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Nitr0 posted:Ethernet cable is cheap. Oh my god man. I'm not saying it's not cheap. I'm not saying routers are magic. I'm saying that I have spent hours on hold with and been promised a half dozen never-received callbacks by a company that was not interested in doing the most basic troubleshooting with me. Like, checking the modem's signal levels. Or seeing what my account is provisioned as. Saying "there's nothing we can do as long as a router is plugged into the modem" is not troubleshooting. They didn't even let me give them my account info to check. I have never been blown off by a bell or rogers tech like that in fifteen years of occasional tech support. I know everyone loves them, (and I in fact loved them right up until I started paying for service) but that doesn't mean everything they do is perfect. Twiin fucked around with this message at 04:52 on Aug 5, 2011 |
# ? Aug 5, 2011 04:41 |
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# ? May 3, 2024 02:42 |
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I've never even had Teksavvy, I have Telus. I'm just saying what it sounds like without even taking the company into consideration. You're being a dink about things. You must have been a pretty fun tech support agent to be on the phone with.
Nitr0 fucked around with this message at 05:49 on Aug 5, 2011 |
# ? Aug 5, 2011 05:42 |
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Nitr0 posted:I've never even had Teksavvy, I have Telus. I'm just saying what it sounds like without even taking the company into consideration. You're being a dink about things. You must have been a pretty fun tech support agent to be on the phone with. Okay. Well, when you spend three hours on the phone trying to reach someone and they refuse to even let you tell them who you are to see if you are set as having the right account type, I'll be sure to call you a dink for being pissed about it.
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# ? Aug 5, 2011 06:15 |
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Twiin posted:Okay. Well, when you spend three hours on the phone trying to reach someone This was Telus in BC on Monday. It happens a few times a year.
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# ? Aug 5, 2011 07:45 |
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drcru posted:This was Telus in BC on Monday. It happens a few times a year. that was standard protocol with Telus. The battery on my cordless would die before I'd get through to them. As for connecting the computer directly to the modem for troubleshooting; WAN to LAN throughput is a definite problem on cheap routers, especially if you are using a service that opens many concurrent connections (torrents and other p2p come to mind). So it's not at all unreasonable to ask this. It could very well be the reason you are getting consistently lower speeds. For example, the Linksys WRT54GL has a real-world throughput of about 54Mbps under ideal conditions. There are cheap rear end netgears floating around that can only handle 7Mbps. I recently had a problem with my WRT54GL where it was only able to negotiate a 10Mbps half-duplex connection despite running full CAT6. Turns out plugging my computer in directly allowed me my full 25Mbps to the internet. I now have a new router, and I get a Gigabit to it on the exact same hardware.
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# ? Aug 5, 2011 08:08 |
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ZShakespeare posted:that was standard protocol with Telus. The battery on my cordless would die before I'd get through to them. I just tweet my complaints to Telus and Shaw now, it's way faster. Except Telus now just keeps trying to pass it off to phone support.
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# ? Aug 5, 2011 08:15 |
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I haven't been with Telus since I got my balls back in '05, and decided it was worth it to get a Roger's prepaid phone and ditch my landline. Never again.
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# ? Aug 5, 2011 08:46 |
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ZShakespeare posted:I haven't been with Telus since I got my balls back in '05, and decided it was worth it to get a Roger's prepaid phone and ditch my landline. Never again. That's cool, I don't think I'd ever give up my landline though. I wouldn't switch to Shaw's VOIP either since they love having outages.
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# ? Aug 5, 2011 09:00 |
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My girlfriend needs to find a new ISP in Edmonton Alberta, and I am not sure who provides the best price now. Ideally she wants to keep it cheap, however she tends to stream a lot of online video and may require a decent cap. I did some initial research with Shaw, Telus, and Techsavvy, but haven't really seen a huge price difference between the three. At the moment she is leaning towards Shaw since they provide the wireless modem, as opposed to tech savvy which would require her to purchase a modem + router. Any Alberta / Edmonton goons have better ISP suggestions?
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# ? Aug 5, 2011 09:25 |
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People still have 10mbps gateways and routers. Obviously if a customer is getting 10mbps instead of 15mbps they would want to make sure that it's not a hardware limitation. Also since it sounds like you're using wireless and your computer is far away it could simply be a wi-fi issue. I don't understand why you don't have a wired connection to your computer. Go buy a fifty foot ethernet cable and enjoy all the benefits of having to use wi-fi.
