Tech support from hell! good one for ya!

[Vicken]

Wasn't sure whether to post this here or the off topic, but it is tech support and computer related.

I work for a tech support company and the calls we get are from home users. Well, today I get this call from a lady who states that she can't connect to the internet. Her modem dials but when it gets to the password screen it disconnects. Sometimes, it doesn't even get that far. I first asked her what is her ISP? She replies what's an ISP. So I ask her who does she use to connect to the internet. She says she is using Compuserve (Strike 1). To me, it sounded like a problem with her account and she needed to contact her ISP. I asked her if she called Compuserve. She told me that Compuserve is not helping her and is blaming it on her old modem. She states that she paid $700 for the computer and expected the modem to last longer if its only a year old. I ask her what kind of computer is it. Turns out it is an Emachine celeron 366 with an intergrated HSP PCTEL 56k winmodem (and intergrated video/sound of course) (STRIKE 2!). Well no f'ng wonder it isn't working. I tried reinstalling the modem driver and putting in an initialization string (as shown on POS www.e4me.com website) It still does not work. By now, the lady is so frustrated and angry that neither I or Compuserve can fix this problem. I explained to her that this is more likely an ISP problem because it does indeed connect. Although the piece oh crap winmodem is probably using 50% of her resources. What do you expect with a celeron 366, 32MB (28MB available I bet) of ram, and intergrated everything. It drops out at the password screen. What's sad is that I asked her if she had the right password and she told me she didn't even know what the password was or were to put it in. Argh STUPID STUPID lady! I told her that if Compuserve is giving you a very hard time that maybe she consider switching to another service provider. Figures she had the $400 Compuserve Rebate and is stuck with Compuserve for two more years. (Strike 3!) YOUR OUT! So this lady bought this piece o crap emachine celeron 366 for $1100 - $400 compuserve rebate for a total of $700 one year ago and now is stuck with craposerve and her piece oh crap hell machine. I don't feel one bit sorry for her stupid a$$.

 

[Floyd]

You make a lot of valid points, and it may indeed be the ISP that is the problem (ugh, she doesn't even know her dialup password?). However, I've had to fight with one of these POS PCTEL HSP modems that absolutely refused to hold a connection. Most of the time it would fail before the handshaking took place, other times it would connect and then die with no warning...no disconnect, just a complete lack of data transfer. I downloaded a patch from Zoltrix that fixed it 100%, it has worked perfectly for about a year now. I can't in good conscience recommend an E-machine, but this is at least one problem for which there's a reasonable solution.

Best regards,
Floyd

 

[Wolfie]

I would also have the phone lines checked by the phone company. I had the same problem when I first moved in to this house. The phonelines are underground so the tech faught and faught to find out what the problem was. Well, he did a ohm test on the lines and found that the lines where bad. They where getting chewed on by gophers. So the next step I would take is to either get the phone lines checked out first, then if they are fine, try a new modem.

Wolfie

 

[amnesiac]

People that dumb deserve to be stuck with crappy computers, or better yet, none at all, that's what I say!

 

[Bartman39]

I`d say Wolfie is right on the money the phone lines more than likely have static that might not be able to be heard by using the reg phone but the modem is very sensitive to the crap... And yes she is a moron but that`s what tech support is for... Remember your like a good cowboy and the masses are the cattle (ya gotta heard them in the right direction... cause they tend to go everywhere... MOO..........)

 

[Motorheader]

I must concur that this is classic case of really cheap modem/bad phoneline. It doesn't sound at all like an issue with the ISP right now. I hear this one many times in the course of a week.

Unless you are paying for a data grade phoneline into your home/business, the phone company only guarantees that you get phone calls with little voice interference - the price we pay for the combination of 100+ year old copper technology and 21st century technology.

Good luck with this - I know your frustration.

