apparently, my neighbors got a new wifi router and their network has a different name now and it's working fine

it just didn't show up in my networks with a name I recognized.

and they said that a friend of theirs walked down the main street and it looked like the power was out every other block

so the cell tower could have had no power even though it looked from my house like that neighborhood did

and my phone works now

official diagnosis: power surge fried my wifi

that's why we have our wifi router plugged into a power surge protection unit.

I like the thought of aliens more. Much more rational and clearheaded!

see, I got the govvies to fix it AND create a 'logical' explanation!

no aliens? oh well.

what makes you think the government aren't aliens?! I mean... yeah. Bummer.

Oh, it was plugged into a surge protector.

But not very many of our three pronged outlets are properly grounded

so sorry to hear this.

It's so common in our old neighborhood and most of SF. Will you get a new wifi? What will you get?

(I'd be surprised if your grid was grounded - remember metal balloon - wire - SF General out for 3 days)

some of the outlets are grounded to the pipes