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# ? Aug 5, 2011 11:39 |
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Twiin posted:Okay. Well, when you spend three hours on the phone trying to reach someone and they refuse to even let you tell them who you are to see if you are set as having the right account type, I'll be sure to call you a dink for being pissed about it. Go to DSLreports and talk to a teksavvy rep there. But yeah, you are being kinda lazy on this. You'll spend three hours on the phone but not 30 minutes taking your PC down a few stair steps. All you need to do is hookup a monitor, keyboard, mouse, and plug it into your router.
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# ? Aug 5, 2011 13:08 |
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Here's a tip on dealing with tech support of any sort. Do what they ask of you, even if it involves jumping through burning hoops of some sort.
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# ? Aug 5, 2011 15:28 |
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cowofwar posted:I don't understand why you don't have a wired connection to your computer. Go buy a fifty foot ethernet cable and enjoy all the benefits of having to use wi-fi. I've got a wired connection. No WiFi. Bonzo posted:Go to DSLreports and talk to a teksavvy rep there. But yeah, you are being kinda lazy on this. You'll spend three hours on the phone but not 30 minutes taking your PC down a few stair steps. All you need to do is hookup a monitor, keyboard, mouse, and plug it into your router. Like I said, my PC is hooked up to all kinds of tempermental music gear that I'm not willing to disturb. It's easier for me to borrow a laptop. It's not like I'm refusing to hook a computer directly up to the modem. I just wish he had even bothered to look up my account.
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# ? Aug 5, 2011 15:41 |
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Stanley Pain posted:Here's a tip on dealing with tech support of any sort. As someone who works in Tech Support, DO THIS. I get an amazing amount of people who don't want to follow what I'm asking, even if it's just the simplest thing, and calls get dragged on for an hour when they could've been solved within 10mins. Even if they ask for the most ridiculous thing ever, do it (I once asked a client to smell around the vents of their computer to see if it smelt weird. I was trying to diagnose why their computer would no longer turn on. Ended up being the power supply)
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# ? Aug 5, 2011 15:53 |
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Migishu posted:As someone who works in Tech Support, DO THIS. Also, get the NAME of the tech support guy because if they do ask you to do something that sounds stupid and it IS stupid the company is liable. So you're better off doing it and seeing the results.
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# ? Aug 5, 2011 16:14 |
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Migishu posted:As someone who works in Tech Support, DO THIS. Thats a load of poo poo. You stupid idiots aren't even willing to try if its even a little off script. Never once have any of my problems been with my equipment because i loving test it so i lie to their faces and suprise they always loving find something wrong on their end. (USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST) (USER WAS BANNED FOR THIS POST)
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# ? Aug 5, 2011 16:58 |
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Migishu posted:As someone who works in Tech Support, DO THIS. I used to get customers to hold their phones up to the (dial up) modem. You'd be surprised how much you can diagnose about connectivity issues by listening to the initial handshakes after you've heard them a few hundred times. e: Sprawl posted:Thats a load of poo poo. You stupid idiots aren't even willing to try if its even a little off script. You are an rear end in a top hat and deserve to be treated like poo poo by everyone you talk to on the phone. Do the world a favour and cancel all your telephone service. ZShakespeare fucked around with this message at 17:06 on Aug 5, 2011 |
# ? Aug 5, 2011 17:03 |
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Sprawl posted:Thats a load of poo poo. You stupid idiots aren't even willing to try if its even a little off script. I'm impressed you even call due to your superiority complex. Why even try to talk to them when you clearly know how to fix it? Because you certainly know when others are wrong!
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# ? Aug 5, 2011 17:29 |
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ZShakespeare posted:You are an rear end in a top hat and deserve to be treated like poo poo by everyone you talk to on the phone. Do the world a favour and cancel all your telephone service. Holy poo poo this right here. Twiin posted:Like I said, my PC is hooked up to all kinds of tempermental music gear that I'm not willing to disturb. It's easier for me to borrow a laptop. It's not like I'm refusing to hook a computer directly up to the modem. I just wish he had even bothered to look up my account. The amount of times I have seen a home router do stupid things is through the roof so it doesn't surprise me they won't go forward trying to diagnose issues if you can't or refuse to do the most basic step. Nitr0 fucked around with this message at 18:27 on Aug 5, 2011 |
# ? Aug 5, 2011 17:32 |
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Antioch posted:I know they're an evil company, but I'm still pretty happy with Shaw. I don't ever go over my allotted 500GB/month, but I've gotten into the high 300s and low 400s in the past few months Shaw has always seemed like a pretty good company to me, other than their brief involvement in the whole UBB fiasco. Contrast that to Telus who seem like they'd love to become Bell West if they could. Pretty decent for $15/month
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# ? Aug 5, 2011 17:42 |
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shao kong posted:Shaw has always seemed like a pretty good company to me, other than their brief involvement in the whole UBB fiasco. Contrast that to Telus who seem like they'd love to become Bell West if they could. Which plan is this?
