AT&T Southwest → No more DSL for me.

I got DSL last august. Worked fine for 7 months.
mid- april 2002: DSL down for 4 days now with 5 tickets open and no action.
april29: 2 days on the phone with tech support and everything on the line checks out. tech says the modem 5260 won't receive, no response to a ping from his end. I call the speedstream folks and she wants me to find a neighbor with DSL to test the modem!? I insist on a replacement under warranty and now I'm waiting for a call back to get shipping instructions.
april30: called speedstream back and the lady processed the paperwork to send in the modem for checkout. I checked the delivery conformation and it has arrived in Dallas. I asked if I could just drive over and deliver it but that would throw their process for a loop so in the mail it went.
May 9: got a new one yesterday, hooked it up and still no connection. Still four solid greens but no server. Called sbc and got scheduled for a tech visit before 6PM. It's past 7 now and no call, no visit. I guess my final call will be to dump the phone, DSL and the whole works. I will be contacting PUC, BBB and any other consumer protection folks that I can find. Totally unsatisfactory service.
When it works, it's great, when it breaks, give up.

Sorry it had to be that way.. That really blows!

I'm sorry you've had a bad experience too! I wish they would have sent a tech out on day 1 to see where the trouble really was and get it fixed. If you have a 5260 modem with 4 green lights, sync is good, not reaching server makes me wonder about your NIC, the network cord and your computer settings. I think I remember your previous thread but can't remember what you checked. You might remind us here, maybe we can help you, however I agree that SBC should have had someone out long before now.

hold on, semicolonj, let the tech come out and check it out. It could be your equipment causing the problem... It may not be. I used to work in Fort Worth and I know all the techs and managers there. They've got some really good people there that like to help people.

I know it's frustrating, but don't take careful aim only to blow a hole in your own foot!

I have a new NIC, new enet cable, different phone cord, connected to different phone jack, replacement 5260. I even moved the NIC to a different PCI slot, uninstalled everything and redid the install with the original two discs. I get to dslreuser and no server is listed under the services tab on the EnterNet dialog box. What I don't understand is: if I have a good signal to the CO and the rback is in richardson, how tough is that to troubleshoot? I can't afford to waste another month of time and monthly charges. Too bad, I really loved the speed.

I'm sure the folks are just fine, if you can get someone to show up. I think that a month of troubleshooting, calling, emailing, buying new equipment, sitting on hold forever is sufficient for a problem that everyone says should have been fixed in 24 hours. I am recovering from back surgery and that is the only reason that I can take so much time off from work to get this fixed. What do people do who can't spend days waiting on callbacks and tech visits??? The very time that I need connection to my office and I can't get it. I'm way beyond a rant on the subject, I'll just choose another way to spend my money and watch as SBC continues to lose market share.

Don't blame you brother, it's quite simple it's called
CUSTOMER SUPPORT.
Why don't you get it SBC??

Sounds like a misconfig in the router to me...

I agree with the misconfig. My question is still why does it take so much effort? And yes, customer support in this case is non-existent. The huge interest in DSLReports is testament that customer support is completely overwhelmed. I'm sure that the front-line support groups are NOT receiving the assistance from management but missing callbacks and tech visits is inexcusable.

I feel like the problem on the missed tech visit is probably that a ticket has never made it to the point to be dispatched on. When you call, do you know who you are talking to, like SBIS, ASI or CSI helpdesk?? At any rate I would be back on the phone telling them to get a tech out to test it with their laptop. Good Luck. Maybe you could ask for a morning appointment, and then if they are not there by 12p you would still have time to call and find out if they are coming.

I appreciate the suggestions but after a month of this, I'm willing to admit defeat and try cable or dish. There's a fine line between stubborn and futile and I may be on both sides! The BBB site that I checked shows SWBell here to be unresponsive to BBB complaints so obviously they are not concerned with individual customers. I will contact as many people as possible in the hope of saving someone else this hassle but I really don't have much expectation of impact there either.

I sure wish you'd stick with em long enough to solve this puzzle. Some inquiring minds want to know what is causing your problem.

OK, so stubborn it's going to be. After a nights rest I decided to grab a laptop from work and try the only part left that hasn't been swapped out: the computer. I did a complete install on the thinkpad and voila! nothing! Same four solid greens while the EnterNet times out. So, I pack up the laptop to run it back to the office and what's this? A SWBell truck at my front door!!! The tech tells me that he'll be checking the line and gathering some data on line condition to solve the problem. I bring him inside and show him and his first words are: you don't have a problem on this end, it's probably software on their end. This is what I've been trying to get 877-SBC-DSL5 to acknowledge for a month. Anyway, he does his thing and tells me that as soon as he can get the data into the system, I will get a call to take the problem to the next level.
The tech has DSL and it took him 2 months to get it working and he has 20+ years with the company!! Any problems here???

Has anyone had any luck with any consumer groups in getting SBC's attention. I would really like to see them get well rather than die a diminishing market share death.

Well, I do not know who you were talking too all that time, but they should have run some tests to find out a misconfig, which I summed up within 2 minutes of reading your post.

I deal with this stuff, (CSI guy here), so I know... what groups were you talking with?

