ext_361198 ([identity profile] spaz-own-joo.livejournal.com) wrote in [community profile] techrecovery2006-06-08 06:41 pm

(no subject)

a little bit of my soul dies each time a customer calls in asking about speed problems at this one particular cable plant.

the cableco information page (for internal use only) indicates: "Bandwidth saturation issues are ongoing at this cable plant. The cable operator knows. no upgrades are currently planned. Tell subscribers we are aware of the issue and are investigating possible solutions."

The cableco advertises a connection rate of 2Mbps.

They have about 600 subscribers.

They have a 4.5Mbps pipe.

I want to scream at the phone "RUN! Switch to the competitors like you keep threatening to! They have bandwidth for you, and this is just a waste of your money and my time." But instead I say "Our network operations crew is working hard to relieve the network congestion, and in the meantime all we can really do is be patient," trying to swindle one more month's worth of cable bill out of him.

I feel like a criminal.

[identity profile] noweb4u.livejournal.com 2006-06-09 01:49 am (UTC)(link)
20:1 oversubscription is pretty common, at least in the world I've been used to. Maybe with residential users it's different because they all hop online at 5pm when they get home and suck down porn until midnight?

[identity profile] noweb4u.livejournal.com 2006-06-09 01:50 am (UTC)(link)
ahh, but 26:1 _is_ a bit much..

[identity profile] noweb4u.livejournal.com 2006-06-09 03:03 am (UTC)(link)
oh my god. That makes things completely different. Your network operations team should commit seppaku over that.

[identity profile] twopiearr.livejournal.com 2006-06-09 07:16 pm (UTC)(link)
as someone who works in the cable industry...a *lot* of the smaller cablecos, particularly in rural areas, aren't so much dirt cheap as much as broke.

unless it's someone like the unnamed cable company that rhymes with bombast, in which case get your hate on

[identity profile] jon787.livejournal.com 2006-06-09 04:50 am (UTC)(link)
My cable connection used to be pretty bad when everyone in the area started subscribing. Luckily since Comcast took over they have fixed those issues, although the network goes down completely an awful lot.

I hit 4 Mb/s today though, I'm quite pleased about that.

[identity profile] tjernobyl.livejournal.com 2006-06-09 05:37 am (UTC)(link)
Crikey, I've got more than that at *home*...

[identity profile] harmer.livejournal.com 2006-06-09 02:41 pm (UTC)(link)
That sucks. I have a similar job and I absolutely detest the slow connection calls. If our little tests don't work we have to go through a whole bunch of pointless troubleshooting and we end up telling them to just call their OEM. Ahhh I hate it.
shirenomad: (wtf)

[personal profile] shirenomad 2006-06-09 04:52 pm (UTC)(link)
So, does management know how utterly impossible their advertised rate is, or are they using Pointy-Haired-Boss math?

If the latter, has anyone tried informing them of reality?

If the former, is anyone planning to whistle-blow these swindlers? Because if they aren't at least planning to upgrade the system, that's false advertising at the least.

[identity profile] purplefeltangel.livejournal.com 2006-06-09 05:09 pm (UTC)(link)
Rogers? Tell me it's Rogers. Please, oh please, tell me it's Rogers. That will confirm everything I've ever thought about them.

[identity profile] purplefeltangel.livejournal.com 2006-06-10 08:06 pm (UTC)(link)
Thanks for the suggestions.

[identity profile] annamaryse.livejournal.com 2006-06-09 06:46 pm (UTC)(link)
I had to lie on behalf of a software company - I know how you feel.