After wasting several hours with two technicians running me through hoops and regaling me with obscure technical jargon I am finally back on line.  No thanks to the technos (their final advice was to call McAfee for an adjustment to my firewall settings) but because Sum Gai at the provider office smelled a rat and advised me he was sending out someone to check my phone.  About an hour later (this is in Happy Camp, mind you) the Phone Gai shows up, replaces my modem and voila!  Once again it is the guy in the truck who saves the day. 

Further bonus -- the warranty on my modem was within 1 day of expiring.