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# ? Aug 5, 2011 17:49 |
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Oh My Science posted:Which plan is this? I just moved and they had some 15/15/15 (Extreme internet, HD basic and phone) mailer in the mailbox so I called them up and just got the extreme. It's only good for new customers and they jack the prices back up after six months but at that point you can just cancel/switch plans (the student plan has extreme for $23 and is easy as hell to get so I'll probably just switch to that).
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# ? Aug 5, 2011 18:03 |
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Sprawl posted:Thats a load of poo poo. You stupid idiots aren't even willing to try if its even a little off script. But you can only go so far with such assumptions when you are not the 'expert' in the area, and should try to do what they say. There's experience, expertise, and vendor-specific/internal knowledge that you quite simply cannot account for without working with and fixing said components/equipment regularly, or working for the company. Philosophically, people specialize in life (i.e. have careers in certain fields) because it's impossible to know enough (and well enough) to cover enough areas. Trust and rely upon others whose purpose is to deal with it. Your ticket makes them accountable to solve it anyway - break-fix, solution, or bug. I have also fielded countless production-down situations that dragged on far longer than they needed to because people were not following directions, or not following them properly. Many have lost thousands of dollars due to their bull-headedness. Some have been fired. People are often quite proud - you should take it down a notch.
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# ? Aug 5, 2011 23:52 |
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Twiin posted:I've got a wired connection. No WiFi.
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# ? Aug 6, 2011 00:45 |
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cowofwar posted:Then why can't you just unplug the cable going from your computer to your router and plug it directly in to your modem? Twiin posted:My router and modem are about thirty feet apart. Plus about another thirty feet of cable to the PC.
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# ? Aug 6, 2011 00:59 |
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You guys need to stop thinking in absolutes. There is a very good reason why tech support guys ask you specific, scripted questions. It's because 95% of tech support calls follow the same decision tree. It's vastly more efficient AS A WHOLE for a tech call center to follow scripts than it is to treat every problem like a unique snowflake. That's what tier 2 is for. So if a front line agent asks you to do something, do it because they've dealt with your issue a hundred times and know more than you. Having said that, I'm kind of on Twiin's side on this. Yes, having an unsupported router in the mix can cause speed issues, but that doesn't mean you can't check other things. Doesn't matter if a customers router is a potato with ethernet jammed into it, if a simple line test to the modem shows discrepancies than you know it's not the router, and that's something you can troubleshoot with. For example, the Telus tech script does check for 3rd party routers, but you're still required to do all other troubleshooting (i.e. line tests, modem tests). To be honest, it sounded like the tech agent was probably looking for an excuse to end the call and keep his call times down.
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# ? Aug 6, 2011 01:26 |
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Twiin there are several high profile independant ISPs in Toronto and even more in the GTA and EVEN MORE in the golden horseshoe. You've done 0 research. *I might have that backwards e: Seriously give them a shot if Teksavvy isn't your bag. You don't have to like TS but the thread really wants you to like not-Bell/Rogers.
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# ? Aug 6, 2011 01:48 |
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Armor-Piercing posted:Probably doesn't have a sixty foot cable.
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# ? Aug 6, 2011 02:05 |
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Probably doesn't have two thirty foot cables. And a female-to-female adapter.
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# ? Aug 6, 2011 06:39 |
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I hear these things called stores exist where you can buy common household products for low low prices.
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# ? Aug 6, 2011 08:35 |
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I can't believe you guys are looking to castigate me for not having a 60 foot ethernet cable or a female-female adapter on hand. Seriously?
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# ? Aug 6, 2011 17:00 |
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Twiin posted:I can't believe you guys are looking to castigate me for not having a 60 foot ethernet cable or a female-female adapter on hand. Seriously? We're giving you poo poo for not being willing to follow simple scripted instructions that every isp will ask you to check eventaully before sending a tech out. It is 100% impossible to move the modem upstairs?
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# ? Aug 6, 2011 17:09 |
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If you aren't willing to move your computer (the free option) or get an ethernet coupler (the $1.50 option) in order to do basic troubleshooting, then you shouldn't complain about your problem. No one is trying to castigate you for not having equipment on hand, they are trying to castigate you for whining on an internet forum about a problem that you seem completely unwilling to even put in a token effort to get fixed.
