[Tech Ops] Fun with customers........... in Wireless Service Providers

[Tech Ops] Fun with customers........... in Wireless Service Providers http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r20752223 en Wed, 11 Nov 2009 04:40:21 EDT Wed, 11 Nov 2009 04:40:21 EDT Re: [Tech Ops] Fun with customers........... http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20767323 cmaenginsb :

said by robbin

said by superdog

:

I have seen POE adapters and switches buried in cat litter. The cats then pissed on the switch and it quit. Gee.....I wonder why?. :D

Doesn't anyone mount the POEs and secure the wires? Seriously, this is starting to sound to me like sloppy installs. Secure everything and label or use a special colored wire.

I've found that even after doing this customers will decide to relocate the equipment on their own. ]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20767323 Wed, 09 Jul 2008 22:30:57 EDT Re: [Tech Ops] Fun with customers........... http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20766341 VariableARK : We color code and people always hook it up wrong. go figure...]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20766341 Wed, 09 Jul 2008 19:12:26 EDT Re: [Tech Ops] Fun with customers........... http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20763265 viperm : TX can you give us a little more info on this?? we have an apt complex that is isolated and routed properly to the site but once there it is all bridged just the way it was planned out before I got there.

We have people every day plugging routers in backwards for what reason I have no idea other then being dumb. We have to track down the mac addresss in the CPE down to the switch that feeds different buildings and shut off the port to that particular APT. We have a Mikrotik there onsite and would LOVE to figure out how to block any requests comeing back from any CPE (TRANGO) to the rest of the network if possible this way it is narrowed down to at least one switch not the whole complex.

Each building has this switch NEtgear FSM 7328S if anyone has experience with this switch and knows how to block it at the switch even bigger bonus!

Thanks

said by tx_tower

said by LLigetfa

said by slipstream1

:

Then when they plug everything back in, they always reverse the cables.

]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20763265 Wed, 09 Jul 2008 09:50:36 EDT Re: [Tech Ops] Fun with customers........... http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20762885 superdog :

said by robbin

:

Doesn't anyone mount the POEs and secure the wires? Seriously, this is starting to sound to me like sloppy installs. Secure everything and label or use a special colored wire.

Robbin, you can do anything you want to an install, but once you leave, it is out of your control. In the situation mentioned with the cats, I only located the POE were the customer requested I put it. It was on the wall aside of their desk. The POE adapter was installed on the wall, mounted to a board so it was no where near the "scene of the crime" when I left.

This particular household had 3 or 4 cats and the cats were allowed to roam the home and walk on anything they liked. Desks, tables, counter tops etc. were all fair game for these critters. The POE adapter was moved from the wall to the desk because the cable I supplied them with was to short. They added the switch for another computer and Playstation. All of these things happen on a regular basis in every home I have ever installed. Granted, most of my customers will call me before touching anything, but there is always the rebel.

To blame the installer on some of these idiotic episodes is probably a bad idea don't you think?. ;)
--
»www.wavecrazy.net
]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20762885 Wed, 09 Jul 2008 08:13:01 EDT Re: [Tech Ops] Fun with customers........... http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20762607 robbin :

said by superdog

:

I have seen POE adapters and switches buried in cat litter. The cats then pissed on the switch and it quit. Gee.....I wonder why?. :D

Doesn't anyone mount the POEs and secure the wires? Seriously, this is starting to sound to me like sloppy installs. Secure everything and label or use a special colored wire. ]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20762607 Wed, 09 Jul 2008 04:34:24 EDT Re: [Tech Ops] Fun with customers........... http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20757710 slipstream1 : If they reverse the cables, the radios will not even power up. No worries. I have alot of people that unplug the radios when a thunderstorm approaches. So, when weather gets bad, my flag on the dude indicator goes red and I start looking. ]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20757710 Tue, 08 Jul 2008 09:58:26 EDT Re: [Tech Ops] Fun with customers........... http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20757558 tx_tower :

said by LLigetfa

said by slipstream1

:

Then when they plug everything back in, they always reverse the cables.

/hug mikrotik autosenseing rogue dhcp servers ;)

heres a good one from yesterday, guy has been complaining of poor service, signal fluctuates wildly throughtout the day, finally get a tech out there when this guy is available. Guy has his house re-roofed and then just propped the mast up against his chimney "about where it was before"]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20757558 Tue, 08 Jul 2008 09:08:12 EDT Re: [Tech Ops] Fun with customers........... http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20757398 superdog : I have seen POE adapters and switches buried in cat litter. The cats then pissed on the switch and it quit. Gee.....I wonder why?. :D
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»www.wavecrazy.net
]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20757398 Tue, 08 Jul 2008 08:04:43 EDT Re: [Tech Ops] Fun with customers........... http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20757393 kewlkeed : Quantum packet accelerator... LMFAO! :D

Yeah we've seen our share of destroyed PoE adapters, looped anything, chewed wires, whippersnippers/cats/mice/kids.

