| Connection |
May 13, 2018
|
| Recently my iPad couldn't connect to my portable Wi-Fi device. One day I was recharging my smartphone and my portable Wi-Fi device on the desk where my house phone was on. I realized that those machines' screens were showing something unfamiliar to me. The Wi-Fi device was on the smartphone. They were piled on each other. I thought that maybe it was interfering with each other. So, I picked up my smartphone and checked it, then checked the Wi-Fi device. There was no problem with either. That was that. When I use my iPad at home, it automatically connects to my home computer's LAN. I use my Wi-Fi device when I'm out. I'm a writer and I sometimes go to the nearest coffee shop to write. A couple of days after the incident, I went to the coffee shop with my iPad and Wi-Fi device. I tried to use the Internet, but my iPad couldn't connect to the Wi-Fi. I tried to connect to it many times, and at the end, there appeared some instructions on the screen, demanding a password. The password was on the Wi-Fi device itself. On the screen 'PW:mX53**9*e*R' was shown. I was upset. I didn't recognize this password. I usually use more simple passwords. I thought that I might have kept the temporary password that the company gave  me at the beginning and forgot to change it. "But ... what are those '*' marks?" I thought. It was similar with the notice letters that are from banks. They avoid to show the whole passwords. "But in that case mX53*******' or just '***********' is normal?" I had no idea. I gave up using the Wi-Fi and returned home and checked my notebook that I had written down my passwords. My writing read, "For the portable Wi-Fi's password, look at the screen on the device." I sighed. I left this problem untouched for a couple of days. I was busy. On this day, when I saw my smartphone on the table, I realized that it was uploading something. It was an unfamiliar sight to me. I became uneasy and decided to go to the shop that I contracted the Wi-Fi with. There were two young male clerks in the shop and I said to one of them, "Since last week, my iPad couldn't connect to this device." One of the clerks and I sat down at the nearest table, and he started to check the machines. After a couple of minutes, he said, "I'd like to check whether this Wi-Fi can connect to another phone." I said, "Sure," and I added, "Recently my smartphone also seems a little bit strange." He just nodded and took my Wi-Fi to the back of the counter and started doing something with it. The two clerks were talking about something, but I couldn't hear what they were saying. It took a long time. I started to check my smartphone. But soon the word 'No Wi-Fi' appeared on the screen. "What?" I said. My phone doesn't need Wi-Fi. After a while, the clerk returned to my table and started to explain, "We figured it out. You used a '*' mark, asterisk, for your password but this asterisk mark isn't allowed to be used for any passwords." I didn't understand. He showed me my Wi-Fi's screen, there was 'PW:mX53**9*e*R'. "But ..." I said, "I don't think that I set this password myself. I've never used ... this asterisk mark for passwords. About a week ago, I put this device on my smartphone while recharging it, and after that the disconnection happened. Might it be possible that the password was rewritten by that?" He looked at me and said, "I'm sorry but it's impossible, never happens." I said, "I know, I know. But I never set ..." He touched the Wi-Fi device, then the iPad and said that he set a new password for each, a temporary one, and the connection was recovered. I said that my phone didn't connect this time. He also touched on my phone and the phone soon returned to the original state. I asked him how much was it, and he said that it was free. I thanked him and left feeling their eyes at my back. Maybe they were talking. The possibilities: [One] Clerk A: I'm sorry for him. He is still young but suffers from senility. He changed his password and he didn't remember it. Clerk B: Yeah. This type of thing might increase in this aging society. I can't deny this because once I saw my hardcover book standing on the table in the morning. I had no memory about standing it up. It was spooky and I thought that I might be a sleepwalker. [Two] Clerk A: Again? If this thing happens many times, the company's future is dark, I think. Clerk B: Yeah. Maybe we should think about transferring from here. This is extreme. Maybe the machine's software has a bug in it. I learned that we shouldn't trust electrical things without thinking that they are possibly out of order. |
| |
*device :装置
*interfere :干渉する
*senility :認知症
*spooky :気味悪い
*sleepwalker :夢遊病者
*out of order :壊れている