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# ? Aug 6, 2011 17:12 |
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If you have a shitload of stuff hooked up then just use post-its to remember what to hook up where. If you'd done this initially you'd probably have your internet fixed by now.
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# ? Aug 6, 2011 17:40 |
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New Cogeco plan coming into effect in my area: 60GB -> 80GB $45 -> $49 (or something to that effect, don't have the paper near me) $30 max overage -> $50 max overage The next tier is 120GB, so I guess I need to figure out whether the price of the next tier + its overage price is more than $49 + $50 overage. If it's not I guess there's no real need to upgrade.
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# ? Aug 6, 2011 17:46 |
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Twiin posted:I can't believe you guys are looking to castigate me for not having a 60 foot ethernet cable or a female-female adapter on hand. Seriously? Everyone is giving you poo poo because you refuse to move your computer down a flight of steps and instead complain to the Internet about the horrible service you are getting. Most of the people posting in this thread work or have worked in support so we know what we are talking about. In the days you have been complaining about this, you could have already moved the computer and been done with it. If you really can't be bothered with removing all the cables, then call and speak to a supervisor or go to dslreports and explain your situation to Teksavvy there.
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# ? Aug 6, 2011 18:03 |
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Rawrbomb posted:We're giving you poo poo for not being willing to follow simple scripted instructions that every isp will ask you to check eventaully before sending a tech out. ZShakespeare posted:If you aren't willing to move your computer (the free option) or get an ethernet coupler (the $1.50 option) in order to do basic troubleshooting, then you shouldn't complain about your problem. No one is trying to castigate you for not having equipment on hand, they are trying to castigate you for whining on an internet forum about a problem that you seem completely unwilling to even put in a token effort to get fixed. Bonzo posted:Everyone is giving you poo poo because you refuse to move your computer down a flight of steps and instead complain to the Internet about the horrible service you are getting. Most of the people posting in this thread work or have worked in support so we know what we are talking about. okay well Twiin posted:I'll borrow a laptop, that's not the point. Twiin posted:It's easier for me to borrow a laptop. It's not like I'm refusing to hook a computer directly up to the modem. Like I've said over and over, I'm perfectly happy to hook a computer up to the modem as part of the troubleshooting. What I'm upset about is the fact that the guy wouldn't even look up my account to see if I'm provisioned properly, after hours and hours trying to reach someone. I used to be a tech support supervisor. Before that I was a tech support agent. I know how tech support works. And I know that if I did QA on a call where a tech blew off a customer that was trying to find out how their account was set up without even taking the customer's info and looking up the account to see if it is properly provisioned I would have him written up faster than you can say DOCSIS. So let's please stop pretending like I don't know what a tech support process looks like, or that I'm mad that he doesn't want to troubleshoot my router, or that I'm refusing to hook a PC directly up to the modem.
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# ? Aug 6, 2011 19:42 |
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Twiin posted:Like I've said over and over, I'm perfectly happy to hook a computer up to the modem as part of the troubleshooting. What I'm upset about is the fact that the guy wouldn't even look up my account to see if I'm provisioned properly, after hours and hours trying to reach someone. Because you wouldn't even do one simple step he asked.
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# ? Aug 6, 2011 19:47 |
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Lone Rogue posted:Because you wouldn't even do one simple step he asked. Science fact: You don't need a customer's modem to be plugged into a PC to look up their account in Remedy or HEAT or whatever and see what service they're set as having. Edit: Whatever. You guys can pretend like this is perfectly acceptable behaviour for a tech, but if someone came in here saying "loving rogers tech wouldn't help me and hung up when I asked him to look up my account info -- get this -- because i use a router!" it would be nothing but "yeah loving rogers are the worst!!" and "switch to teksavvy!!" posts for the rest of the day. Twiin fucked around with this message at 20:04 on Aug 6, 2011 |
# ? Aug 6, 2011 19:49 |
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# ? May 3, 2024 02:42 |
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Twiin posted:Science fact: You don't need a customer's modem to be plugged into a PC to look up their account in Remedy or HEAT or whatever and see what service they're set as having. So you decided to stay on a phone for hours when you could have pressed 2, then when you got on the line you acted superior to the tech support because he clearly wasn't as smart as you? Seriously, I don't believe you're going to get much sympathy from anyone. You should have done what he asked and if nothing got solved, then maybe you'd have a reason to complain. I have a feeling during your argument you spouted, "Dude, seriously, I used to be a tech. You're doing it wrong. I don't have to do that poo poo."
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# ? Aug 6, 2011 20:04 |