I'm understanding why some people hate us... (a pathetic little rant)

[hisamishness.livejournal.com]

(xposting to my lj)
Yeah... so you have a script to follow... But please tell me that even a new script monkey can understand that you have to fix a "no link light when attached to multiple systems using multiple cables" situation before expecting "now check the autodetect proxy settings" checkbox to be more than mental masturbation?

I'll be the first to admit that cable modems do some freaky shit that I don't entirely understand sometimes. I do, however, know that tweaking IE is patently useless when there is NO LINK BETWEEN YOUR BOX AND MINE.

My modem has gone bad. It connects to the cable system normally but the ethernet is not working.
"Can you type IPCONFIG for me?"
It says Media Disconnected.
"Type IPCONFIG /RENEW for me"
It says that it can't do that when there's no media connected"
"Can you go into Internet Options and click on the Connection tab and see if there is anything listed under Dialers..."
OK - removed the dialer for my cellular card
"Now check the Autodectect box"
Ok - still no link light and no IP.
"Well Sir, your box shows all green on my side, so there is no problem with our hardware."
There is no link light on your box or anything I connect it to.
"Your computer's network port must be bad then Sir."
My network port shows full link when I plug it into my switch but I loose link when I plug into your box.
"Your router must be bad Sir."
"Can you go into Internet Options and click on the Connection tab...."

Grrr....

It wound up being both a blown modem ethernet port and somehow, it blew the Fa0/0 on my Cisco 2611xm. :-(

How bad is it when its easier and faster to go buy a cheap cable modem than deal with their support line? On the upside, I am no longer paying rent on their modem... should pay itself off in under a year. Less if I jump to Uverse and sell it off. ;-)

Comments

[lihan161051.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but that's logical analysis you're asking for. :p

(One of the most frustrating things about working in a tech support group that's actually competent is when the problem turns out to be in someone else's scope, and I have to cringe and grit my teeth and refer someone to the script monkeys at their ISP. Because I've heard this complaint from everyone I've ever sent to their ISP support ..)

[heinous_bitca.livejournal.com]

Last time this happened to me, it ended up being the ethernet cable (no freaking clue, it had no breaks and everything looked fine).

[siliconshaman.livejournal.com]

*sigh*

A script is not supposed to be a substitute for thinking... but this is what happens when you have poor training, you end up with script monkeys with actually no idea how it all works, and no understanding of technology... they're just doing what the rituals tell them to do, to make the magic work.

[hisamishness.livejournal.com]

btdt... a carryover habit from deskside days is to try a different cable first. You'd be surprised how many cables get killed without much in the way of visible damage.

[hisamishness.livejournal.com]

I've seen cable modems do some very illogical things, so I was willing to play along for a while. After a while it was more for amusement value than any expectation of positive resolution.

Yeah... Lets just see how an IE proxy autodetect setting will resolve this issue.... ;-)

[lunatic59.livejournal.com]

I still say that there should be a secret code word for support people to bypass tier one support when we need it ... or at least toss the script out the window.

[taiki.livejournal.com]

ISP support is rarely scripted.

It's just rarely well thought out or competent.

We had a guy at my office who insisted that most connection issues were caused by the IEEE1394 connection and like clockwork he'd disable it every time and after another hour of troubleshooting would then point to it and say, "SEE! IT WORKED!"

[kizayaen.livejournal.com]

"Prior to beginning the invocation, Brother, administer the ritual blow to the side of the casing."

[brothersterno.livejournal.com]

usually it involved explaining what I'd done, and then being a colossal asshole unless they were on the right track. not proud.

[kingogre.livejournal.com]

Ehhh as a dude who used to work for u-verse I'd be sketchy on switching. LOTS of problems with it if you don't have a frigging awesome tech on site for the setup. Older sections of spaghetti wires and whatnot you can have some big problems but when it works U-verse is both cheap and not a bad little ISP. Tech support "normally" is fairly good when you get past normal script monkeys and request tier 2, it's the on site tech's that are VERY poorly trained for troubleshooting. As well forget wireless with Uverse, get your own wireless device and use it instead and disable the wireless.

[hisamishness.livejournal.com]

Are there any "most common" issues? We haven't had a wireline here in years, so I'm not certain where they'd come in from.

What about their TV & Internet bundles? If I'm giving up cable, I need something else to hook to the TVs or the girls will go apeshit upon my noggin.

And, as a last little mind-pick, just how is the UVerse hardware setup? (data and TV wise)

Thanks.

[kingogre.livejournal.com]

Well depends on if you can get fiber to the prem, that's good stuff pure fiber cable to the home but if it's not in a new area you're SOL. U-verse is pretty much upgraded dsl lines coming into the home, with closer nodes they have put in to upgrade the signal.

Tv, internet, and phone all work fairly nice and it's been a year since I worked there soo it might have changed some. The DVR's finally just got the ability to speak with one another like most cable providers will. One thing about it is, they use the coax within the home for the signal and rarely if ever switch over to much better, much more reliable network cable. You could try and demand that they switch you over when talking with the sales rep and if they won't tell them to sod off.... That's where 90% of your problems will occur within your home.

Internet speeds if they aren't having problems in the area not a big thing. heh, one dude I worked with lived close to a radio station and the power lines in the area were killing his u-verse signal. So ya, weirdness abounds with u-verse all because of the normal crappy issues with DSL.

I'd look at the cost vrs reward for your cable...uverse is "ok" and good priced from a perspective from arizona but hell we are blooming expensive.

[hisamishness.livejournal.com]

Subdiv is just old enough that nobody will be thinking of re-laying lines for a while. I guess that means that I'd be stuck with a copper feed. As for using Coax, that was all run new about a year ago, so there should be minimal issues with that. If I could get them to run network lines though... That would save me a boatload of effort in getting hardline drops into the various areas of the house. ;-)

I'll need to do some research and find out where the closest phone company "co" pillar is. There's no way I'm going to go down in speed/reliability.

I just started to see Comcast offer Xfinity. It looks like the closest competitor. It looks like google will be my friend for a few hours.

Thanks.

[ace-brickman.livejournal.com]

same thing happened with me! Did the issue start after some thunderstorms? I had the pleasure of being the 'friend who felt bad' and decided to look at my buddy's internet connectivity issues.

after 55 minutes of re-plugs & reboots, explaining every which way that it's not the computer nor the wire (this included multiple laptops plugging in directly to a switch, then to the modem, rebooting, reporting no activity, not even an attempt at communication to acquire an IP address, explaining how acquiring an IP address works, etc...) I finally came to an ultimatum with the person on the other end:

"So if I schedule a tech, and the tech determines that it IS IN FACT your modem having an issue, there's no charge for the appointment nor for a replacement modem?"

"Yes Sir"

"Sign me up"

[hisamishness.livejournal.com]

Yep - after some storms came through. A tree behind the house took a hit, and someone a few neighborhoods over got a direct strike that burnt their house down. The storms weren't that bad, but apparently the lightning never got the memo.