Continue reading »]]> A customer called me the other day complaining the phone is not working. Everything is working fine in our system and I ask the customer to check the telephone wire in the back of the modem. “What’s a phone cord?” I am thinking the customer is joking right. Noooooo, after explaining it does not screw on and the other one is the power cord, I let the customer know that the phone cord is missing. Took the customer several minutes to find the unplugged cord, plug it in and get a dial tone. To top it off, then the customer wanted to know what was wrong with our services and can a credit be given. It took a good ten minutes to get it through the person’s thick skull that the phone cord being unplugged was the problem, not our fault and no way are they getting a credit.

Continue reading »]]> [I work for an ISP that also provides phone service over the internet through the same modem used for the customer’s internet access. The modem has a back up battery in case of power outage you will still have phone service for a few hours. The call went like this:]

Me: Thank you for calling ******* how may I help you?

Caller: My phone is not working. This happens every morning and I am getting sick of it!

Me: I am sorry to hear you are having problems with your phone. I will be happy to help you. (I confirm who she is, her address etc)

Me: You say that it happens every morning, is it always around this same time?

Caller: Yes, every morning for the last 3 years I have to wait for my phone to start working in the morning. I pay all this money and get crappy service. I want a tech out here to fix this right away or I will have to change phone providers. This is getting old. (Why the hell has she not called before?)

Me: So I can figure out what type of tech to have come out to the house I need some more information. Does it ever go out at any other time?

Caller: Yes, a lot of times it quits working about four or five hours after we go to bed at night and then it doesn’t start working until sometime during the day. I really think I need a tech out here.

Me: Wait a minute. Is there something you do every night as part of your routine that involves the phone or internet?

Caller: Well, every night all I do is turn off my computer and go to bed.

Me: How do you turn off the computer? Do you use a wall switch, a surge protector or just shut it down?

Caller: I shut it off with the power strip. What does this have to do with the phone? Does the computer have to be on for the phone to work? No one told me that.

Me: No, the computer does not have to be on for the phone to work, however is the cable modem plugged into the same power strip as the computer?

Caller: Yes, what does that have to do with anything? You are not being very helpful. I need a tech out here to fix this, not a bunch of questions!

Me: The problem is that when you are turning off the power strip you are taking power away from the modem. Your phone service goes through that modem and there is a battery backup for the phone part that only lasts about 4 hours. That is why your phone quits working at night and doesn’t start working until later in the day after you have turned on your computer.

Caller: Huh? I don’t understand what you mean.

It took me a few minutes to help her understand what she was doing to cause the problem. At least I think she finally understood. I am still not sure she completely got it.

Continue reading »]]> [I troubleshoot internet issues for an ISP.]
Today I got a customer that called in stating she cannot get on the internet. I asked her if she gets an error message when she tries to get on a web-site. She said she does not get an error message and her computer will not even turn on. I advised her that this is not an internet service problem, the problem is with her computer. Her response is that it was working fine yesterday and she asked why the internet is not working today. I tried my best to help her understand that a computer does not require internet service to turn on, but she hung up on me out of frustration.