Dear First Tier ISP Support Peon

[RbSX]

/begin rant

I moved across the country about a month ago to resume my post secondary education, and I never thought I'd say that I miss on campus technical support. Atleast they would tell us that the campus internet was totally fubar'ed.

Bell Sympatico has been a pain in the ass ever since I got them. It started off with their proprietary software that you HAVE to install in order to configure the dsl modem (you can't connect without it). The software puts SO much clutter on your computer that it took my rather beastly laptop almost half an hour to install the programs.

Hoping that after I managed to setup the modem, one might be able to remove the proprietary ****** they put on your computer, it might be to much to ask for an addition to the add/remove list in the control panel! Of course, countless changes were made to the registry that I couldn't fix, even with the System Restore because amazingly enough the installer didn't make an undo point! So after all of this in order to turn on my wifi card in my laptop I have to go into the 'start services' menu!

As if this wasn't bad enough, the speed is TERRIBLE. I'll be downloading a torrent at roughly 150 kbps per second, and it can suddenly drop off to 2-3 kbps like it just did. It's been doing this since I had the service installed. YAY. No more online games because my lag is to extreme.

I'll ping yahoo, the first ping will be 35 ms, the second ping will go up to 500ms and then the third ping will be back down at around 40 ms.

So I tell this guy I've scanned my computer for virii, spyware, erroneous system settings.. and he sits there trying to tell me it must be my side.

For some STUPID reason he tells me that I should go into the MSCONFIG, and tell him whats set to start up and tells me that I should uncheck my 'dell musicmatch player'. WTF MATE.

YARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR.

FVCK you bell sympatico.

Edit:

Also, as a promotion, they offer a modem that has built in wireless. However if you run into any problems their first tier technical support DOESN'T DEAL WITH WIRELESS. In order to be escalated, which is a TOTAL pain in the ass.

Cliffs:

-ISP requires mandatory software to setup modem.. needlessly clutters harddrive and makes registry changes, NO UNDO System Restore Point, NO ADD/REMOVE in Control Panel.

-ISP Speed varies from 150kbps, 30 seconds later it's 2-3 kbps.

-ISP first tier tech says solution = disable dell music match @ startup

-Ryan goes crazy

 

[olds]

For some STUPID reason he tells me that I should go into the MSCONFIG, and tell him whats set to start up and tells me that I should uncheck my 'dell musicmatch player'. WTF MATE

I don't have anything running at start up that I don't need.

 

[RbSX]

Originally posted by: oldsmoboat

For some STUPID reason he tells me that I should go into the MSCONFIG, and tell him whats set to start up and tells me that I should uncheck my 'dell musicmatch player'. WTF MATE

I don't have anything running at start up that I don't need.

I understand that, I don't have anything operating on startup that I don't want to have either.

I am always listening to music.

 

[sswingle]

Originally posted by: oldsmoboat

For some STUPID reason he tells me that I should go into the MSCONFIG, and tell him whats set to start up and tells me that I should uncheck my 'dell musicmatch player'. WTF MATE

I don't have anything running at start up that I don't need.

Maybe he uses it

 

[ribbon13]

Originally posted by: oldsmoboat

For some STUPID reason he tells me that I should go into the MSCONFIG, and tell him whats set to start up and tells me that I should uncheck my 'dell musicmatch player'. WTF MATE

I don't have anything running at start up that I don't need.

Yeah, but something that likely sits back in resident memory and takes no CPU on start up, so the Tech acting like its going to fix anything is wasting everyones time.

 

[Kelemvor]

Most of the time you don't really need to install the DSL software. If you whine and bitch and moan and complain aenough, you can get to a supervisors / tier 2/3 etc that can tell you the settings you need to put into the cable modem directly (or your router if you have one) so that you don't have to use their crap.

And when you talk to support and they tell you to do something that is stupid, just tell them you did it and don't really do it. Then just ask to be escalated to a supervisor.

 

[ElFenix]

For some STUPID reason he tells me that I should go into the MSCONFIG, and tell him whats set to start up and tells me that I should uncheck my 'dell musicmatch player'. WTF MATE.

i think he was doing you a favor.

 

[RbSX]

Originally posted by: ElFenix

For some STUPID reason he tells me that I should go into the MSCONFIG, and tell him whats set to start up and tells me that I should uncheck my 'dell musicmatch player'. WTF MATE.

i think he was doing you a favor.

I've found that dell musicmatch is better than anything else I've used, but the newest version is a wee bit of a resource hog.

 

[Toonces]

can't you get a router?

problem solved for $20

 

[RbSX]

Originally posted by: UNESC0
can't you get a router?

problem solved for $20

Now why exactly would I need a router?

 

[imported_Phil]

Originally posted by: RyanSengara

Originally posted by: UNESC0
can't you get a router?

problem solved for $20

Now why exactly would I need a router?

NAT?
Hardware SPI firewall?
Always-on connection?
Sharing the connection?
Less CPU load (the USB ones do seem to use a bit of CPU time)?

 

[Wizkid]

Hmm... I've setup Sympatico quite a few times and I've never used their CD... I just throw it in the garbage. If the blue book doesn't have the info in the front cover than I call up CS and complain until they give it to me (this only happened once).