I'm really not about stirring of message board drama. But like anyone else that doesn't work and has nothing better to do I'm gonna! Its quite obvious I am out of work until AT&T resolves the damage their installer did to my office wiring. So AT&T, how long are you going to keep me unemployed for? Maybe I should have my customers start calling them instead of me.
I video documented what happened, and the video speaks more than anything I can describe in words. When you see the mess that the AT&T installer left for me, you'll understand.
Its been 43 days and counting, and my office telephones and DSL service are still not working properly. I hate to put this here, but my complaints and problems are not being addressed through other mediums and I feel the need to share. I have performed telcom installations and repairs for over 15 years. I know what satisfactory installations are, and this is NOT it. In more recent years I've begun work for myself, and have broken away from the large coporate enviroment with only my customers and myself to answer to and I've learned they want solutions YESTERDAY and do my best to provide them, if my services and support resembled anything such as what AT&T has offered to me, I'd have been run out of town by now by an angry mob.
As most of you should know, the only thing a telcom installer has to do is bring the telcom service into the building, and test it for dialtone, any modification or installation or repair to the building's wiring is outside of AT&T's installation protocol. But that is not what this installer did...
1. AT&T installer CUT AND MODIFIED my office's internal wiring (and he self-admitted to it) and then copped a self-righteous and flat out arrogant attitude when we asked him for help to put the wiring back the way it was. He hard-wired my PBX telephone system into the block and gave us telephone connectivity problems and we lost the ability to easily swap RJ-11 plugs between the lines that we have.
2. AT&T installer effective DISABLED ALL PHONE JACKS in office cut off and/or disconnected or removed them from the walls! There is absolutely nowhere to plug in telephones or DSL modems or callerIDs anymore!!!!
3. No place to plug in our shiny new AT&T DSL modem. My office has several cable modems, the DSL modem should grouped be with them and plugged into the multi-gateway router that I designed for this application, but NO! The installer chose to have me install the modem in the end of the office at our fax machine (which also has no dialtone at the jack) where there are no computers nor RJ-45 connections to wire into it. WHICH MAKES NO SENSE.
4. AT&T Installer was a slob and (on all 3 visits to my location) cut and tried to hide (necessary but now disconnected and loosely dangling) wires behind my work bench and strewn all about. The wires are also run very sloppily in and around the block on the wall. My cable modems were all knocked over by him and left that way and any of my telcom adapters that were in that area were all thrown about.
Below is an image of what was left after the installer's most recent visit.
You can see the 3 phone jacks on the wall in the upper right corner with the wiring pulled out of them... Should be lines 1 2 and 3 in that order from top to bottom.
The loose wires with the RJ-11 connectors on them are supposed to carry my service to the PBX system and the other line-swappable jacks in the office have the opposite ends cut, where they went to or how they worked before is a mystery since its all been gutted. (Example: I can fax from any available line by swapping the wire at this end, and caller IDs used to plug in back here.)
5. Line 1 does not rollover into line 2 when line 1 is busy.
6. On Monday 9/23/13, my COX internet service and telephone contract was up... AT&T should have taken over in the meanwhile... but guess what? I HAVE NO INTERNET SERVICES, and limited telephone operation and my customers are giving me a very hard time about it.
7. AT&T calls us a "new customer" and refuses to give us prompt service because we are not established. YES WE WERE ACTUALLY TOLD THIS BY A TELEPHONE REP.
8. AT&T does not call back anytime they say they are going to, and they refuse to escalate the problem to a higher support leve or give supervisor phone numbers. The CEO's office numbers constantly change and have been impossible to contact the company through any of our available mediums.
9. I tried to take the problem public and post it to their AT&T Facebook page, and they tell me to email their support... here's the deal. I have borrowed internet from my phone, and my email addresses are all hosted in-house, with no internet in the office, so now I have no email.. period. I can't even set up the DSL modem and create an AT&T email account, because.... there is no actively working phone jack anywhere in my office anymore. No matter which way you look at it, there is nothing but absolute FAIL written all over this.
To make matters worse, I have found out from others in the local area, that the particular installer that came out to us has wreaked havoc in their offices just the same. So the installer problem may be limited to one person, but the tech support brick wall I am facing with AT&T seems to be company-wide. Even my cellular service and home AT&T billing has been nothing but disputes, mischarges, wrong rate plans and lack of service provisioning to my phones for the past 2 years and has been an ongoing battle with AT&T support... nobody, not even regional supervisors seem to have any clout to make changes, and make them promptly without creating new problems in the process.
