lying, condescending tech support people

[lordsmurf]

I've had trouble with the Internet for about 8 days now. I have done Internet tech support jobs here and there, like many many others. So I'm not new to stuff screwing up, and I know it can be on either end (NOC or here).

This condescending clod on the phone acts like I'm stupid. I give the obligatory "hey, I'm not 5, I know what this stuff is, so talk with some respect, could you?". He continues anyway in the same belligerent style.

I'm watching the modem lights as he tells me to power cycle. Well, I've tried that for about 5 days now, to no avail. At one point, the modem was left off for days, as was the router and PC. The problems only started when the DCHP gave me this new IP address. It was also odd how I got the same IP, no matter how many times I changed the MAC address. I couldn't shake the damned thing off. He dismissed it.

So, I follow his directions anyway (duh!) to power cycle everything. Power cycle... what a funny name for "unplug your shit" and then "plug back in one at a time with about 2-3 minutes between each new item".

As I do so again, I notice the lights on the modem change. HE'S FIDDLING WITH IT! So while he "waits" for me to let the router power cycle, the lights on the modem come back. I mention the modem lights (diags, FYI), he says he's "power cycling" from his end, insenuating he needs to do it on his end to "save time" of me unplugging things here. I think he's lying now, asking if he's SURE nothing on his end caused this mess.

Well, when he's done, suddenly it's time for the router to go back. And now it works. I merely repeated the same thing I'd done a dozen times over in the past

He gives some snide remarks like "I know all, you are shit" and proceeds to describe power cycling (duh!) so I hang up.

The son of a b---- changed the IP address. I knew it the whole time.

The company has a policy of refunding for bad days ($2 per day) if your connection is down because of them. Gee, I wonder why they lie now? I'm not sure yet whether I'm going to follow up on this with the company.

And I LOVE feeding the consumer-rights reporters stuff like this.

[flaninacupboard]

the guy himself probably believes what he's telling you. but yeah, if your ISP offer money back, go for it - you're owed it.

[reboot]

Most level 1 (and sometimes 2) "techs", are simply reading from a script.
They don't care how much YOU might know, nor do they know much themselves. If you REALLY need someone to do things right, get bumped up to tier 3 support, and talk to a real tech.
Never mention that you have a router. Unless you purchased it from the ISP, they will quickly dismiss you with the standard "we don't support that".
If at any time you have IP trouble (DOS attacks or somesuch) and need a new IP, change the mac addy in the router setup, THEN phone your ISP and get into their abuse dept, and complain about a DOS attack.
They'll fix you up in about 3 seconds, whereas normal tech support makes you jump through hoops first.

[lordsmurf]

Not my ISP. They support routers from several companies. Linksys is one of them.

See, I tried to change the MAC. It kept giving me the same crappy IP address. I was dumbfounded by that. Something was not working, and it was not in my house, that's for sure.

[gitreel]

I didn't know you could change your mac address. I thought it was hard-wired into your nic card. At least that was what I was told.

[stiltman]

I had the same problem with my cable internet at home for a couple of months....Phone support was useless. I had cable techs out to my house 4 times and still had an intermiten problem with the modem losing it link...I went through 3 different modems too. Finaly got a guy who I could talk to at my house who knew something. In the end he takes off my cable block (limits me to channels 2-13) and the problem went away. Now I have dependable internet access and full cable to boot.

[reboot]

Your mac address IS hard wired into your NIC.
When you get a router, the router takes the place of the nic, and it too requires a mac address. Normally, it would get it from your nic, and simply retain the same IP. Most routers allow one to manually change the mac address, and ISP's that assign IP based on mac, are supposed to automatically assign a new IP to any new mac address. (Shaw@home in Canada does this, lots of others do too).
Our local smurf has found out that the ISP has a way around that, and obviously doesn't want to share any of that information with the customer, hence the condescending and ignorant attitude of the tech support.