Where to begin, I guess I should just start at the end of my work day and recap until now, 2 hours later.
I signed up for Time Warner “High Speed” internet about a month ago, and from day one I realized the speed was MUCH less than what I am paying for, but due to work and travel, I hadn’t decided to embark on what now turned out to be a very long and frustrating adventure.
Time Warner promises 15mbps download, bursts up to 20mbps. So what did I receive for my $44.98/mo? Nothing but a whopping 5mbps download, just a THIRD of what the minimum is. Needless to say, this speed is hardly adequate for the modern internet as we all know it today.
Today after work, I had some time to spare, so I decided to call Time Warner with all the data that I’ve collected over the past month. The first call, after many “automated menu options”, I encountered a 1st Level tech by the name of Ryan, who asked me all the regular questions a 1st level tech should be expected to ask.
- Do you have security software installed on your computer?
- Do you have antivirus or firewall software installed on our computer?
- Are you plugged directly into your cable modem?
Of course I have ran many tests on my end to insure the problem was not with my equipment. Let me note here that I have several cisco high end commercial routers, a pfSense gateway/ap/router, and a fairly new asus wireless router in place, all have been tested directly connected to the modem.
So after going back and forth with him about these questions, answering them all honestly, I provide him with a traceroute, a speed test from speedtest.net, and a speed test from http://speedtest.peakview.rr.com/ (per his suggestion)
Finally, I think I’m getting somewhere, he’s going to transfer me to level 2, when, of course we get disconnected, beautiful. Now I have to look forward to going through the automated system once again, talking to yet another level 1 tech, and getting nowhere still! Luckily I’ve been in technical support before, and made sure to note reference numbers and names throughout the process.
Here we go, second call, at this point I’m feeling confident he has noted the proper amount of information and I can skip right past the level 1 technician. I get on the phone, finally talking to someone and they see in the notes “Can not connect to the internet” . COME ON!! REALLLLY?? You would think that someone with 10 years experience dealing with all realms of internet technology that they would be able to at least connect to the internet!
Well, believe it or not, we got disconnected. This really has nothing to do with my cell phone, as I use a Sprint AIRAVE connected through this AWESOME Time Warner connection (sarcasm!)
Third call, and what would seem to be my final call before I decided to jot all this down in a fury of aggravation. Same business, call, wait, level 1 technican, etc. Finally I’m being transferred to a Level 2 technician, oh yay!!
So I wait on hold, and I wait, and I wait.. I know, from having done technical support, people are always saying “I was on hold for 30 minutes!!!” , when actually it was about 10 minutes, just waiting seems much longer than it really is, but this time it was ACTUALLY 40 minutes on hold. You can see in the picture of my call log below, that I’ve had several 20 minute long conversations, plus the 40 minutes of listening to their crappy music.
So I get a hold of the guy finally after waiting for 40 minutes, he gets my information ONCE again, phone number, verify address, name, last 4 social, come really.. and guess what, disconnected while he is looking up my “equipment details” <-- last straw
Just be warned, if you buy something from Time Warner, prepare to get ripped off. They over sell their bandwidth, have terrible terrible technical support, and really could care less about their customers. PLEASE for the love of god, research alternate places for high speed internet, because with Time Warner you are bound to be screwed.
Example:
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