My ISP has serius problems

[Technoid]

So, I got this fine letter saying "Thanks for ordering 8mbit ADSL", and since hadent I phoned them up asking WTF is going on??

"You couldent get 24mbit at your new apartment since its to faar away"
Well, I think it's BS since the apartment next door can't have 200m coiled cable underneath it, but I can live with 8mbit so I'm not bitching that much over it, mostly just over that they didnt call me and tell me in person instead of the standard form letter, the isp guy agrees and actually apologies for that.

Now thats just the background, here's where the fun start

I also asks him how long it will be before they hook me up again (adsl light on the modem has been black for a while now) and he answers that "uhm, according to my computer you should be online right now"

Me: "really?, the adsl light on my modem is not lit"

he: "I can see that your modem is conected to us, but I cant do more than that, may I transfer you to tech suport?"

me : "uh, sure..."

he transfers me and the first I hear is an automated message telling me that it will check if there is any problems in my area, 30 seconds later it tells me that I have recently changed computer, and or had it disconected from the modem and that I have to wait 30 min before I can reciewe an IP, weird since I know I havent moved anything especially the modem cabling.

Half an hour later I finaly reach a human:

I tell him the backstory and continue:

me: "So my Adsl light on my modem isn't lit, are you sure everything is ok?" yes, it is a stupid question but I had to

Tech suport: "Uhm, I can see your modem from here it's conecteed at 8mbit but your computer doesn not accept the ip adress"

Me: "It's conected to a router, and shouldent the adsl light be on?"

TS: "are you sure that the ADSL light isnt on?"

Me: "yup"

TS: "Then you have to conect the modem directly to your computer"

me: "ok, but won't that mean that I wont get an ip untill half an hour later?"

TS: "uhhh...yes"

Me: "that means that I'll have to call back tommorow if it still doesent work, okay do you swear that there are no problem in your end?"
it was only 20 min untill they closed :-\

TS: "yes, I can see that your modem is conected on my screen"

So, verry pissed off I drove down to work and got myself a new ADSL modem, new splitter, and lan cables, when I got back the backup smoothwall router I have hadnt got any IP either and the ADSL light on that modem still didnt show any signs of life.

I connected the new modem to my laptop and noticed that the new modems adsl light didnt show any signs of life either....

Now it's been more than 30 mins since I conected every thing and no change...

Tommorows calls to my ISP will not be fun for them

[lowlifecat]

Go giant robot on their ass and squish ,em.

They aRe gonna try and proove that it's your fault. Squish 'em!

[Technoid]

At last!!

Called them up this morning and almost didnt make it to a human
They seems to have uppdated their automated "tell the customer its his fault and ask him to go **** himself" telephone switch to include 3 more choises before you reach an operator.

Finaly got through told my story and got the following discussion:

Me: "...and despite trying a new adsl modem, none of the modems ever seems to conect and none of them ever show a light on the ADSL indicator led"

TS: "Now sir, I can't help you if you dopnt calm down!" I still think I'm entitled to atleast sound a bit miffed after having been jerked around with...

Me: "................................................. ......................."

TS: "I can hear your modem and I want you to unplug it and plug it in to your first phone jack"

Me: "I have only one phone jack in my apartment"

Ts: "are you sure?" now I really wich we were speaking english cause then I could have asked her to not call me shirley

Me: "Yes I am absolutely sure and I can not hear anything besides the background noise comming from being transfered several times in your switching system"

Ts: "SSSSSSSSSSSSSSS PIP SSSSSSSSSSSSSS"

Me: "Excuse me are you making modem noises?"

Ts: "...........uhm, yes"

Me: "now, the ADSL light on my modem isn turning on, the diagnostic page it generates when I log onto it says that it's not conecting to anything, I have tried another modem with the same results, I have changed the splitter, tried new cables and I'm telling you that something is wrong on your side" I said this in a dead flat voice.

Ts: ".....uhm, I'll check it manually, can I call you up again?"

Me: "Yes"

20 minutes later she calls back and.....