So, I'm crying out for help... if anyone can give any advice or contact information for anyone that would hold the power to get this mess fixed properly. Sure I can do it myself, but why should I? This was something I paid for so I didn't have to be bothered with it and now its become more work tracing damaged (cut) wires all over the office.
Thanks in advance to anyone who can give good advice or assist in this matter.
This is very tongue-in-cheek, but hey, there's nothing but truth to it.
Today begins day 3 of my AT&T imposed unemployment. Again, I have nothing better to do than go online to sites like Facebook and rant about it... I don't have a job or responsibility anymore just like everyone else that does the same thing on there. I think I should move into the AT&T CEO, Randall L. Stephenson's basement or garage and just not do anything all day but fart and scratch myself and wear the same clothes for a week. Why not? I have no work or livelyhood anymore, so someone has to feed me. I don't feel I should drain taxpayer's dollars especially since its AT&T's fault I don't have a job anymore. Randall should be feeding me.
So, a new AT&T tech showed up this morning and reinstalled the missing phone jacks.
Line 1 phone jack should plug into the line 1 on the PBX system... it doesn't.
Line 2 jack should should have the DSL filter out of it, the PBX phone system Line 2 should plug into that filter, and the DSL modem into the other side of it... it doesn't.
This is how it SHOULD work, thats not what this tech has left.
Also the fax machine has the RJ-11 connector cut off the end of the line cord by the previous AT&T tech (WHY!?!).... So this guy hard-wired it into Line 2. If someone tries to fax, the DSL gets disconnected again. There is no way to reconnect the fax line where it belongs or to manually move it to the line that isn't busy in the event we need to send a fax and someone is on the phone.
He still has the PBX system hard wired to the block parallel to the line 2 phone jack running the DSL. He refuses to put the phone system back onto it properly. What happens when you pick up line 2 or the fax machine is the DSL disconnects and you hear a racket on the line.
If line 2 rings, the DSL disconnects.
This guy has no concept of digital and anlog, and digital OVER analog is WAAAAAAAY over his head... my phone lines are analog. There may be a digital OVER analog service (DSL) but that squealing and hissing that I hear on my line 2 is analog... PERIOD.
The PBX system converts analog to digital and back to analog... but he's not to mess with that side of it, yet somehow he still puts that into his head and confuses himself. THE PBX SYSTEM PLUGS INTO A PHONE JACK THE SAME AS ANY OTHER STANDARD HOUSEHOLD TELEPHONE! It does not do anything with his service except plug into it!
This is yet another improper installation, the level of FAIL here continues to build to levels beyond pathetic to which I have not ever even though could happen, or should be allowed to happen.
We've got AT&T approval for them to pay for the service required to repair my office wiring, but only in the form of credit on our bill. I will not accept that. What if I can't get them to do anything right in the future and I have to drop them? What happens to my credit? PFFFFFFFT! FAIL!
Here's what the latest AT&T tech did to my telephone system... again, this guy TOLD ME that its supposed to be like this.... WRONG! This is somewhat of an improvement, but clearly its still not working nor connected properly. This has become stupid to the point of obscenity. The supervisor is ignoring us when we call, and is not returning any messages or otherwise.
As said in my last post: AT&T has agreed to "pay" for repair or reconfigure my wiring by a 3rd party, but its still in the form of credits on service. I don't think so, if their crappy service persists and I should be able to find an alternative service provider that isn't COX either, I'm going to dump them. I need to see a proper reimbursement check, no exceptions.
or click on my name on the left and send me an IM or email. Both go to the same location so it does not matter which one you do. -- If you have a topic in the direct forum please reply to it or a post of mine, I get a notification when you do this. Koetting Ford, Granite City, illinois... YOU'RE FIRED!!
You know, I have been on youtube for quite a while. I host a radio program and I appear on TV and in print. I capture a 1/2 million minutes out of people's lives every month just on Youtube alone. You do the math. (That means I own just over 11 peoples lives if they watched my videos non-stop 24/7.)
Being public, I leave myself open for scrutiny, and thats what happens when you put your life out there for everyone to see. I EXPECT people to say stupid things, normally I laugh at them for wasting their time... So until you have the guts to do what I do, don't bother with your drivel, you are only wasting your own time because I laugh at you.
Oh, and Youtube still pays me for your watching, if you like my content or not!
:: Nelson Muntz laugh ::
And laugh I do... I get to laugh my way all the way to the bank.
said by [ICantEven :
]I can't even...
Well then, you shouldn't.
said by [ICantEven :
] Yes, AT&T completely and royally screwed up your wiring and service.
One particularly BAD installer did, yes.
said by [ICantEven :
] Surely you know enough about networking, etc. to temporarily connect your cable modems and Cox eMTAs so that you have SOME service...
Your Cox modems are still in sync... Use them..
