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TSI Marc
Premium Member
join:2006-06-23
Chatham, ON

1 recommendation

TSI Marc to elwoodblues

Premium Member

to elwoodblues

Re: Welcome to Dystopia

Ironically, Rogers was down this week. We weren't.
The Mongoose
join:2010-01-05
Toronto, ON

1 edit

The Mongoose

Member

said by TSI Marc:

Ironically, Rogers was down this week. We weren't.

Which, in and of itself, disproves the title of this thread. Also ironic.

That being said, count me among those who think an easily accessible network status page would be both interesting and valuable. Simple network status, perhaps a notice of any known Rogers outages potentially affecting TSI...even POI-level reports if those aren't considered proprietary (I remember seeing some POI graphs posted during the congestion issue). At the very least, having the latter available would preempt people thinking that the problem is overselling a given POI.

TSI Marc
Premium Member
join:2006-06-23
Chatham, ON

TSI Marc

Premium Member

We've been doing network outage notices for ages...

If you want to know what's going on, you can call in as we always update the IVR, you can see the web site, we always post here on dslr also... we're on twitter.. before the teksavvynetwork handle was created we did it on one of the other handles.

like... how much more can we possibly put it out there? It's almost like you guys are spoiled and you dont even know it anymore.

I think you guys are missing what's actually happening though. The average person will see all of this and will think that TekSavvy is not reliable. That I think caries more weight then having notices out there.

Furthermore, none of these things are on our network, so we can't say conclusively what's actually happening until we get positive feedback from the incumbents unless if it's on our own network. We always post those... so to spend a massive amount of time trying to fish for problems in the dark is really not efficient. It amounts to a best effort kind of thing on our side, which is what we do and have always done.

As for the link being prominently available on the front page. Yeah, sorry, not going to happen. Just add the link to your favs... the location has changed since we launched the new site but we've had that for years. We're doing the very same things as we've always done.

As it is internally, we're more worried about the message it's sending to the average person because there are so many notices. Just look here on dslr and twitter... there are multiple notices almost each and every week. We have so many users on Rogers and Bell's network that when they change anything anywhere, we have customers who are down. I can't speak to the reasons but the net effect is that we're spending all of our time dealing with outages. It's almost daily. Our phone system clogs up depending what the outage is and then we get accused of not having enough staff... it's a whole different sent of problems. Rogers and Bell are both doing a ton of upgrades. So here we are talking about this stuff... I dunno. Yet, another frustrating problem... I'm very anxious for upgrades to be done. The rate of change is so high on all fronts.

Not trying to sounds pessimistic, I'm sure I'm projecting here but these issues are not trivial and we are working very hard to stay on top of it all. This dialogue is important and I'm open to solid suggestions, its you guys really in the end who can help us flush out and spread the word about what's actually going on.

BronsCon
join:2003-10-24
Fairfield, CA

BronsCon

Member

said by TSI Marc:

like... how much more can we possibly put it out there? It's almost like you guys are spoiled and you dont even know it anymore.

I'd just like to point out that the is one of the tongue-in-cheek comments those of us who've been on these forums for years have come to love. It shouldn't be taken as harshly as it's worded and Marc needs to be reminded that sarcasm doesn't come through in text.
OneWorld9
join:2010-12-09
East York, ON

OneWorld9 to TSI Marc

Member

to TSI Marc
said by TSI Marc:

We've been doing network outage notices for ages...

If you want to know what's going on, you can call in as we always update the IVR, you can see the web site, we always post here on dslr also... we're on twitter.. before the teksavvynetwork handle was created we did it on one of the other handles.

I think the conclusion people are coming up with, even those many would consider proponents of the TekSavvy service, is that you could be doing better in this regard.
said by TSI Marc:

Furthermore, none of these things are on our network, so we can't say conclusively what's actually happening until we get positive feedback from the incumbents unless if it's on our own network. We always post those... so to spend a massive amount of time trying to fish for problems in the dark is really not efficient. It amounts to a best effort kind of thing on our side, which is what we do and have always done.

Again, this could be improved. Are you suggesting you don't need to improve? People like myself should be left in the dark for months about why they're having a problem with their connection? Again, ideally, you need to be able to find out which of your customers are affected and why, so you can inform them. "Best effort" has left me with subpar service for more than two months. Personally, I don't feel that's good enough. I'm sure anyone in my position (past, present and future) would agree.
said by TSI Marc:

As for the link being prominently available on the front page. Yeah, sorry, not going to happen. Just add the link to your favs... the location has changed since we launched the new site but we've had that for years. We're doing the very same things as we've always done.

I'm sorry, but this comes off as "Tough, deal with it." Is that TekSavvy's attitude? Again, we had no idea you were posting network updates... not one person mentioned it until you posted. Making that more visible is a good thing for your customers - it shows you care that they are informed.
said by TSI Marc:

As it is internally, we're more worried about the message it's sending to the average person because there are so many notices. Just look here on dslr and twitter... there are multiple notices almost each and every week.

This is the current service you provide, like it or not. What's wrong with informing your customers (who may be affected by these things) what's going on? How many of your customers frequent DSLr daily, to get apprised of issues that may be affecting them? This is a good place to share information, of course, but I don't feel the average customer has any idea what they need to do to get informed. That's where TekSavvy needs to up their game. I don't feel that putting efforts into informing your customers, as best as possible, is a waste of time. Rather, asking many of them to go through troubleshooting when there's an area problem is a waste of time ... both for them, and for your staff. Part of the reason you have to put out fires (such as training more tech staff to man phones) could be mitigated with proper communication. Rather than spending 30 mins. on the phone, they could simply be told there's an area issue and you'll keep them updated as to when it's resolved. The IVR you mention, no doubt it's only updated with "major" outages that you're certain of. Again, this could be improved.

If you care about your customers - and, really, without them TekSavvy doesn't have a business - then you owe it to them to keep them apprised of anything affecting their service. Sure, the bigger picture is you need to make changes with the incumbents, etc. to get to the level of support that would be ideal. When is that going to happen? If not within the immediate future, then you are providing a service "as is" - and you need to compensate by doing whatever you can to support your customers.