Tech Support Nightmare
6, count em, 6 calls to the local cable companies tech support before they'd listen to me and fix the problem with my Internet connection.
I just signed up for service and upon getting the Modem and self-install kit I attempted to set everything up. The modem synced with their network, my ethernet card saw the modem, the modem saw my Mac. The modem DID NOT give my Mac an IP.
Call #1: Tech support guy tells me service is out in my area. He didn't sound too convincing. Told me to wait ABOOT an hour.
Call #2: New tech support guy tells me the service was NOT down in my area. Tries to help but makes me do all the things I've already done. (ping my ethernet card to make sure its ok, restart the modem, unplug everything etc). Finally tells me they had the wrong modem listed in the system for me. Tells me it will take ABOOT an hour to "resync".
Call #3: accelerated to level "2" support (ohhh ahhh). After hooking up a PC and a Router to the modem I realize that its a problem with their DHCP server. I plead with the tech support person to check the DHCP server, he refuses, claims he'd know if it was down because there'd be "reports". I'M REPORTING IT YOU JACKASS! Finally tells me he's "sending a signal to the modem that will fix the problem and clear any "POCKETS on the network"
. "Might take ABOOT 20 minutes". ARGH
I give up for the day.
Call #4: ***** and moan that nothing is working, plead to have the DHCP server fixed or GIVE ME A STATIC IP to prove its their DHCP server. They refuse to give me an IP. They claim they don't know what IP I would get. Finally they tell me they'll send someone out there to fix the problem. They claim if its a problem with my "system" they will charge me 50 bucks. If its their system it will be free.
5 Days later: Tech support schmuck comes to the house, I'm at work. Fiancee is home and tries to watch him as he f's around with my Mac. He does NOTHING. He hooks up his laptop which ALREADY HAS AN IP and gets out onto the network. He tells her he "resynced" the modem and it will work in an hour, he leaves, WITHOUT IT WORKING! ARGGGHHH
At least she didn't pay or tip him.
Call #5: Fiancee calls to complain and ask them to give HER an IP (service is actually in her name, maybe they'll listen to the bill payer). No Luck.
I get home and she tells me what happened.
CALL #6: "give me a manager, RIGHT NOW" - Manager tells me its a problem with my system.
I tell him "you mean to tell me 3 computers are all broken!?" He babbles on about it not being my computer but something we're missing in the configuration. I argue with him for 20 minutes about how DHCP works and if he just gave me an IP I could prove myself right. He makes me try some stupid things on my Mac and even has the balls to ask me how "computer savy" I am. This, AFTER I told HIM how DHCP works.
He claims to send another "packet" out to the modem and to reboot my computer. I tell him I'm not getting off the phone and he says he'll wait for it to reboot. So we chit chat for a minute and I find out that the Tech support for my PHILADELPHIA cable company is in Canada. Which explains the "ABOOT" thing
After I reboot it still doesn't work. He finally gives me an IP. It works.
He tells me it was the packet he sent out, and not because I put in a static IP!
If DSL was available in my area I'd switch. The cable company has a monopoly on my TV and Net access. When is someone going to bring them to the DOJ???
I just signed up for service and upon getting the Modem and self-install kit I attempted to set everything up. The modem synced with their network, my ethernet card saw the modem, the modem saw my Mac. The modem DID NOT give my Mac an IP.
Call #1: Tech support guy tells me service is out in my area. He didn't sound too convincing. Told me to wait ABOOT an hour.
Call #2: New tech support guy tells me the service was NOT down in my area. Tries to help but makes me do all the things I've already done. (ping my ethernet card to make sure its ok, restart the modem, unplug everything etc). Finally tells me they had the wrong modem listed in the system for me. Tells me it will take ABOOT an hour to "resync".
Call #3: accelerated to level "2" support (ohhh ahhh). After hooking up a PC and a Router to the modem I realize that its a problem with their DHCP server. I plead with the tech support person to check the DHCP server, he refuses, claims he'd know if it was down because there'd be "reports". I'M REPORTING IT YOU JACKASS! Finally tells me he's "sending a signal to the modem that will fix the problem and clear any "POCKETS on the network"
. "Might take ABOOT 20 minutes". ARGHI give up for the day.
Call #4: ***** and moan that nothing is working, plead to have the DHCP server fixed or GIVE ME A STATIC IP to prove its their DHCP server. They refuse to give me an IP. They claim they don't know what IP I would get. Finally they tell me they'll send someone out there to fix the problem. They claim if its a problem with my "system" they will charge me 50 bucks. If its their system it will be free.