You're right, I do, and I did that already... below is the follow-up video. Much of the cable services were was disrupted, too as internal wiring was cut in multiple places. Not pretty.
AT&T had 43 days to get their stuff working before my Cox contract was up... that contact included our business/enterprise account that would have been useful without the firewalls or other BS Cox restrictions.
You also have no idea of the network topology here. Some of our services don't work for what we need as you might expect, as COX firewalls several of those modems. But since you don't know what the needs are of this office are you really should have just not said anything instead of looking stupid by trying to be smarter with ignorant statements. Its like going to war loading your guns with blanks.
said by [ICantEven :
] Or you know that you can have AT&T forward your business lines to cell, etc so that you can at least somewhat function...
I didn't say my phones didn't work, I said they didn't work properly. AT&T forwarding isn't working either (in fact it still isn't at this time!) so that wouldn't be another solution.
Also, AT&T cellular service (HAHA! Are you gonna get me started on them again with a new topic?!?!) 3G or above signal reception is EXTREMELY poor (if it works at all) in about a 1 block radius here due to the landscape here where my office is at, its gotten worse in recent months, unknown why. But that's the subject of another complaint not relevant to anything on a "DSL report" website.
But since you're still trying to be smarter than I by saying ignorant things........... I'll leave you at it.
said by [ICantEven :
] Clean up that office... It looks like a nightmare...
You're not kidding, for the last couple weeks I've been tearing things apart trying to isolate and repair what the AT&T tech did in here while attempting to service my customers. Cleaning is low priority, shouldn't it be?
This is almost the only true thing you've said, until we get to your last point.
said by [ICantEven :
] Why did you not supervise the tech...?
Well, some people work for a living. I do what AT&T techs do, I go onsite and repair networking, telephone systems, and other low-voltage wiring. Sometimes I have to leave for an emergency repair. Sad to say, is that I make exact times for appointments, and AT&T leaves a "4 to 6 hour time window" and as Murphy's Law would have it, he showed during the 30-45 minutes that I was gone and was allowed in by other office personnel. NOBODY, not even I expected anyone to begin cutting things.
said by [ICantEven :
] I just don't get it..
That is quite obvious, but thanks for trying. Sadly there's no consolation prizes for you.
I cannot fathom the number of people I see claiming to have "thousands of years" experience with something, yet they spend hours online bitching about stuff that should take them (and their eons of experience) minutes to go fix. Now I don't know what your infrastructure looked like or just how much (or how) the tech pooched it all up, but with 15+ years in telecom, I cannot understand how you haven't repaired it over 43+ days. (even allowing your "business" [whatever that may be] to go down in the name of spite.)
(I sympathize with your situation. And this is why I don't let telco techs in my wiring closet(s) unescorted.)
but with 15+ years in telecom, I cannot understand how you haven't repaired it over 43+ days. (even allowing your "business" [whatever that may be] to go down in the name of spite.)
(I sympathize with your situation. And this is why I don't let telco techs in my wiring closet(s) unescorted.)
I don't understand why it isn't clear enough, unless you guys aren't watching the video or reading the description I have followed up with. Its been 43 days since ordering services, I can't *INSTALL* their service to my building... no exceptions. I shouldn't do that for them, and I actually refuse to because its their liability.
(I sympathize with your situation. And this is why I don't let telco techs in my wiring closet(s) unescorted.)
I wasn't so lucky, I was out of the office on a service call, it is now understood in this office that NOBODY is allowed to touch ANYTHING without me here. That includes people that work here.
Also, my follow-up video shows how easy it was to get services restored (though crippled and sloppy) but it worked. The post hasn't been approved here yet.
Yesterday,(what was my 3rd day unemployed by AT&T) I pulled some wires and connected things the way the last tech told me wasn't going to work.... I knew better. I managed to get my phone system operational and broadband temporarily operational, too. PFFFFFT! These techs need a better education and need to be tested better.
I received a phone call from Mark! A very professional and well-connected individual working for their DSL tech department. I believe he said that my initial video was passed around the AT&T Office of the President and was going to be dealt with immediately. I was even given the number directly to their office, no hold, no wait, no problem! (Except the initial reason I would be calling...)
To my surprise today, before I even arrived at the office there were two supervisors from AT&T, and a new tech. This tech is what I refer to as the "janitor" (because thats what I've done for years)... A metaphor for- the only one good enough to clean up everyone else's messes... he has been AWESOME... no confusion, no silly remarks, no bad attitude... just progress! The regional manager is even expected to make an appearance.
