My internet service cut out unexpectedly. After running a few errands, it was still offline. I called to complain and have it fixed, and eventually got through to tech support. The first thing the lady asked was "What does your Internet Explorer say?"

I read the first line of the error to her: "Firefox cannot connect to the server at ..." She told me to close Firefox and "use your Internet Explorer." I tried explaining that they both use the same internet, but that got me nowhere fast. Neither did "I'm not going to pay for broadband if I can only use one browser, that I can't choose." Apparently techs don't handle billing.

They reset the cable modem, and everything works. I'm even able to type this out using my favorite browser. I'm sure it was a bad tech and not a bad corporate policy ... but it's still pretty shocking.

Lol...probably didn't even know what firefox is

Internet tech support people generally read from a script and do the same things over and over. Sometimes, you can find a person that is a geek and knows what their doing but they don't last long in those positions since they are breaking into IT and move along fast. The ones who stay are basically customer service reps.

I worked for an ISP and then for a help desk. The people who had been there over two years were not technical in the least.

I have Comcast, I use Firefox with no problems. The techs are definitely NOT all that savvy, at least no the 'front line' ones you get on the phone.

Next time, unplug your cable modem for 2 minutes, plug it back in and try again, resets just fine 99% of the time.

Originally Posted by LadynRed

Next time, unplug your cable modem for 2 minutes, plug it back in and try again, resets just fine 99% of the time.

And if you have a router, unplug it also. Then plug the cable modem in, wait for the send/receive list to flicker, then plug in the router.

Definately tier beta .1 support.

Next time reset you own modem and router by uplugging for one minute and save yourself the hassle.

My brother works at the call center for Time Warner. Most of his colleagues have little to no tech knowledge and stick strictly to the scripts they are given. If people are lucky enough to get him, he does know what he's talking about (I even got him to join here, but he's never posted ). And he even says that 99% of connection problems are solved by resetting the modem & router. If my connection goes down I've been known to reset at least twice before I call.

We've been studying expert systems on the course I'm doing since it's a great way to cut costs for large IT firms - employ an expert to write out a simple yes or no script and then employ people with few skills to be in the call centre - if the script that is written is accurate and works well, its not too bad a problem. However, if the tech support are complete tech noobs and the script they are reading from isn't very comprehensive, you end up with rubbish technical support that can't fix anything!

My old hosting company was a bit like this - they employed Indians who couldn't speak English properly but pretended to be Western by having Western names - the result was that if you had a technical difficulty and it wasn't on their script, then you didn't get any positive outcome from them.

Dan

Originally Posted by ForrestCroce

My internet service cut out unexpectedly. After running a few errands, it was still offline. I called to complain and have it fixed, and eventually got through to tech support. The first thing the lady asked was "What does your Internet Explorer say?"

I read the first line of the error to her: "Firefox cannot connect to the server at ..." She told me to close Firefox and "use your Internet Explorer." I tried explaining that they both use the same internet, but that got me nowhere fast. Neither did "I'm not going to pay for broadband if I can only use one browser, that I can't choose." Apparently techs don't handle billing.

They reset the cable modem, and everything works. I'm even able to type this out using my favorite browser. I'm sure it was a bad tech and not a bad corporate policy ... but it's still pretty shocking.

It's just pure ignorance on their part. They are given a troubleshooting script to read and if that doesn't fix it they send someone out who at least nows half a thing about computers. I've had my run ins with Knology.

Gota Love it when they pull folks off the street and shove them in a job with zippo for training.

Mike