[TriLUG] Roadrunner access

[Donald Ball]

On Tue, 4 Sep 2001, Craig Duncan wrote:

> RR support is only as good as your perspective. If you actually expect them
> to know anything about your network, forget it, that's your problem (and
> mine), and one that you should welcome. If RR keeps a live connection to the
> "modem" (consider it a generic term, rather than a factual descriptor) for
> 97+% of the time, I suspect you have better than average Internet service.

97% uptime means almost a full day of downtime a month. i don't think that
indicates better than average internet service, myself.

> My experience with RR support has been very positive, even when the other
> week my service was completely down - and as such so was the business that I
> run from home. From placing my initial call to tech support, to the
> technician leaving my home after fixing the faulty amplifier in the cable
> junction box, took only a few seconds over 2 hours. If you can get better
> response times from another provider, good luck. Granted I do pay for a
> business line and business service, but at least I get what I pay for.
>
> I could go on, but I think you get my drift, perspective shapes everything.
> What I would be interested in is if you would explain the experience(s) that
> have made you so negative about RR's tech support. At least then we would be
> able to give it a considered opinion rather than just dismiss it as
> "annoyance".

sure, that's easy. i've probably contacted tech support ten times so far
for problems at this house and the last. i've never had to wait on hold
less than ten minutes to speak to an actual person, average is probably
twenty minutes. when i have had the patience to wait for a response,
probably 2/3 of the time, the support person has either told me that
there's a widespread problem they're working on for which there is no ETA
(which is okay, though irritating), or that they will be happy to schedule
a service visit, the next one they have is (2-5 business days) from now,
would i prefer to wait at home all morning or all afternoon?

when the service techs do show up to diagnose a problem with the service
(4 times, 2 per house), each time they looked at lights on the cable
bridge, verified that it was indeed not working, blamed it on a weak
signal, and said someone else would take care of it at some other time.
once the guy actually took a reading with his little analyzer box, but i
think it was just to humor me. oh, and they won't go ahead credit your
account for downtime when you actually report the problem. they ask you to
call back when the service is up again and ask for the credit (and who
wants to suffer through hold for a ~$1.60 per day credit?)

i'm frankly astonished by the great service you experienced, i've never
heard anyone say anything positive about road runner tech support before.
oh, hah, i just now read that you got the 'business' roadrunner service.
indeed, you do get what you pay for. residential is a pretty good deal,
just don't expect any tech support and don't _rely_ on it being up.

(hmm. i guess one way to ensure reliable roadrunner service is for each
neighborhood to purchase a business line for one lucky resident; anytime
something goes wrong with the service for the neighborhood, they can
report the problem on the business account and be guaranteed a rapid fix!)

- donald