Problem solved. Thanks everyone.

[Bad Dude]

I just got the service for less than a week and it's been down the whole day. SBC users, is this something that happen regularly or only once a year. It does not look good to have this problem. If this is always happening, I need to switch to a better service.
Thanks.

 

[ApacheXMD]

i have had sbc dsl in the San Francisco Bay Area for 5 years now and it goes down only a few times a year. And that only happens at like 2am, and it's usually only for a few hours. Other than that, it's been pretty rock solid.

-patchy

 

[wjsulliv]

I've had it here in suburban Chicago for 7-8 months and it has only been out once for 3-4 hours when I wanted to use it.

 

[ScottMac]

I've had it for ~two months, as far as I know, it's never been down.

Are you sure it's the DSL, not the modem, switch, router, PC config, etc?

FWIW

Scott

 

[Bad Dude]

Yes it was the DSL. Anyway, it's up again now. It was the DSL b/c I called in the recording said that it was. The problem is the tech support has no clue as they have script sheet to read from. Also the tech support has been in India every time I called. It took them 10 minutes each time to get down my phone number down correctly.

 

[ScottMac]

SBC Call centers are all in the USA.

None of the SBC companies have call centers in India.

FWIW

Scott

 

[Bad Dude]

Well, I could be wrong but every time I call, it always take them at least 5 minutes to get down my phone number. This is the same exact nightmare that I had with HP and Dell with their tech support. Since everyone is outsourcing their services, I would imagine SBC would do the same. Are you working for SBC?

 

[ScottMac]

Yes. I work for SBC. In one of their call centers, Arlington Heights, IL. (I'm not "on the phones" though).
There are also centers in Texas (as you would imagine) and Dublin, California.

There are no call centers for any of the SBC businesses in India.

The delays while handling your calls are likely due to having to create a trouble ticket. The blanks have to be filled in, timestamps have to be established (so performance can be judged, and hopefully, improved).

I know many people will have trouble believing, but the call center (the folks on the phone) people are "reminded" every day what their call stats are, and what they can do to improve them.

Can't get around the ticketing system though, it takes a few minutes to fill in the blanks .... it's a necessary tool. Even a "one simple question" call requires a ticket.

It's a hard working group.

FWIW

Scott

 

[Bad Dude]

The thing is they concentrate on filling in the ticket or probably looking at the screen and keep on ask me for my phone number for over 10X and this will get any customers frustrated. They need to listen to the customer and then look for the answers. I just want to find out that if my service is down or not so I can check my network and they keep asking me if I installed my filters correctly. They do this so many times. I wanted to know which area is service down and he keep asking me if I live in San Francisco. These are the stupid questions that made me think that either the CS is stupid or ignorant. I hate when people do this. I listen why can they. I had an idea that it was the service b/c it was working fine then all of a sudden it stops but the phone recording did not say that my area is effected but the area next to my city was.
Any way, every thing is working fine now.

 

[ScottMac]

I'm glad to hear it came back up and it's running fine.

I don't know what the circumstances are regarding your call, I understand your frustration (been there, done that).

I won't make excuses for that center ... I don't know any of the DSL folks and I haven't seen how their system is organized. I can only guess, based on what I've seen during "heavy call volumes" at our center (mostly CPE and some circuit / FR).

I'm sure your patience was appreciated by the support person that took your call.


By the way, do you live in San Francisco?? :beer:

Hopefully, it'll be the last time you need to call 'em.


Take care

Scott

 

[Bad Dude]

IC.

 

[Bad Dude]

Originally posted by: ScottMac
I'm glad to hear it came back up and it's running fine.

I don't know what the circumstances are regarding your call, I understand your frustration (been there, done that).

I won't make excuses for that center ... I don't know any of the DSL folks and I haven't seen how their system is organized. I can only guess, based on what I've seen during "heavy call volumes" at our center (mostly CPE and some circuit / FR).

I'm sure your patience was appreciated by the support person that took your call.


By the way, do you live in San Francisco?? :beer:

Hopefully, it'll be the last time you need to call 'em.


Take care

Scott

It was around 11pm at night. The other times were early in the morning. I don't like to bother calling unless I have to. I have to be patient b/c I work in retail myself and I know what's that like. Even when I am angry, I still talk politely as yelling make a big deal does not help the situation and plus the CS cannot do anything any way, other than report the problems.
But anyway, nice to chat to some who works there at SBC.