Inuvik (May 21/04) - When electricity outages in town keep power corporation crews busy, most likely New North Networks' internet tech-support guy Ashley Gidge is also on the move getting customers back online.

As to what causes Internet connections to go awry during a power outage, Gidge is unsure. What he does know is that when it does happen, his pager is going to start beeping.

"The mystery of it is how does (a power outage) cause users to lose connections?" he asked one afternoon while trying to get the Drum's system back online after a morning power surge. "But every time the power goes out, we've got problems to solve."

After completing his studies in application, service and network support two years ago, the 25-year-old from Corner Brook, Nfld., headed North to find a job in his field.

Two months ago, Gidge began work at dial-up and cable Internet provider New North Networks and has been busy since.

"A typical day for me begins with technical support for situations that often can be dealt with over the phone," he said. "If the problem is worse then I have to make house calls." To cut down on the amount of time Gidge spends talking customers through "little problems," he is currently putting the finishing touches on a step-by-step guide for first-timers and technophobes.

"I'm working on a tutorial on how to set up an Internet connection at home with a troubleshooting index for the small glitches."

Gidge says soon his tutorial will be available on disc and online.

Until then, however, he remains an Internet service journeyman, helping to keep Inuvik residents connected to the World Wide Web.

When asked what the strangest computer problem Gidge ever encountered was, interestingly, it was not Internet related.

"I spent a few weeks trying to solve what I called 'ghosting,'" he said of a situation where one's printer continually prints an image in the background of subsequent documents.

"It was definitely a tough one that came down to a configuration issue."