 

[urbantechie]

Hahaha, doesn't even know her own password. Tsk Tsk,.....:disgust:

 

[andrey]

on the little different aspect for HSP Modems and eMachines. There is a really good fix for them, which involves simply slowing modem down to 9600bps. At that speed PCTel will stay connected without any problems, but the funny thing is that people who buy eMachines will not even notice the difference and will thank you for helping them to get online

 

[Supergax]

Ugh, we get those type of calls everyday. PcTel is a POS, we have so many disconnect problems from people in the sticks that think it is someting to do with us, when it's really their phone lines. Everytime it rains we get a good ol' influx of calls from these morons. And then people always blame it on the ISP, not the fact that their modem drivers are outdated by 4 years or that their computer is a 486 with a crappy Aztech $5 modem from a CompUSA sale last week that some schmuck like their drunk uncle ted told them to get since it's the modem of choice for him.

Of cousre, the absolute worse calls are people with their fruity iMacs with those gosh darn Globalwin modems (and it don't help that it's next to impossible (but can be done) to use init strings with Remote Acess).

 

[CyBOrz PaCe]

This also sounds like another simple problem caused by simple people.

Very common with the type of person that would buy an Emachine. I have seen this... they subscribe to any free e-mail list they can get. Free lottery numbers, free health pointers, etc, etc.... Plus they love to exchange via e-mail, with all of their, compuserve buddies, all the little flash joke movies and other several meg executable jokes.....

Then they go on vacation for a couple of days. Their mailbox just keeps filling and filling. They have a 10 meg limit to their e-mail account. The Mail server sends them some "your reaching the high-water mark in your e-mail" messages.... but, alas, they're on vacation, so they don't get them. So wait does their ISP do next....... Lock the account. When you dial it connects for a second, but since your e-mail account is set to check for new mail at log-on...... you are disconnected.

I've seen this senario multiple times with people new to computers and e-mail, aka Emachine & Compuserve Users.

CyBOrz

 

[dexmanone]

Has anyone pointed her to Netzero or another freebie ISP? Not that her PC can handle it but if it could it would help rule out the ISP. Netzero and Juno seem to be the most stable reliable freebies and Netzero is more reliable for connection. Except for this ladys case, you might point her to Juno since it's easier to get email.

Worth a shot?

 

[vi edit]

*ahem* Put it back in the box, take it back to the store, and tell them that you are too stupid to use it.

Usually does wonders

 

[PG]

hang on while I put on my flame suit

OK, I'm ready.

I have a 333 celery emachines myself with the pctel modem. I bought this almost 2 years ago when I didn't know anything about computers. The modem connected fine for me, but I have replaced it with a zoom external to free up a PCI slot. Those pctel modems will work OK, but they do use up quite a bit of system resources since software does almost all the work. The zoom doesn't connect any faster, but I'm sure it uses less resources. I also like the lights. I can tell what's really happening.

Be careful with init strings. You really shouldn't need one. And emachines has used 2 types of modems: the pctel and a conextant. If you tell her the wrong one, she'll be screwed. The emachines website can be confusing and isn't updated very much at least in the tech support area. The last time I looked they listed one init string, but it can't work for both types of modems. There is an updated driver for the pctel modem on the site though.

I bet she just doesn't know her password or username. Compuserve needs to help her out in that area.

 

[Moonbender]

"People that dumb deserve to be stuck with crappy computers, or better yet, none at all, that's what I say!"

Hahaha ... when anything goes wrong with my plumbing I am totally screwed and quite helpless - does that mean I shouldn't have plumbing? (Or in case your sentence was irony, you could have used some emoticon...)

The Winmodem uses 50% of the recourses? Hell ... I was stuck with a winmodem on my first computer, and it used something like 60% of the recourses even though the computer was WAY slower than hers. And about winmodems, I don't regret buying one ... I wouldn't have been able to afford a 'real' modem, so it was the right decision.

 

[Supergax]

We have to use init strings all the time. They dont' blow up computers, if they dont' work windows will just come back yelling that it can't detect the modem, it's no biggie, you try the next init string. One of my favorites is AT&F&C1&D2&K3, of course, it doesn't work for every modem, but it is a pretty good one for user drops. If you do have a pcTel modem there are init strings that you can enter int to actually limit the load it puts on the CPU.

 

[BlueVenus]

Vicken,

I hope some day when your furnace, septic, fuel pump...whatever goes out and when you need some help they take your sorry ass to the cleaners. If everbody knew as much as you then there would be no need for your job would there?

-Blue