One big business we serve ended up creating a very big and expensive packet accelerator by looping some ports. Nice feature was their entire network was a huge bridge and they also brought down a couple fiber feeds to other branches of their network in other towns. (This was a case of 10 cooks in one kitchen of networking garbage)

Asides from programmers, some IT staff can be a real PITA. Anal windows sysadmins who can program active directory like it was their mother language, but can't subnet to save their ass...

The real fun starts when there are more than one IT staff involved with a place, and nobody knows what the other does, and everyone is clueless... Those are fun times. "Now what's the password for that box again? Anyone here know?"]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20757393 Tue, 08 Jul 2008 08:02:38 EDT Re: [Tech Ops] Fun with customers........... http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20756747 Airnode : I have 2 customer that are programmers from SAP and they are
both a absolutly nightmare. The do now nothing about ip networking and just dont listen to you because they feel such
super-geeky. One of them gave his notebook the same adress as the cpe router and call'd me in the nigth why he don't internet. The other enabled ipV6 and jelled why ipv6 is not working. :uhh:]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20756747 Tue, 08 Jul 2008 00:43:23 EDT Re: [Tech Ops] Fun with customers........... http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20755681 LLigetfa :

said by slipstream1

:

Then when they plug everything back in, they always reverse the cables.

Heaven help you if you run a bridged network and it's their router's LAN cable they just plugged into your CPE and are now serving up DHCP to all your clients!

The other PITA is when they direct connect their PC onto which they hard code the IP settings but set their IP to your gateway by mistake. Now they are in conflict with your gateway IP.

Lastly, there are two jumpers running from a switch, one to the PC the other to a printer. After they rearrange their office, they not only connect the PC to the printer, but they loop the printers jumper from one switch port to another switch port. Since modern switches have Auto-MDIX you now have a quantum packet accelerator and if you didn't setup STP properly, well...

Disclaimer: None of this is personal experience, just stuff I've heard others have gone through.
--
Strange as it seems, no amount of learning can cure stupidity, and formal education positively fortifies it. -- Stephen Vizinczey]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20755681 Mon, 07 Jul 2008 20:28:19 EDT Re: [Tech Ops] Fun with customers........... http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20755631 a1_Andy : I can't smell it right away, wife has a cat and the box is in the bathroom.....
My house doesn't smell like cat piss and the customers didn't either just that one spot. But when its on the fingers and followed me.......]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20755631 Mon, 07 Jul 2008 20:17:36 EDT Re: [Tech Ops] Fun with customers........... http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20755601 AMD Phreak : I hate cat piss....

I refuse to service a house that smells/has cat piss all over.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20755601 Mon, 07 Jul 2008 20:11:50 EDT Re: [Tech Ops] Fun with customers........... http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20755597 a1_Andy : My most recent was Sunday, CPE not working. Customer says she had rebooted the unit and still didn't work. I get to the house and go strait to the PoE injector. The injector is sticky....WTF? I unplug the injector and the network end is burned. I go to the wagon to get a new end and injector, but wtf is that smell? Cat pissed on the PoE. $69.00 + new $20.00 for PoE please.
Yech... always keep hand cleaner in the car.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20755597 Mon, 07 Jul 2008 20:10:20 EDT Re: [Tech Ops] Fun with customers........... http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20755049 tx_tower :

said by LLigetfa

said by tx_tower

:

bah, im too busy to put on a show.

oh dont get me wrong, im nice to the customer and thorough but swapped ethernet cables is a VERY quick diagnosis and non-invase procedure to fix ;)]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20755049 Mon, 07 Jul 2008 18:26:23 EDT Re: [Tech Ops] Fun with customers........... http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20754985 mtroup : I too make it seem as though they truly are getting a major service done due to the fact that I am the owner, technician, network admin, billing staff, etc.. ]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20754985 Mon, 07 Jul 2008 18:12:04 EDT Re: [Tech Ops] Fun with customers........... http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20754880 LLigetfa :

said by tx_tower

:

bah, im too busy to put on a show.

Never underestimate disgruntled customers. If they can't complain about being overcharged for 3 minutes of work, they will complain that you were rude to them, that you trekked in with muddy boots, that you backed over their prized roses, dog, whatever...
--
Strange as it seems, no amount of learning can cure stupidity, and formal education positively fortifies it. -- Stephen Vizinczey]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20754880 Mon, 07 Jul 2008 17:52:12 EDT Re: [Tech Ops] Fun with customers........... http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20754806 tx_tower :

said by LLigetfa

said by tx_tower

:

customers get really mad when you charge them $75/hr for 3 min of labor.

