yeah, I'm smooth

[donnaidh-sidhe.livejournal.com]

Ticket notes: "Field tech advises that this subscriber may not be co-operative due to having a very complicated self-managed network."

What does that translate to in your mind?

1835 EDIT TO ADD: What it actually translated to was, and I quote, "He's a pain in the butt and an arrogant son of a ...<trails off> who thinks he knows everything." :)

Comments

[pehteyemdjehuty.livejournal.com]

"Luser doesn't want to admit they fscked their LAN up." ;)

[azurelunatic]

and "Flee while you still can!" as well as "Oh my God they gave you *ROOT*!?"

[tmesser.livejournal.com]

"Luser still has token-ring and doesn't want you touching it."

[alohawolf.livejournal.com]

I've described peoples networks as too many moving parts to be practical.

I'm a FST for the Largest DSL Provider in the US.

[spaz-own-joo.livejournal.com]

This translates very simply to

"Verify connectivity up to the very first customer-managed device. For troubleshooting beyond that host, refer the subscriber to his LAN administrator."

And if that administrator is him? Awesome, he's got all he needs then! OKBYECLICK

[ravenshrinkery.livejournal.com]

This should make sense. After all, the phone company only guarantees service up to the jack on the outside of the house, the electric company only makes sure power gets to your breakers, and the water department (at least here) is only responsible for making sure your property has a connection from a main that may not even be on your property. So why is it that ISP's are somehow on the hook for making sure a dozen computers, three game consoles, and a few TVs work beyond the line that runs to the house?

Fools.

[alexanderc.livejournal.com]

Because a bunch of idiots didn't want to pay for additional troubleshooting service and promptly complained, whined, moaned, and yelled at the ISPs. At the ISPs, spineless managers buckled under the complaints and provided the service. Of course then everyones' rates go up because of the additional services "included" in the ISP connection.

[ravenshrinkery.livejournal.com]

Spineless managers that can't explain it as simply as I just did... How does that saying go, when you fuck up badly enough they put you in charge?

[alexanderc.livejournal.com]

Yep, that's the one. :) Or promoted to their level of incompetence, or promoted for everyones' safety.

Worked for one of those before. We used to have to ensure that there was a network connection to the student's room and that the basics of the networking on the computer were up. If it could ping the gateway and the nameserver, we were done. Then the manager started to tack on other things to "improve the quality of service" including virus scans, printer repair, cable television and phones (even though there was nothing we could do to fix either cable or phones, all we could do was say "yep, it's out" and phone the people that handled the service).

[the-s-guy.livejournal.com]

Precisely. I'm surprised that ISP field techs aren't issued with a subcompact tablet (or even a bog-standard lappy) running bog-standard XP and equipped with WiFi, ethernet jack, and a set of tiny broadband routers of various flavors. Unplug the customer's setup from the wall, plug in the test equipment, show client that the field tech can browse the web and get mail.

If they're feeling generous (or if the router is covered under the ISP plan), plug the customer's broadband router (or whatever) back into the wall, plug the lappy/tablet into the router, and see if the connections are still there. If not, and if the router is a rented ISP one not supposed to be touched by the customer, slap in a new spare router from the van, retest and verify connectivity, and get the heck out.

[canray.livejournal.com]

In a perfect world...

[the-s-guy.livejournal.com]

It's possible that the ROI would make it a viable investment - it just needs the right pitch.

[barbituratecat.livejournal.com]

Sixteen different ethernet cables plugged in to random routers, MDMs, and ethernet switches. That's what I'd read it as...

[ravenshrinkery.livejournal.com]

Loopback...

[barbituratecat.livejournal.com]

I worked in a vet clinic a few years back, and they took advantage of my tech knowledge and put me to work setting up their network [which hadn't been working in ages].

I found random cabling, an extra dial-up modem plugged in to god knows what, and bizarre settings on the admin system because the vet 'didn't want the secretaries being lazy and spending all their time on the internet'.

The best part was, the vet had no clue what her network passwords were. Yeah, no wonder you can't get online...

[japester.livejournal.com]

User believes they are a Linux God and network guru, when in fact that are a genuine f*cktard with no network or system knowledge what so ever.
The network is a spaghetti monster of cross connected hubs, switches and servers.

[twfarlan.livejournal.com]

To me? It translates to, "His problem, goodbye."

[canray.livejournal.com]

Seconded.

[featheredfrog.livejournal.com]

OT, but it's nice to randomly come across a foxxie icon. :D

[canray.livejournal.com]

I used to have to support ISP Provided Cable Modem/Wireless Routers combination units (Stupidly nicknamed "Gateways", which confused people with the Cow Computers!), Troubleshooting up to five computers at a time, not fun.

But if the person had a separate router/hub/swtich, I wouldn't touch past that. Do not pass Go, do not collect CAN$200, you did it, you fix it.

"Are the computers directly connected to the Gateway working? Yes? Then the system from our end it working, and it's the non-company provided equipment that's giving you problems. Call whatever cheap ass, no-name company you bought your second router from. Oh, they only speak Chinese on the phone? Tough."

[ptstech.livejournal.com]

"Luser has created his own Networking final exam - and FAILED IT."