At 2PM I get a 2nd visit from another SWBell tech. He's here to check the lines!? I told him the first guy did that 4 hours ago and he gave the line a clean bill.
Well, it's 7 PM and the ASI tech just left after 2 hours on the phone with SBIS. He has to be the most patient guy that I ever met. They had him try 2 new modems (no help), new phone cables (no help), hooked the modem directly to the demarc outside (yep! still got great sync) and all the above combinations with my computer and the tech's laptop. Then just for completeness, he ran network analysis with the sunrise box. Bottom line, next week they are going to hook me up to a different pair in the CO. After a month, 8 case numbers, 2 trouble tickets, a new modem, a new NIC, all new cabling, 12,000 reboots, numerous uninstalls/reinstalls: THE PROBLEM IS NOT ON MY END.

Again I ask: why is this so difficult to fix??? All of the troubleshooting I've ever done (and it includes Dumont TVs) says start in the middle and continue to divide the problem in half until you find the solution. I'm on hold now until Monday or Tuesday for the fix at the CO. I guess 24/7 is just a marketing thing.

no, my group is 24/7, we answer calls 24/7, ASI is not, they are union, you can thank union for that....

said by dsltechy:

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no, my group is 24/7, we answer calls 24/7, ASI is not, they are union, you can thank union for that....

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I hate to get off topic here, but I can not restrain. NO! You don't thank the Union for the hours that the Company sets. The employees/Union members are hired knowing that they may be required to work nights, holidays, weekends, etc. and they do, however lack of daylight at 10pm can make it hell not to mention dangerous to work outside. Sorry for the rant.

I am glad to hear that you had a patient ASI tech there to help you who was willing to stay until 7pm. I know it is frustrating to the techs too, when they know the problem is not at the customers premise. It sounds like SBIS needs to be doing some checking on your configuration. Hang in there.

Sounds like to me you are on a bad dslam port or SBIS needs to rip and rebuild your account. I've run into those problems before and had to escalate to SBC management to get them to change the dslam port.

The ASI tech DID go the extra mile and for his trouble got a call from the boss who wanted to know why the "night" tech didn't take the dispatch so the "day" guy wouldn't have to clock OT. Since the day tech was half an hour closer, his decision was in the interest of CUSTOMER SERVICE, not OT hours. If I could figure out a way to get to the boss, I would tell him directly that his tech made the right call.

The line was "re-provisioned" last week before I was told to send in the modem since it wouldn't respond to a ping. I guess the only part left is the CO to rback in Richardson??

I have no problem with any of the techs working this problem, IT'S A MANAGEMENT THING that causes them to run the same hoops over and over.

When I was a tech repairing DSL in Fort Worth, we came up with this same problem several times. It would ALWAYS require an enormous amount of time on the phone to the various test boards!!! I remember spending 13 hours one day and 10 hours the next day at the same customers' house working on the same problem you've identified only to find that someone, somewhere transposed some numbers and we finally (after a LONG time) got them to even look at their own settings and then change them. If you think it's bad, just imagine those techs that have to deal with that day after day... It's hard sometimes to keep up a positive attitude in that enviornment.

MowerMan,
And I thought I was stubborn? What do you think is the best way to go about getting SBC to improve it's service?? I would like to go beyond just fixing my problem to making the next guy's problem easier it solve. I don't own any SBC stock I just hate the thought that any thing has to be so much hassle.

You can try contacting executive complaints at SBC. I don't know how much good it will do but at least someone higher than the front lines will hear your concerns.

While you're at it. Write or call the FCC and your representation in congress and tell them your story.

said by semicolonj:

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MowerMan, And I thought I was stubborn

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Not really so stubborn... my boss at the time told us techs to make it work--no matter how long it took. And we didn't get to go on to the next job (or home) until it was fixed.

TXT has a good point. Unfortunately, the policy makers at SBC are high level and all they look at is spreadsheets and charts. Even while I was working there, I would advise some people to call in an "executive level complaint". It sometimes got the ball rolling.

Good luck!

Since you can't vote down a post anymore I'll have to give you my "Thumbs Down!" here. You know better! This is not the place for that type of post. But, since you did...

said by dsltechy:

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no, my group is 24/7, we answer calls 24/7, ASI is not, they are union, you can thank union for that....

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If you were Union you'd see better compensation than you're getting now for having to work those 24/7 shifts!

No, if we were uninon, we wouldnt have a job... This place would basicly move the project to another location.

And I realize that techs on the field can not work all hours of the day, but those who create Trouble Tickets, work on router configs, and other such things, can.

You are right, union would make my pay higher, but they would take it out in dues. I am not against union, because this place is almost asking for it, but I am against the greed it causes.

May14th: still waiting for a port. Called to check on the trouble ticket and was told "probably tomorrow".

May15, 11am: Called to check. Was told the expedite status for a port cut was refused. The help desk called to check and got it scheduled for tomorrow. They will call to check when they have it working. Got another case number: 18873197. The first one for this problem was:
18068657 that was 42 days ago.

What cable internet services are available for the 76133 code?

Now I'm really worried!! DSL just went active a day earlier than the day late that I was told before. Will the ticket from today hit tomorrow and cause them to start troubleshooting all over again?

Who is the patron saint of DSL anyway?

"They" did a "port cut" to get me back on line. Time from first problem to resolution: 42 days.