on a cable connection, earthlink really only has direct control over their own servers, like dns, pop & smtp, so if the ip address is bad, then the local cable co. has to get in on the act...most elnk techs would either give you the cable co.'s # or transfer you...when i did support for them (laid-off & i still don't think they're evil), i would usually call charter, comcast, or twc tech (realtime: customer on other line-i figured better to have a longer call, but happier customer, not have to be cold or empty, plus it's harder to blow off someone who's already done 5x the software troubleshooting they would have)...the cable co. tech would say "oh, yeah, give me a minute...ok, now power-cycle" and it would be fixed...i think there was 1 time in 4.5 years that elnk had a brief dns issue...so sad that so many with no other recourse get frustrated & denied...i think a main key of support is to define the scope as strictly as possible, then within that range, own issues and focus on them until resolved...'course i'm just a stubborn freak who doesn't want to make my heart & mind ugly for 8hr./day -b
*sync issue* iirc, dsl light off means not even training with the dslam, so this implicates 1)the modem and/or 2)other source of electro-magnetic interference and/or 3)internal wiring and/or 4)nid-dslam link...so after 1)power-cycling, 2)turning off dimmer switches, halogen lamps and tesla coils, 3)making sure other devices were filtered, & 4)trying different cord/jack/nid (all 4 if possible, without hassle) TSG shoulda opened a trouble ticket, escalating to the people who can actually get line tests done or replace the modem (or break the news that you are responsible for internal wiring if they get sync at the nid and the modem's ok) */sync issue* *blather* unfortunately, some techs will always be new or otherwise unaware of the way the pieces fit together and how the process can be made as painless as possible for all parties (i've had to do both the pc reboot ritual & "give it a day, there's an outage" for no-sync issues with another isp)...some like myself are still proud of our opportunities to show people through approach (how you ask someone to jump through hoops can make all the difference), and results (timely resolution!), that support technicians can be a force for good, not just evil...i was fortunate to be able to say "to heck with the stats (calltimes)" while i learned how to do it right which, oddly enough, lead to better stats...in any large group though, some just won't care or communicate well so i heard tales of woe and stopped a few bucks...prolly logged ~8,000 dsl calls for a certain isp with >%90 first call resolution (not just connection issues) */blather* -thanx for reading-b
so far, even when another isp 'shares' the cable infrastructure, they aren't supplying the network access... all they get to do is host (mail, news, webspace), supply branded software & support (os & apps, otherwise power-cycle & transfer network/hardware issues) & pay the cable co.... i do software support in this situation, so i have mixed interests... but in the larger view this is just another kludge as we wait for real open networking competition & service (shouldn't be that much service involved if done well)... my 4/25 bit
Slashdot Mirror
on a cable connection, earthlink really only has direct control over their own servers, like dns, pop & smtp, so if the ip address is bad, then the local cable co. has to get in on the act...most elnk techs would either give you the cable co.'s # or transfer you...when i did support for them (laid-off & i still don't think they're evil), i would usually call charter, comcast, or twc tech (realtime: customer on other line-i figured better to have a longer call, but happier customer, not have to be cold or empty, plus it's harder to blow off someone who's already done 5x the software troubleshooting they would have)...the cable co. tech would say "oh, yeah, give me a minute...ok, now power-cycle" and it would be fixed...i think there was 1 time in 4.5 years that elnk had a brief dns issue...so sad that so many with no other recourse get frustrated & denied...i think a main key of support is to define the scope as strictly as possible, then within that range, own issues and focus on them until resolved...'course i'm just a stubborn freak who doesn't want to make my heart & mind ugly for 8hr./day -b
*sync issue* iirc, dsl light off means not even training with the dslam, so this implicates 1)the modem and/or 2)other source of electro-magnetic interference and/or 3)internal wiring and/or 4)nid-dslam link...so after 1)power-cycling, 2)turning off dimmer switches, halogen lamps and tesla coils, 3)making sure other devices were filtered, & 4)trying different cord/jack/nid (all 4 if possible, without hassle ) TSG shoulda opened a trouble ticket, escalating to the people who can actually get line tests done or replace the modem (or break the news that you are responsible for internal wiring if they get sync at the nid and the modem's ok) */sync issue* *blather* unfortunately, some techs will always be new or otherwise unaware of the way the pieces fit together and how the process can be made as painless as possible for all parties (i've had to do both the pc reboot ritual & "give it a day, there's an outage" for no-sync issues with another isp)...some like myself are still proud of our opportunities to show people through approach (how you ask someone to jump through hoops can make all the difference), and results (timely resolution!), that support technicians can be a force for good, not just evil...i was fortunate to be able to say "to heck with the stats (calltimes)" while i learned how to do it right which, oddly enough, lead to better stats...in any large group though, some just won't care or communicate well so i heard tales of woe and stopped a few bucks...prolly logged ~8,000 dsl calls for a certain isp with >%90 first call resolution (not just connection issues) */blather* -thanx for reading-b
so far, even when another isp 'shares' the cable infrastructure, they aren't supplying the network access ... all they get to do is host (mail, news, webspace), supply branded software & support (os & apps, otherwise power-cycle & transfer network/hardware issues) & pay the cable co. ... i do software support in this situation, so i have mixed interests ... but in the larger view this is just another kludge as we wait for real open networking competition & service (shouldn't be that much service involved if done well) ... my 4/25 bit