait time is fifteen minutes.” Jonas breathes out. “Fifteen minutes,” he repeats, as if it were a challenge.

The upbeat, repetitive hold music starts, completely wrong for Jonas’s mood. He puts his phone on speaker and goes to the kitchen, trying to remain calm. He makes tea, checks the router again, and firmly presses every cable, as if confidence and encouragement could pass through plastic. The music goes on. After seven minutes, the song changes and somehow becomes even more cheerful. Jonas thinks about everything he must do when the internet comes back: send emails, open files, and join the meeting. He begins to feel stressed. After fourteen minutes, a recorded voice says, “Thank you for your patience. An agent will be with you shortly.” Jonas checks the clock. At exactly fifteen minutes, someone finally answers.

“Good evening, I’m Priya from technical support,” says a calm voice. “Thank you for waiting. Who do I have the pleasure of speaking with?” Jonas immediately feels relieved. “Hi, I’m Jonas. My Wi‑Fi isn’t working. I have no internet on either my laptop or my phone.” Priya speaks in an even tone. “Understood. I’ll ask you a few questions. They may seem basic, but it is standard procedure.” Jonas nods. “Okay.”

“Perfect,” Priya says. “Are you at the address where the service is installed?” “Yes.” “Okay. Can you see the router, the black box with the lights?” “Yes.” “Can you tell me which lights are on?” Jonas crouches down as if he were inspecting a small animal. “Power on. Wi‑Fi on. The Internet light is off.” “Thank you,” Priya says. “If the Internet light is off, the router is not receiving the signal correctly. Let’s restart it together. Please unplug the router and wait thirty seconds.” Jonas unplugs it. The lights go out. He waits, watching the seconds pass like a countdown. “Now plug it back in,” Priya says. Jonas plugs it back in and watches the lights come back on.

“Good,” Priya says. “It can take two to three minutes. While we wait, check the cable from the wall socket to the router. Is it firmly connected?” Jonas runs his fingers along the thick cable. “Yes, it seems to be plugged in properly.” “Is there a splitter or another device in the socket?” “No, it is connected directly.” “Okay,” Priya says. “Can you see the Internet light now?” Jonas watches. Power. Wi‑Fi. Still no Internet light. “It is still off,” he says. “All right,” Priya replies, still calm. “I will run a line test from my end. It takes about thirty seconds.” Jonas hears her typing and notices the faint background noise from a call center.

“Okay,” Priya says. “The test shows that the signal reaches your building, but the router is not responding correctly. We can try a factory reset if you feel up to it.” Jonas hesitates. “What does that involve?” “It restores the router to its default settings,” Priya explains. “Afterwards, you may have to reconnect to Wi‑Fi using the network name and password, but the reset can get a frozen router working again.” Jonas looks at the router as if it might argue with him. “Okay. How do I do it?” “There should be a small reset hole,” Priya says. “Using a paper clip, press and hold the reset button inside the hole for ten seconds.” Jonas finds a bent paper clip in a drawer and does it while Priya counts. The lights flash wildly, then become steady again.

“Perfect,” Priya says. “Are you at the address where the service is installed?” “Yes.” “Okay. Can you see the router, the black box with the lights?” “Yes.” “Can you tell me which lights are on?” Jonas crouches down as if he were examining a small animal. “Power is on. Wi‑Fi is on. The internet light is off.” “Thank you,” Priya says. “If the internet light is off, the router is not receiving the signal correctly. Let’s restart it together. Please unplug the router from the power supply and wait thirty seconds.” Jonas unplugs it. The lights go out. He waits, watching the seconds pass like a countdown. “Now plug it back in,” Priya says. Jonas plugs it back in and watches the lights come back on.

“Good,” Priya says. “It can take two to three minutes. While we wait, check the cable from the wall socket to the router. Is it securely connected?” Jonas runs his fingers along the thick cable. “Yes, it seems properly plugged in.” “Is there a splitter or an additional device in the socket?” “No, it is connected directly.” “Okay,” Priya says. “Can you see the internet light now?” Jonas watches the lights. Power. Wi‑Fi. Still no internet light. “It is still off,” he says. “All right,” Priya replies, still calm. “I will run a line test from here. It takes about thirty seconds.” Jonas hears her typing and notices the soft background noise of a call center.

“Okay,” Priya says. “The test shows that the signal reaches your building, but the router is not responding correctly. We can try a factory reset if you feel up to it.” Jonas hesitates. “What does that involve?” “It restores the router to its default settings,” Priya explains. “Afterwards, you may have to reconnect to the Wi‑Fi network using its name and password, but this can get a router working again if it has “frozen”.” Jonas looks at the router as if it could argue with him. “Okay. How do I do that?” “There should be a small reset hole,” Priya says. “With a paper clip, press it and hold it down for ten seconds.” Jonas finds a bent paper clip in a drawer and does it while Priya counts. The lights flash wildly, then become steady again.