bah, im too busy to put on a show. i just fix it and then tell them what their gonna be invoiced for, they usually gripe at the accounting ladies and not me onsite because we explain the service call charges in advance and i explain it again once i get there so they really have no recourse with me, i just pull the whole "out of my paygrade" card]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20754806 Mon, 07 Jul 2008 17:36:41 EDT Re: [Tech Ops] Fun with customers........... http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20753720 kewlkeed : Programmers and newbie kids fresh out of college who took some computer related classes. At least with the kids you can slap their hands and they will listen. Programmers have a different mentality and won't get anything through their heads half the time. I've also had my share of anal graphics people who don't understand simple parts of the trade such as "Emailing a 90meg raw data picture is a bad idea"]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20753720 Mon, 07 Jul 2008 14:12:09 EDT Re: [Tech Ops] Fun with customers........... http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20753478 battleop : I have found the most dangerous people to deal with are programmers. We have more problems with programmers and networking than any other group of people. ]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20753478 Mon, 07 Jul 2008 13:26:54 EDT Re: [Tech Ops] Fun with customers........... http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20753106 LLigetfa :

said by tx_tower

:

customers get really mad when you charge them $75/hr for 3 min of labor.

The trick is you have to put on a good show. Drag out some expensive and complicated gear and test things you know doesn't need testing. Spend more than 3 minutes on site.

In the end they feel like they got a clean bill of health and that you worked hard for the money.
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Strange as it seems, no amount of learning can cure stupidity, and formal education positively fortifies it. -- Stephen Vizinczey]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20753106 Mon, 07 Jul 2008 12:13:56 EDT Re: [Tech Ops] Fun with customers........... http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20753069 tx_tower : yes we had to start color coding our POE's to match the correct cable to combat that problem. customers get really mad when you charge them $75/hr for 3 min of labor.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20753069 Mon, 07 Jul 2008 12:06:29 EDT Re: [Tech Ops] Fun with customers........... http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20752287 slipstream1 : My customers want to reset the radios and to do this they unplug the ethernet cable to their computer and the POE ethernet to the radio. Then when they plug everything back in, they always reverse the cables.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20752287 Mon, 07 Jul 2008 09:15:11 EDT Re: [Tech Ops] Fun with customers........... http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20752272 tx_tower : good story SD, it amazes me to no end how much a person can know about computers in general while not even having the most basic grasp of ip networking. We've had several customers call us up and raise hell on the phone and when you get to their house they have the PC ethernet cable plugged into the printer...]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20752272 Mon, 07 Jul 2008 09:11:03 EDT [Tech Ops] Fun with customers........... http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20752223 superdog : I get a service call yesterday that on the phone had me confused. The customer calls and says that his connection was working great and when he went away and came back, everything was dead?. This is one of my very first customers, and he has been with me since the USB adapter days in 2001.

He is a great guy and he loves his gadgets. His house is full of them!. MP3 players, multiple computers, VOIP phone, networked storage servers and just about anything else you can think of when it comes to electronics. There are wires EVERYWHERE in his home.

Anyway..........I tried fixing the issue on the phone with no luck whatsoever. I drive over and start messing with things. He sits me down in front of his PC and says, "Look, no internet" and sure enough, he didn't have access even though the CPE checked out before I left for his house. When I plugged my notebook in directly to the CPE, I could get on instantly, and was able to surf and ping everything.

I start pinging everything from his main PC and just looking at all of this mess in general. There were 3 separate routers in the house. The CPE itself was in router mode and was handing out NAT'ed IP's via DHCP. That was plugged into the first routers WAN port which also had DHCP turned on. It then had a wire coming from the LAN side into the WAN port of router #2 which then had a wire coming from it's LAN port into the WAN port of the 3rd router. All 3 units had DHCP turned on. Router #2 is a wireless unit for the notebooks he has.

I noticed that all the PC's are brand new from Dell and he was very proud of this fact and took the time to mention all of their specs. and features. He missed one very important feature that I never saw, all the PC's had wireless cards in them and all had their wireless cards turned on, They were also all connected via Ethernet. The cool part was that each PC was connected to a different router with Ethernet, but all had connections from the same wireless router. I guess you all know where I am going with this?.....

The amazing thing was that this crazy setup WORKED for 3 days before it melted down?. The VOIP phone had always been connected to the first router in line. The wife decided she didn't like it in his computer room and made him move it to the kitchen. Well, when that happened, the VOIP phone quit working as it was now quad NAT'ed and it just couldn't handle that I guess. The other PC's melted down because they all had 2 different routes to the network and I guess a storm must have caused them to reboot while he was gone. I suspect this is the reason they all quit working, as they had been on when he set them the first time and after the reboot, Windows just said the hell with this and quit?

I removed all of the routers except for the wireless one, unplugged all of the Ethernet cables and then put a switch on the incoming connection from the CPE and plugged both the VOIP phone and the router into it so the phone was only Nat'ed once. When I left, everything worked great, his speeds were better than ever and his wife could get her Avon order out. Apparently, he was going to try and fix this mess himself, but she pitched a fit because her order had to go out that day and she was not having any parts of waiting around.

Oh well, it was interesting to say the least. :D
--
»www.wavecrazy.net
]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,20752223 Mon, 07 Jul 2008 08:51:04 EDT