Why I make everyone reboot...

[TNT]

Caller: I have your internet, Vonage and a computer. None of them work.
Me: Okay, let's go back to the basics. What we're going to do is shut everything down...
Caller: I've done that.
Me: I understand. But it's important that everything gets restarted in the right way.
Caller: I've done that. I restarted the modem, then the Vonage unit, then the computer. I know how to do this.
Me: I understand. Let's do it again anyway.
Caller: I don't see why I have to go through this all again.
Me: Because I'm funny that way.

All right. We get everything shut down. So...

Me: Now, just follow along with what I say. You can plug in the modem now.
Caller: Okay, I've plugged in the modem. Now I've plugged in the Vonage, and...
Me: Wait... I said "plug in the modem." Did I say anything about plugging in Vonage?
Caller: (exasperated sigh) I've done this before.
Me: We're going to have to start all over again.

And so... we did it the right way.

Me: We've got the Vonage unit plugged in. Do you get a dial tone?
Caller: (long silence) Yeah.
Me: I knew you would. Now we can start the computer.

I know there are some people who can do it right... but I'm not taking that chance.

[Liokae]

What -is- the right way? I've never seen someone actually use Vonage before.

[LostMyMind]

If I had to guess, probably has to do with the router allowing specific ports through to Vonage and you got to let the router "reassign" Vonage the correct IP so that it gets everything through. Some router really suck and you have to "start" everything in a very specific order.

I'm lucky, my router don't give a damn what starts up first or not.

[SuperDan]

It also looked like the guy was starting everything all at once. That's not gonna work. You have to start the modem, see that it's ready to go, then start the router, wait for it to be ready to go, THEN you can start everything else.

[BravoOrig]

Right, I always tell people to plug the modem back in first, then their router, and maybe reboot their pc. If I have them do it again as they did before, they always plug in the router way too soon. Funny enough, of all the issues I deal with everyday, where simply unplugging their router would fix their connectivity, I've never had to worry about my router, despite how many times my modem says it resets. I've only had to occasionally power cycle the modem and router in order after an outage, and even that is rare, it usually fixes itself. Heres to Motorola routers.

[HawaiianShirts]

This is, of course, assuming your callers know how to reboot things.

Caller: My laptop's frozen. (describes problem)
Me: That sounds frozen to me.
Caller: How can I fix it?
Me: You'll need to reboot the computer.
Caller: But it's frozen. I can't do anything. How can I reboot if it's frozen.
Me: Just press and hold the power button.
Caller: The one I push to turn it on?
Me: That's the one.
Caller: (no pause at all) It didn't work. It's still frozen.
Me: (knowing full well the answer to this question) Did you press and hold the power button?
Caller: Yes! It's still frozen! How is turning it on again going to help?
Me: You're not turning it on again. This is called a hard reset. It cuts power to the computer, forcing it to turn off. Just press the power button and hold it for about five seconds.
Caller: Onetwothreefourfive. It didn't work!
Me: (playing along) That's very strange. This problem sounds serious. Humor me, though, and try it one more time. Press the power button and hold it while I count the seconds for you.
Caller: Okay. Go.
Me: One... Two... Three... Four... Fi--
Caller: It turned off! What'd you do?
Me: Ah, it worked. I guess sometimes you just have to coax it. You can turn it back on again, and everything should be back to normal.

Then she had to ask me why her computer froze. She couldn't understand why I didn't have an explanation, especially when all she'd tell me was that "everything was working before it froze, and I was just checking my email."

My job is just to sell computers. I'm not even supposed to do tech support over the phone, but I do if there's nothing else going on. My sympathies to anyone who actually does tech support for a living, especially phone support.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

At least she didn't ask you where she should kick it.

[BravoOrig]

That is one thing I love about internet tech support, I have a line I cannot cross, and I don't want to waste my time on an issue that I'm not trained on. I'm much better on pc issues when I'm at the actual computer. And on somethings even if I know what to do, I act dumb and refer them to their pc manufacturer. Just like the call I just took, something is on his pc about counterfeit software, uh oh, refer to pc manufacturer.

[TNT]

That is one thing I love about internet tech support, I have a line I cannot cross, and I don't want to waste my time on an issue that I'm not trained on.

For some reason, our customers think their "outrageous" $40 a month for cable internet service entitles them to complete technical support for all networking and computer issues. After all, DSL providers do it -- "If you can't help me connect a switch and a hub to my wireless router, I guess I'lll have to start looking into DSL. Perhaps you could connect me to a supervisor or Tier 2?" No... and good luck with the DSL thing.

[BravoOrig]

Oh yeah, they always threaten to switch to DSL, as if we start crapping our pants upon hearing that. I seldom get a customer who only mentions how much they pay for internet, they throw in the cost of their tv service too, but always tell me its working well when I ask about it. And cheers to the customer who refused a trouble call, and said he'd switch to DSL if our connection didn't get fixed. WTF? Give us a chance!

[ahanix1989]

I've heard similar... people threatening to switch to DSL here. Problem: They have the Charter bundle, which gets them 3Meg cable internet, digital cable, and digital phone for $120/month. Switch to DSL, and you lose the bundle, and DSL here is slow as hell.