They have not connected me in the phone station

My ADSL conection was still hooked up to my old apartment

So their automated systems where halucinating when it thought it could see my modem

Now hopefully I'll get my adsl on monday or tuesday

I'm going to get some recording equipment so I can record these calls in the future

[KeiFront]

Me crosses fingers, lets hope they fix it monday.

[Sasq]

don't forget to be demanding your 24mbit

[Mikko]

Let's hope, that they will make the connection to YOUR apartment and not to your neighbour's. This happened to me at first, when I moved into new apartment few months ago.

[Technoid]

Well, this makes me happy that we are going to be added to the city broadband grid before years end

10mbit up and down minimum

Then I'm going to tell em where they can stick their ADSL

I'm going to be gone monday and probably tuesday, perhaps even wensday, so they got those day before I'm back and heads start to roll

[The PIT]

Well theres other type of annoyances. Like you down for two hours reboot the modem nothing happens you ring up convince the monkey that the problem isn't your end. They then go off to do more detailed phone checks and as soon as they leave and the music starts you reconnect.

Of course you have to wait and when they then come back on they don't believe that you've reconnected.

[ND66]

....Then I'm going to tell em where they can stick their ADSL

I'm going to be gone monday and probably tuesday, perhaps even wensday, so they got those day before I'm back and heads start to roll

You just reminded me of THIS.

[Jon P. Inghram]

This would never happen with a US based ISP, they have far better tech support people, especially Cox Communications. Their cable internet support people are highly trained and exceedingly proficient at providing absolutely no support what-so-ever. They would never have made a terrible mistake like eventually solving your problem, like the fools who work for your ISP did.

[The PIT]

It gets worse if the call centre is in India and the tech squad in the UK. You get a complete balls up then.

One thing I'm glad about is leaving plusnet. I'm still on there fault list and get four or five fault warnings a day. Most of the time the problems are self created which is why I left.

[Technoid]

This would never happen with a US based ISP, they have far better tech support people, especially Cox Communications. Their cable internet support people are highly trained and exceedingly proficient at providing absolutely no support what-so-ever. They would never have made a terrible mistake like eventually solving your problem, like the fools who work for your ISP did.

well my isp is working hard to make it imposible to reach the tech support personell

If you never reach tech support they can't fix your problem

Their automated switching system is gaining in effectivness for each passing day, soon you wont ever reach tech support

It gets worse if the call centre is in India and the tech squad in the UK. You get a complete balls up then.

One thing I'm glad about is leaving plusnet. I'm still on there fault list and get four or five fault warnings a day. Most of the time the problems are self created which is why I left.

all our callcenters are now based up noth in the country (where the imagined polarbears roam ) , before they were mostly stockholm based.

They say it's because the unemployment up there makes it pefect for callcenters (mostly everything has their calcenters up there)but I know the truth.....

They had to for safety, after that incident in 99' when one customer decided that enough was enough and visited in person....and broght his favorite chainsaw

[The PIT]

It hasn't stopped them employing script monkeys then.

[TransformX]

I must say that the phone company are slightly more efficient with their questions here.
me: I have an Alcatel speed touch home and it won't sync
ts: What do you mean it won't sync?
me: I mean the second light from the right, the one labeled 'Line sync' is constantly flashing, for the last 15 minutes.
ts: I see, is the modem connected to the phone line?
me: yes
ts: Is it connected through a filter?
me: yes
ts: Do you have a fax at home?
me: no
ts: Will you please disconnect all phones and plug the modem directly to the outlet without the filter for me to test the line quality
me: Umm.. sure, but then how we talk?
ts: I could call your cell phone or you can do as I say and re-plug the filter and phones in 10 minutes, then I'll call back.

To cut it short, he checked the line and found out there were problems with it. A tech was sent first thing in the morning and fixed it.

[Technoid]

ts: Will you please disconnect all phones and plug the modem directly to the outlet without the filter for me to test the line quality

I've been told by the techsupport from my ISP (when I've have been representing customers) and other ISP's that "The adsl modem can't function without a filter (what I called a splitter ) "