ISP...FAIL

[mars822.livejournal.com]

I am not a Cisco guy. I have had to get a few of their certs in order to maintain our partnership, but the stuff just falls out of my head as soon as I walk out of the testing box. So it was completely aggravating when I had to spend way too much time this week trying to set up a simple static NAT for a client's new server and modify an ACL. Normally I would do this in the SDM, but due to the non-standard config when I last tried it I hosed the config but good. So I go though two TAC techs who don't know how to set up a static NAT, and finally get it right with the third one. Still no joy. WTF?

The competent Cisco tech runs a few tests and discovers that the pissant local ISP is apparently no routing the subnet correctly. Ok, call them up and ask them to check. Here comes the punchline - the problem was that they had given us a subnet that had been assigned to another customer months ago! Back into the router, change several lines of the config and viola! I can reach the new server. Morons. Absolute morons. The client is so disgusted that they are billing the ISP for my time, then dropping them next month. Damn good plan IMO.

The fnial irony is that I got my start in IT working the tech support pit for this very same ISP. That was ten years ago and it was one big dysfunctional family back then. And it's just gone downhill ever since.

End rant.

Comments

[alohawolf.livejournal.com]

I work for Covad, I understand ISP Incompetence.

[superbus.livejournal.com]

Oh, GOD, my sympathy. Between you guys and Cavalier, those two companies are the laughingstocks of my own company.

[falnfenix]

don't get me started on Cavalier...

[alohawolf.livejournal.com]

Well, it double sucks for me, because frequently I'm stuck between the angry end user, the clueless Partner ISP, and the Worthless Telco, and Covad itself, and everyone is blaming everyone else.

[superbus.livejournal.com]

That's the main problem we have. A lot of my coworkers are guilty of this as well; my company (Perimeter) blames the ISP, who routes to Covad, who blames both, and it's just a never ending cycle of suck.

Meanwhile, I'm over here going "uh, the issue...?". Everyone's too busy trying to prove they're right.

At least Covad's competent for the most part. I cringe when I hear Cavalier calling.

[alohawolf.livejournal.com]

The Competency of HTMT varies day by day, and hour by hours, it depends on if you get an experienced rep, or a newbie, the newbies, dont know how to do anything off of their script, and that becomes and issue, when you get into strange territory, of course, I dont call HTMT unless it is a strange issue, the normal ones, I can fix on my own.

[dr-zira.livejournal.com]

Hahaha. Guess where I work... But I promise that I'm one of the three competent employees.

Our ABS department is a joke when it comes to data issues. I know because I have to clean up after them.

[lihan161051.livejournal.com]

I still can't get over the ISP's who use bizarre NAT setups for *their own drops to the customers*, which will work *only* for directly connected Windows PC's, apparently not realizing that people might want to, say, set up their own NAT routers at home and, heaven forbid, actually *use* their network connection. And then give their own support no positioning for this other than to dump the customers on their CPU or router support, after getting them good and pissed off and ready to chew someone a new one.

Referring those people back to the ISP who started the whole mess is really fun, let me tell you ..

[spaz-own-joo.livejournal.com]

In those cases, the ISP is not selling an "internet connection" but an "access service."

But assuming you can keep your subnets from colliding with the providers, home customers ought to be able to run another layer of NAT behind the ISP's. I'm sure things like UDP holepunching etc. won't work, so VoIP and gaming are probably out, but outbound TCP connections (aka web and email) ought to find their way through multiple NATs just fine.

[alohawolf.livejournal.com]

Earthlink, and those annoying little zyxel modems.

[yanni85.livejournal.com]

We have had similar problems multiple times with THE big cable company. Usually it's one of our clients calling in because their internet suddenly went down and we find out their IPs got assigned to someone else.