ISPs and B----y Computers!

[Ziptrev]

I'm with AOL and upgraded from version 6 to 7 a month or so ago.
Starting last night, I suddenly had horrendous connectivity problems, not getting on, freezing when on, dropping out, etc, etc, etc,.
Got tech help to send instructions and tried eveything! No better!
The simplest e-mail arriving would take 5 minutes to open, and then I'd lose connection whilst trying to reply!
Tried 15 times to answer Scotts post and got through to reply 5 times, but dropped out before acceptance!
In desperation , I rebrought up version 6 onto the Icons on Desktop and now been on an hour and answered everything, with full speed restored and forum access no problem whatsoever!
Anyone know why?
Should I try again with 7, or let sleeping dogs lie?
(When I click on 6, the old screen comes up, but the toolbars 7s)
I did have a problem, losing 3 photos, I'd just downloaded yesterday, but wasn't on the net then, could that have caused problem?
Any computer help appreciated.
Thanks


Trev

Ziptrev I do NOT BELIEVE it

Edited by - Ziptrev on 26 February 2002 04:34:22 AM

 

[Newt]

Best suggestion I can offer is to get rid of AOHELL. Lots of overhead for no real gain I have ever been able to see. Absolutely nothing there you can't get elsewhere and it will probably work faster.

Are you on broadband or dial-up? I get a strong impression that 7.0 was put together with the broadband folks in mind.

Newt Vail

 

[scouse]

hi trev
funny you should say that
i had trouble as well, had to go on old 6.0,
put in new phone number on 7.0
now ok try it it may work
dave (scouse)

 

[Ziptrev]

Newt, On a single line, no broadband stuff for me (is that when you have more than 1 piece of string joining your 2 cans?)
Cost wise, always seemed comparable (14.99 per month,) with totally open7/24 access and no cut off every few hours etc. (LOL when working that is)
All service is from S.Ireland, Tech from Waterford and Accounts from Dublin, but they are good and you get a freephone No. for contact, so the price is truly fully inclusive (no 1 per min tech help like the cheaper providers)

Also, loathe to change as Ive had the old Ziptrev@aol e-mail for ages and I dont want the hasstle of change! Times too precious!

Dave, Im always clicking on those damn Best numbers, but I must admit V6 had got older no.s in and (touch wood) this seems back to normal.
Thanks Chaps, hope problem resolved, but always open to any more suggestions.
May be forced to change!

Trev

Ziptrev

I do NOT BELIEVE it

 

[Newt]

Trev - in your situation, I guess AOWhat makes good sense. Price does seem to be nice and service sounds better than it is with their US operations. Here they also have 7x24 tech support but you need it since it may take a few hours to get a tech on the line.

I think that with dial-up, you will for sure do better to stay with v6 though. The feeling I get from various boards is that they worked real hard at optimizing v7 for broadband and may not have tested it enough to see if they broke something in the dial-up portion of their code. Probably v8 will have it all sorted out.

Take a look at http://www.2yaks.com/funpages2/funpage102.html

And BTW - if you aren't familiar with the way tech support works from the viewpoint of the tech, let me post a typical set of rules for dealing with tech support issues:

Mad's ten rules of technical support

1. Voice mail options are to be changed every Monday to ensure that customers must listen to ALL of the endless options before being able to make a choice. Note: Be sure to put "Speak to a tech support team member" at the very end of the list right after "If you need to order an instruction book in Mandarin, please press 202"

2. If the customer is calling with a software problem, immediately blame their hardware.

3. In order to maintain good customer relations, only put a caller on hold if you're taking a 15-30 minute coffee break. If you're taking a full lunch hour, then take their number. Then throw it away and wait for them to call back.

4. If the customer is calling with a hardware problem, immediately blame their software.

5. Remember: To the customer you're a God. A genius who's hundred times smarter than they are. Feel free to talk down to them. NOTE: Don't worry about answering questions from computer savvy nerds. Since they don't call Tech Support, you will never have to answer a question you can't fake your way through.

6. If you've no idea what the customer's problem is, simply tell them "You obviously don't have the latest upgrade." Then instruct them to search for it on the web - that'll keep them busy for months.

7. If it turns out that a customer is calling with a valid problem that you already know about, say: "I've never heard of that happening before, but I'll ask a Senior Engineer. Please hold." Then after your coffee break, come back on the line and give vague and confusing instructions on how to fix it.

8. AOL is the official scapegoat for any hardware or software problems a customer may experience. AOL has screwed up so much over the last two years that anybody will accept AOL as the cause of their problem - even if they don't have AOL!

9. Always be sure to ask the caller to list the other programs they are using. When they name the third one, immediately blurt out "Oh, there's your problem. That program isn't compatible with ours."

10. As an absolute final resort: Tell the customer that an upgrade that will fix everything will be available in two months. This will buy us enough time to work hard... To update this excuse list!


