my Verizon adventure about a month ago...Could not get service restored to my phone and internet for over a week...and it was on THEIR end. This is what they do for a living...One of the biggest communications companies in the world. Over 20 calls, talking to 30 people during those calls, and lots of hot air and false info (like "the tech will be there Sunday") I questioned that be-cause I know they don't send people out on Sunday.
The foreign office rep insisted...no one came.
Next date to come...the following Weds....No one came...Not fixed. It went on and on.

I hear ya about how you were able to troubleshoot the issue in much less time. Doesn't it just grate on you about how they ever got their credentials?? I find this often as I do my homework on a computer issue, and do some limited troubleshooting on the cause and effect. Then the tech takes me in a whole different (and wrong) direction...A direction I've already eliminated as the cause, because of the process of elimination!

BTW, disabling the add-ons didn't help.