These supervisors tried to justify (THE DAMAGES!) that the original tech causes to our wiring and networking arrangement in our office... that's usually what supervisors do.. protect they company and their employee no matter how stupid the situation might be. But I wasn't gonna to have it... Eventually they realized I am not your average "Joe Consumer." The new tech recognized my skillset immediately... he was awesome! THANKS ANTHONY!
It was agreed that they would repair/replace the portions of the wiring that were damaged by the previous tech some weeks earlier.
The solution is to pull out the block and all the wiring, and START OVER from scratch the way I've been saying it all along. It never should have ever been allowed for all the techs in the past to make such a mess.
The AT&T supervisors seemed to agreed that their techs need a better education and understanding of the technology.
The GOOD tech will be here shortly to get started.
quote:I have performed telcom installations and repairs for over 15 years. I know what satisfactory installations are, and this is NOT it.
What did you get into a car accident and suffer amnesia? Bitching and screaming not stop, and you can supposedly fix this yourself. I just dont get it. All the while you claim to be losing money with your business.
When someone states "AT&T killed my business", how is that to be understood? Do you run a non-profit business?
And again, you supposedly had 15 years experience doing installs and repairs, yet you cant fix this problem which requires nothing more than a wire stripper, punch down tool, possibly a jack splitter, and some trial and error if you dont have a butt-set (test set phone).
I believe event though Duck has the knowledge, it's AT&T responsibility to install and set it up correctly in the first place. He's paid them for the service and install. We presume that you won't be happy if Verizon did the same to you right? Or do you know how to set up seamless buinsess FiOS and waste your money giving it to Verizon for poor installation? It's all about the service here.
Simply saying that if theres this overwhelming urgency, which hes "running a business thats not losing money", Id sure as hell fix it myself, (which I can) , not wait for 15 dispatches of ignorant techs.
Id be 100% sympathetic if he did not say "I have performed telcom installations and repairs for over 15 years. I know what satisfactory installations are, and this is NOT it. "
Thank-you Bimmer! You are absolutely correct! Nail on the head!
Though I was in a very stuck situation... as I'm still discovering more problems today.
Today I'm beginning to find out that people from all over town can't call me, they get either 10 rings and a hangup, or it goes to a mystery "fax" machine. Unless you call from a cell phone, you can't reach my office at all. Strange, but I've got one of the best installer/techs I've ever seen looking at it, and its not even his department. Thank-you Anthony! You're the best!
And also stated " Its quite obvious I am out of work until AT&T resolves the damage their installer did to my office wiring. So AT&T, how long are you going to keep me unemployed for?"
Its quite obvious I am out of work until AT&T resolves the damage their installer did to my office wiring. So AT&T, how long are you going to keep me unemployed for?"
You have a fiduciary responsibility to yourself to mitigate damages. Get majic jack or Vonage with a new number and post on your many websites "due to ATT stupidity you have to contact me via this number" Then *AFTER* its fixed take it up with the PUC/small claims court for damages.
Keep up the good fight and do hope that Anthony will get the bugs worked out. Seems like its on track and will eventually get working again.
Please post a new video when it's all done and workin.
I do hope that AT&T will work with you to help you in some form of financial recovery as it was there fault for this mess which HAD been WORKING!. Good luck there.
As others mentioned, you may want to look in to some forum of phone back up for emergencies or to help when the bugs appear.
Backup is a great idea... we are redundant on internet at least, but even that was disrupted when wiring got cut inside the building.
The only trouble with backup telephone is nobody would know to call the backup number. (We already have cell phones that could have been for backup, but nobody would know to call them.) These backup numbers wouldn't be listed in any of our advertisements anywhere... and the comes the following:
We found out yesterday that our phone numbers weren't provisioned properly, and were dialing to black holes from the outside... our phones didn't ring at all over here even when the wiring was repaired, to no fault of our the original installer, our PBX system or repaired building wiring. So forwarding our numbers as someone else suggested wouldn't have been a solution either because AT&T couldn't get any of our numbers up. So forwarding NEVER would have worked properly either.
All that changed this morning!
Anthony went above and beyond his position as installer/technician and got the people on the phone to (re)provision our telephone numbers so people could actually call into our business. He is truly a diamond in the rough!
Everything seems to be back in service today! Thanks Anthony!
Looks like it's back up can running. Good to hear. Maybe someone could come up with a way to post a phone number when and if the mains go down, on a page what your customers visit as an idea. Glad your back up and running and gainfully employed again. )
I'm really not about stirring of message board drama. But like anyone else that doesn't work and has nothing better to do I'm gonna! Its quite obvious I am out of work until AT&T resolves the damage their installer did to my office wiring. So AT&T, how long are you going to keep me unemployed for? Maybe I should have my customers start calling them instead of me.
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