Last night I couldn't connect to the internet from home. First I went through a lengthy telephone system diagnostic with Time Warner, my service provider. Ultimately they determined that the problem was with my ISP, Earthlink. I tried to get help from them over the phone, but after an hour on hold I got disconnected. Following is a transcript of my online chat with Earthlink. Up until the very end I was convinced I was chatting with a bot.
'Earthlink' says: Thank you for contacting EarthLink LiveChat, how may I help you today?
Me: I cannot connect to the Internet. I troubleshot the problem with TimeWarner last night, and they told me that since my modem is fine (I can ping an IP address they gave me, but not Yahoo) that I needed to contact you.
Earthlink: I understand that you are not able to connect to the Internet.
Me: I'm of course not home right now, so troubleshooting might be tough, but your phone service hung up on me after I was on hold for an hour last night, so I thought I'd try another medium.
Earthlink: I apologize for the inconvenience this may have caused you.
Earthlink: I will assist you.
Me: Swell. Thanks.
Earthlink: Let me know the make and model of your DSL modem.
Me: It's a Toshiba. I don't have the model number.
Me: And it's not DSL. It's cable.
Earthlink: Okay.
Earthlink: Let me not waste your valuable time.
Earthlink: I am sorry to inform you, I see that you are connected with Time Warner all the connections and Speed issues are taken care by Timewarner itself.
Me: Time Warner told me to contact you, though.
Earthlink: As we are not aware of the connections maintained by them and we also don't have the tools to check the connection cause. They will be happy to assist you.
Me: "I cannot connect to the Internet. I troubleshot the problem with TimeWarner last night, and they told me that since my modem is fine (I can ping an IP address they gave me, but not Yahoo) that I needed to contact you. "
Earthlink: Are you unablle to visit Yahoo website?
Me: I was unable to connect to any website, but I managed to ping an IP address they gave me.
Earthlink: Do you need IP address?
Me: Are you a bot?
Me: I connected to the IP address they gave me. I still have it.
Earthlink: I am sorry.
Earthlink: Please let me know what you want me to do.
Me: I can't connect to the Internet. Time Warner told me it wasn't their issue, that it was yours.
Me: I would like to be able to connect to the Internet.
Earthlink: Thank you for the information provided.
Me: Can I be connected with a human?
Earthlink: But I would like to inform you that the Cable connection issues purely handle by your Cable Vendor.
Earthlink: Yes, you are chatting with a Live Chat person.
Earthlink: As we are not trained on the Cable connection issues, we are not able to assist you.
Me: Sorry. It all sounded so canned. Thanks anyway.
Earthlink: I am sorry for the inconvenience caused.
Earthlink: If it in my hands, I would definitely help you.
Earthlink: I hope you understand.
Me: Thanks.
Earthlink: Is there anything else I can help you with?
Me: Nope.
Earthlink: You are welcome.
Me: Happy weekend.
Earthlink: Thank you for the understanding.
Earthlink: Have a nice day.
I understand that it may well be Time Warner's issue, but I wish I'd had the chance to be referred to someone who was trained to deal with cable issues or who could have helped me with Time Warner or something (told me what to say to them? possibly intervened?)
I'm sorely tempted to cancel my service at home, but I'm not sure what I'd do instead.
Advice? Suggestions? Commiseration?
Comments
jenna
Fri, 07/25/2008 - 2:45pm
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another chat
another chat transcript:
(14:37:35) friend: did you check that you have valid dns servers in your config?
(14:37:54) friend: i fyou can ping an ip number but not get to websites, usually that is a dns issue
(14:38:15) me: how would it have changed since the last time i turned my computer on?
(14:38:31) me: and i didn't check anything.
(14:38:34) friend: and I still think it was either a bot, or someone in india clicking on which canned message to send in response to you
(14:38:45) me: wasn't asked or advised to by timewarner.
(14:39:03) me: i think the latter.
(14:39:19) friend: 1st tier tech support is so useless
(14:40:17) me: especially when it's a computer. i eventually got a human, sounded midwestern, but she seemed less knowledgeable than the computerized telephone system voice.
(14:40:41) friend: sounds frustrating
(14:41:15) me: can i put this conversation in my comments, if i neutralize your name?
(14:41:29) friend: sure
Anonymous (not verified)
Fri, 08/08/2008 - 5:28pm
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"friend" is right - this is
"friend" is right - this is probably a Domain Name Server issue. Can you type 68.180.206.184 in a browser and get to yahoo? If the answer is "yes" it is a DNS issue where your network doesn't translate "yahoo.com" to "68.180.206.184".
In EarthLink's defense, they do lease everything from TW - TW does all of the provisioning and EarthLink does not troubleshoot it at all since it is all on TW's network and they are not provided tools to TW network.
The chat agent isn't canned or a bot, I promise - they just have a weird way of chatting. They empathize way too much and their "listening" or reading skills are definitely lacking. They need to empathize less, read better and help more.
amanda (not verified)
Fri, 07/25/2008 - 3:40pm
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Shoot, now I'm pissed off.
Shoot, now I'm pissed off.
I like that the bot has funky grammar. You have to cop to the slight awesomeness of a bad grammar bot.
You could cancel your service and then set up new service. We have Optimum Online, which is also Cablevision. Sometimes they make me wait on hold but they sure haven't subjected me to a chatbot yet.
For bonus fun, you can probably get an introductory rate if you set up new service.
jenna
Fri, 07/25/2008 - 4:10pm
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from Optimum Online: "We're
from Optimum Online:
"We're Sorry
"Thank you for your interest in our Optimum products. A Cablevision system was not located in your ZIP code. Our services are available only in areas where Cablevision Systems Corp. is your cable provider."
But I will check out Road Runner and whoever all else competes for Alphabet City's broadband dollars.
Thanks for the pissed off solidarity!
Anonymouse (not verified)
Fri, 07/25/2008 - 5:36pm
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you should dump earthlink
you should dump earthlink anyway, simply because their founder is a wackjob scientologist.
from http://tinyurl.com/34jo5
Sky Dayton, EarthLink's founder "is a vocal follower of the Church of Scientology who in the early days surrounded himself with upper management and private financiers who were also Scientologists. His personal Web page is punctuated with a quote from Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard"
Emily (not verified)
Fri, 07/25/2008 - 10:03pm
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Hi Jenna, I have switched to
Hi Jenna,
I have switched to Optimum and actually found the service much worse than Time Warner. I actually wish I could get back on T. W., which really burns me.
The companies don't actually compete you can only get the service that is designated for your area...sound like a monopoly to me. huh? thought that was illegal.
jenna
Sat, 07/26/2008 - 6:22pm
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re: monopoly--I was thinking
re: monopoly--I was thinking the same thing!
Emily (not verified)
Fri, 07/25/2008 - 3:46pm
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Will you tell us if
Will you tell us if Earthlink sees this post and then jumps through hoops quickly to solve your problem, a la this story from today's Times?
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/25/technology/25comcast.html?partner=rssn...
Anonymous (not verified)
Fri, 08/08/2008 - 5:21pm
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That NY Times has nothing to
That NY Times has nothing to do with EarthLink, so I don't see the relevance.
jenna
Fri, 08/08/2008 - 6:01pm
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Maybe you couldn't read the
Maybe you couldn't read the Times article for some reason. The relevance is that the article was about an ISP responding to criticism they'd seen blogged. It's not exactly the same thing because I wasn't blogging on a site set up specifically to hate on the ISP, but I think the connection is good enough.