Newt Vail

Edited by - Newt on 26 February 2002 6:21:24 PM

 

[Ziptrev]

LOL Newt
Thanks,
So when I chose AOL , Even then the Zippy Curse was in Operation?

I'm so used to sighing Oh! Well, I should have noticed the similarity to A O! El lol

Never mind, 6 seems to be going OK!
Fingers and intimate body parts crossed!

Cya

Trev

Ziptrev

I do NOT BELIEVE it

Edited by - Ziptrev on 26 February 2002 7:49:12 PM

 

[Nige]

Newt, 3 times I phoned my tech support (minimum duration 17 mins @ 1 a minute) and 3 times I was told I hadn't got enough RAM. Funny thing is that the 3rd time I said I'd got 152mb and was told I could really do with 10mb more !!

Jokers!!!

Nige, Wishin I was Fishin

 

[Newt]

Nige - you should have told him to pull his head out of his arse. Memory (unless your PC is really ancient) will be in some multiple of 16 and probably some multiple of 32. And FWIW, Win9x will run great (not only run but run well) on 64Mb, ME on 96Mb, 2K/XP on 128Mb. More is nice but not required to run.

On the other side of the coin though, here are some tidbits from the point of view of the IT / tech support folks in the business world.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rules to live by for corporate computer users
from the Tech Support Department

1. Don't write anything down. Ever.
We can play back the error messages from here.

2. When an I.T. person says he's coming right over, go for coffee. It's nothing for us to remember 3,000 screen saver passwords.

3. When you call us to have your computer moved, be sure to leave it buried under half a ton of postcards, baby pictures, stuffed animals, dried flowers,bowling trophies and Popsicle art. We don't have a life, and we find it deeply moving to catch a fleeting glimpse of yours.

4. When you call the help desk, state what you want, not what's keeping you from getting it. We don't need to know that you can't get into your mail because your computer won't power on at all.

5. Don't put your phone extension in your e-mails to the help desk. We need to keep an eye on the address book performance.

6. When I.T. support sends you an e-mail with high importance, delete it at once. We're just testing the public groups.

7. When an I.T. person is eating lunch in his cube, walk right in and spill your guts right out. We exist only to serve.

8. When an I.T. person is taking a break away from his work area, ask him a computer question. The only reason why we take breaks at all is to ferret out those clients who don't have e-mail or a telephone line.

9. Send urgent email all in uppercase. The mail server picks it up and flags it as a rush delivery.

10. When you call an I.T. person's direct line, press 5 to skip the bilingual greeting that says he's out of town for a week, record your message and wait exactly 24 hours before you send an email straight to the director because no one ever returned your call. You're entitled to common courtesy.

11. When the photocopier doesn't work, call computer support. There's electronics in it.

12. When you're getting a NO DIAL TONE message at home, call computer support. We can fix your line from here.

13. When you have a dozen CGA monitors to get rid of, call computer support. We're collectors.

14. When something's wrong with your home PC, dump it on an I.T. person's chair with no name, no phone number and no description of the problem. We love a puzzle.

15. If you hate your mouse, get some other pointing device and discard the manual. We know all the key-board accelerators.

16. When an I.T. person tells you that computer monitors don't have cartridges in them, argue. We love a good argument.

17. When you get a message about insufficient disk space, delete everything in the Windows directory. It's nothing but trouble anyway.

18. When you get a message about a hard disk controller failure, and then you reboot and it looks okay, don't call I.T. support. We'd much rather troubleshoot it when it's dead as a doornail.

19. When you have an I.T. person on the phone walking you through changing a setting, read the paper. We don't actually mean for you to do anything; we just love to hear ourselves talk.

20. When an I.T. person tells you that he'll be there shortly, reply in scathing tone of voice: "And just how many weeks do you mean by shortly?" That'll get us going.



Newt Vail

 

[waxlion1]

Trev!

I'm having the same sort of problems, as I'm in the process of changing my ISP from BT over to 0800Dial access 24/7, better for shift workers and to keep track of you lot on here.

Its causing all sorts of trouble with my E-mail at the moment, but I'll sort the bugger if it kills me.

I sympathize with you me old mate!..

Waxlion1

 

[Ziptrev]

Thought we'd been missing a few jokes lately!
I'm OK now I've gone back to version 6, but now of course my downloads are being put in 6 again (they did upgrade to 7) and i,ve got to reload favourite sites, logged since I used 7.

Funnily enough I had a request from AOL today to answer a Survey over my satisfaction with their Tech Service.
That was my only satisfaction!!! Answering their survey!
Dave's 'keep it clean' Rule forbid's me from posting it! LOL
Good Luck Wayne

Trev

Ziptrev

I do NOT BELIEVE it

 

[Dave]

Hi all,

Has anyone tried or uses Broadband in particular Ntl's

(For the uninatiated (Trev lol) Broadband is nothing like baitbands for keeping the womenfolk in check

)

Oooopps, time to duck lol

Dave