Future Self-Sighting? Long....need advice

[TexasT]

I think the world is against me being able to surf the interwebs.

So, I moved on the first to a complex with only 2 internet providers available (brand new apartment complex in a still developing part of town). One is significantly cheaper, so I called them right away to set up my internet. At first they said they didn't service my complex, which I knew wasn't true since the leasing company said they did. Finally got ahold of a woman who said they did, but that it wouldn't recognize my apartment number as a real address. Eventually she "fixes" that and sets it up. I get a package in the mail, start setting it up, and it doesn't work. I call. They said they'd call back. They don't. I call again. They pass me around. Finally talk to someone, said they'd call back. This is when I realize the package they sent me didn't have my apartment number, just street address. I call again. Finally a person in billing is able to tell me that they don't service my building, just other buildings in my complex. They cancel everything and let me keep the equipment for free.

I call the other service provider, even though it'll be pushing my budget, and they said they could try to squeeze me in Thursday, but they can't promise me a time. Because my apartment is a good drive to anything, I couldn't leave my apartment at all (not even to visit my sick boyfriend...awwww...). The guy showed up at 5:30 and started setting everything up. He just brought the modem and two connecting cords, no testing equipment, laptop, or anything else. He called me in at about 6:45 and said that it's not working and it's the computer's fault. He showed me what the problem was. I'll spare y'all the details, but he just said he's never seen it before and he didn't know what to do and that I needed to call <computer company>.

I spend about an hour on the phone with <computer company>, talking to a couple different people, before the diagnosis is that my ethernet card is broken and I'll need to send my laptop in. That night, a friend of mine who works at <computer company> and trains people on exactly these kinds of problems, just happened to be over and insisted on looking at it (I didn't want him to since I paid for the warranty and it's not fair for him to work off the clock). He was able to figure out all that was really wrong was it was a bad ethernet cable. Fortunately I had an extra due to the first company sending me one. Altogether, I was 17 days without internet. Which I think most of y'all, being people who regularly visit a forum, can appreciate as being a not-so-fun time for me.

Now I'm all hooked up, but it's slower than dial-up, will not load many pages, even the pages that occasionally load have to be refreshed a few times before coming up fully, and kicks me off as well. I can't even chat on iChat or AIM because it keeps kicking me off. Now, given, I did choose their standard speed, but there's no reason it shouldn't be able to load websites without me having to refresh over and over again. I couldn’t even post this on my network. I had to go to the clubhouse and use their wireless.

Here's my questions for y'all: Should I contact the first company and tell them I'm unhappy that they made me go through all that trouble? I don't see it as accomplishing anything. As for the second company, I'm thinking about calling them on Monday and letting them know I'm disappointed. I'm also thinking of asking them for at least 1-2 days off my bill due to my inability to use the internet due to their tech coming out without the proper tools and equipment to diagnose the problem from the beginning as well as a discount on the equipment charge due to the fact that they gave me a faulty Cat5, which I paid for. Is that SC talk? Should I ask for more, less, or is what I'm asking for reasonable? I also want them to replace my modem since apparently mine is broken.

[Chanlin]

I used to work in a call center for comcast and I don't think what your asking for is at all unreasonable.

1: The tech wrongfully determined that the problem was with your computer not his equipment. He was also obviously unprepared to do his job correctly.

2: You paid for said equipment, it was not working, said equipment not working caused you not to be able to use the internet.

They will likely want to diagnose why it is so slow and confirm that it is indeed a bad cable, but other than that I do not think it is unreasonable to ask them to not bill you for the days your internet was not working, especially if it was not your fault. I would get your computer company to confirm the diagnosis of the bad cat5 cable just so you have a leg to stand on other than your friend's say so.

Lastly, expressing your displeasure with the first company in a phone call will go nowhere. At best you could write them and tell them about your displeasure, but since you are not their customer I'm not sure how much they will do for you.

[BookstoreEscapee]

I agree with Chanlin. Your requests for the company actually providing the service are completely reasonable.

As for the other company, I don't understand why they service other buildings in the complex but not yours. That doesn't make any sense. But since you are not actually their customer, there really isn't anything they can do for you. I might have asked them why they don't service your building. That's just kinda weird.

PS My friend had the same problem with her address when she moved into her house. They were in a new development, and when she set up the phone, and went to get a library card, and a few other things, they turned her down because they said her address didn't exist.

[Der Cute]

When you call, be prepared for going thru troubleshooting steps.

Personally I'd ask for Tier 2 - New Install, wireless works fine, TCP/IP stack is fine, NIC is working. (tell them this).

You need to use the program called TRACERT which is installed in your PC.
Start
Run
CMD
black window
type TRACERT www.yahoo.com

and it traces how the hops go from your machine out to yahoo.

Pick a few different websites, stuff on west coast and east coast. (maps.google.com and nytimes.com) Watch the times at the end of each line. That tells you where the packets are hanging and getting stuck at.

for me, do this with both your wired, and then do a wireless at the clubhouse....same places, just different transmission styles...

You'll need to get a screen shot of that whole black window, - do this with PrntScreen and paste that pic into an email, email it to the Tier 2 tech.

Hopefully this will show where you're hanging at. I wonder if the building itself has wonky wiring or if there's a severe bottleneck at your neighborhood trunk.

Good luck, stay calm!

Cutenoob

[TexasT]

I have a Mac, which is why my dad isn't able to do much diagnosing on his own. His expertise is networking, but his training is all Windows based.

[Der Cute]

You can still do the tracert command.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/art..._to_trace.html

Good luck
Cutenoob

[TexasT]

I called this morning. The guy I talked to sounded like he hated being there. He did some testing from his end and could see the modem was bad and that they gave me the wrong kind of modem. So I arranged a trading of modems (which I already did) and he also gave me 5 days free credit (Thursday-Monday) for not having the internet. With my new modem, everything is well. I didn't mention before that when he brought up the modem from his truck, it was covered in a thick layer of dust. The average temperature in the last month has been 100 degrees. Who knows how long the modem was sitting in the truck, with that heat.

I kept telling my friends that it was bad modems, but they kept treating me like I was too ignorant to actually be able to tell that. That's just a quick vent

[Geek King]

I kept telling my friends that it was bad modems, but they kept treating me like I was too ignorant to actually be able to tell that. That's just a quick vent

Bah. Just tell them that people on the internet way smarter than they are figured it out. Also, that your friend needs to wash behind their ears better, and should be ashamed of what they're keeping in that folder on their computer. For Shame!

[telecom_goddess]

I agree with Chanlin. Your requests for the company actually providing the service are completely reasonable.

As for the other company, I don't understand why they service other buildings in the complex but not yours. That doesn't make any sense. But since you are not actually their customer, there really isn't anything they can do for you. I might have asked them why they don't service your building. That's just kinda weird.
.

I have to agree with this.....if they service the complex that would include ALL buildings not just some.

What I'm not clear on is whether it's dsl or cable......and if it's dsl is it from the ILEC (incumbent local exchange carrier) or CLEC (competitive local exchange carrier).

I work for a CLEC myself and do dsl provisioning and installs every single day.

[TexasT]

I have to agree with this.....if they service the complex that would include ALL buildings not just some.

What I'm not clear on is whether it's dsl or cable......and if it's dsl is it from the ILEC (incumbent local exchange carrier) or CLEC (competitive local exchange carrier).

I work for a CLEC myself and do dsl provisioning and installs every single day.

Company one is DSL, company two is cable.