5 Days later: Tech support schmuck comes to the house, I'm at work. Fiancee is home and tries to watch him as he f's around with my Mac. He does NOTHING. He hooks up his laptop which ALREADY HAS AN IP and gets out onto the network. He tells her he "resynced" the modem and it will work in an hour, he leaves, WITHOUT IT WORKING! ARGGGHHH
At least she didn't pay or tip him.
Call #5: Fiancee calls to complain and ask them to give HER an IP (service is actually in her name, maybe they'll listen to the bill payer). No Luck.
I get home and she tells me what happened.
CALL #6: "give me a manager, RIGHT NOW" - Manager tells me its a problem with my system.
I tell him "you mean to tell me 3 computers are all broken!?" He babbles on about it not being my computer but something we're missing in the configuration. I argue with him for 20 minutes about how DHCP works and if he just gave me an IP I could prove myself right. He makes me try some stupid things on my Mac and even has the balls to ask me how "computer savy" I am. This, AFTER I told HIM how DHCP works. He claims to send another "packet" out to the modem and to reboot my computer. I tell him I'm not getting off the phone and he says he'll wait for it to reboot. So we chit chat for a minute and I find out that the Tech support for my PHILADELPHIA cable company is in Canada. Which explains the "ABOOT" thing
After I reboot it still doesn't work. He finally gives me an IP. It works.
He tells me it was the packet he sent out, and not because I put in a static IP!
If DSL was available in my area I'd switch. The cable company has a monopoly on my TV and Net access. When is someone going to bring them to the DOJ???
Comments
Cable companies are the devil. Thankfully there is a technology that has been developed that is currently in a research market in Toledo called SpeedVox that essentially takes one POTS line and splits it into 16 separate voice and data lines, at DSL speeds (all this over currently existing POTS copper.) I think it is a little black box that sits on either end of the copper and instead of a packet based system, it sequences and compresses all traffic in real-time. Apparently it is terrific and the company has a CLEC so they can walk into Ameritech and demand phone lines which they have to provide according to the FCC deregulation. This company is basically purchasing hardware from Ameritech and turning around to turn that line into 16 at a fraction of the cost to the consumer. Downtown Toledo is eating it up and Ameritech can do nothing about it.
Let's just say I am thrilled to have a ground-level investment in it!
[quote]I argue with him for 20 minutes about how DHCP works and if he just gave me an IP I could prove myself right. He makes me try some stupid things on my Mac and even has the balls to ask me how "computer savy" I am. This, AFTER I told HIM how DHCP works.
<hr></blockquote>
I think it is so hilarious that PC users tend to be skeptical about how "savvy" Mac users are. I know so many PC users that think they know something about anything and that all Mac users are roaches, but in my experience, most Mac users are more in the know than the average PC user (hey, they ARE using a Mac in the first place so thats sorta a head start
murbot: Don't you mean...
"Dude, unless it was a newfie, we don't fricking say ABOOT, eh?"
(My family is from Grand Forks, ND and I go to winnipeg a lot...I love Canada...)
Winnipeg, eh? Yikes, colder than a sonofa*****, and the gang capital of Canada.
Of course, I'm from The Pas, which is way colder and way more violent. (Of course there it's not gangs, just constant fighting with Indians. Gotta love Manitoba)
[ 05-24-2002: Message edited by: murbot ]</p>
<strong>Dude, unless it was a newfie, we don't fricking say ABOOT!</strong><hr></blockquote>
Whats a newfie? I wish I could remember where exactly in Canada he said they were. I was too frustrated at that point to care.
<strong>
Whats a newfie? I wish I could remember where exactly in Canada he said they were. I was too frustrated at that point to care.
Canadians from Newfoundland...the most lambasted Canadians in existence.
<strong>OMFG that is horrid yet hilarious. I would have strangled them. Funny they put the tech people WELL out of harms way!
Cable companies are the devil. Thankfully there is a technology that has been developed that is currently in a research market in Toledo called SpeedVox that essentially...
Let's just say I am thrilled to have a ground-level investment in it!
</strong><hr></blockquote>
Aslan:
Go to their home page. Click on the link to their parent company. Did it work for you? Me neither. Go to their contact page. Fill out a form and report the problem and hit submit. Did it work for you? No, me neither.
Sell man, sell.
[ 05-24-2002: Message edited by: AllInOne ]</p>