DHCP issue
 

Hi guys,

I'm new here and would like to have your thoughts on my logs and network status as my internet access has not been working for the last 24Hours. Virgin says all is green on their side. A bit hard to believe as nothing has been changed on my HUB. They simply said I should wait an extra 24h ... Well thanks for the help virgin tech support ...

So just to be sure here are the logs

http://www.image-share.com/upload/2655/207.jpg

http://www.image-share.com/upload/2655/208.jpg

http://www.image-share.com/upload/2655/209.jpg

I obviously have a DHCP problem, d'you guys have any extra thought ? Knowing Virgin reputation I already fear the long struggle to get my connection back ...

Many thanks,
Ludo

Re: DHCP issue
 

Phone them again. Your internet isn't working they should be able to see the Superhub's logs and know that it's an intermittent issue, or equally if they can't connect to it at all (which if your screenies are correct they shouldn't be able to), they know something's wrong.

Re: DHCP issue
 

Have you looked to see if there any area faults which could affect you? If you look on www.virginmedia.com you will see 3 boxes which say "check your email", "get help and support", and "sign in to my virgin media". If you can sign in do that otherwise use the middle box and on the page that comes up you will be able to check your service status.

Re: DHCP issue
 

If they won't admit a fault, unplug it and phone and complain again.

Re: DHCP issue
 

yeah, it's not like you have got an intermittent problem or your connection is slow, you cant get a connection at all and the muppets in India should know that waiting 24 hours isn't going to fix anything. If your shub is sending dhcp requests and not getting a reply back then I would assume something is wrong at the other end with the cmts. Do you know any neighbours who are with VM who you could ask if they have the same problem?

Re: DHCP issue
 

Not quite. You have a connection problem, only one downstream is connecting and that's an issue. Chances are, DHCP isn't the fault but rather a symptom of the connection itself being broken.

Re: DHCP issue
 

Very very unlikely - you have a MDD problem (which won't steer CM to DOCSIS3 bonded channels - hence you're stuck on DOCSIS1/2) and more likely caused by upstream impairments!
Your upstream is a tad chilly for 64QAM. Have you previously had 64QAM bonded upstream channels? If you have an inline attentuator make sure it's not FAT and only a FPA type?.

Possibly Networks are tweaking out additional u/s capacity upgrades so either post on VM forum or, if you ring, ask Level1 what the upstream SNR/FEC levels are and what insertions they're seeing for your mac address and others on your cable segment and flap-list.
They probably won't be able to (understand let alone) answer so either request transfer to Level2 or Retentions and ask them to put you thru to a competent Swansea Level2 guy to check!
Probably needs a tech visit in order to then escalate to networks but often these heal up as other users may well be affected (unless your street amp hasn't been checked) so perhaps Networks are already aware and working the problem?.

Re: DHCP issue
 

I have just had the best idea ever: sack all the ming mongs in India and Horse can be tech support for VM. I am sure they'll agree because paying for one guy is cheaper than paying for hundreds (and effiency will increase as well ;))

Re: DHCP issue
 

Problem with that is the majority of people calling up would have a hard time understanding 1/3rd of what he says.

Re: DHCP issue
 

true, there needs to be a disclaimer on the answering maching service saying "before you press option 1 for technical support please make sure you have your account number to hand as this will allow us to resolve your problem more quickly. Please also note that this service is restricted for customers who have a degree in latin"

Re: DHCP issue
 

that's what makes him so loveable!:D:D:D:D

Re: DHCP issue
 

Most kind (I think?) but even I don't understand what I'm saying! Although after 25 yrs working for IBM you certainly couldn't find any one cheaper!
;) That said I'm hopeless with making curry's so you might want to leave the jobs with the current offshore support.....

EDIT: Apparently my Bichon Frisé does actually understand what I saying as he's now wriggling around the floor in hysterics...

Re: DHCP issue
 

I don't want to sound like I am kissing ass too much but I honestly believe VM would be better off if they got rid of 100 tech support peeps and replaced them with one of you and if they paid the salary of all 100 dudes I am sure it would be worth your while. The reason why I believe people in tech support roles should be certified (as apposed to being taught to read scripts) is that I remember many years ago when I first started out doing my I.T. certifications that one of my earlier courses (I think it was the CompTIA A+) talked about tech support and the concept of "first time resolution". VM don't seem to have a clue what that means and it would be nice just to talk to somebody who understood what they were doing and were in a position to do something about it.

Re: DHCP issue
 

I think the problem with that argument, General, is that the vast, vast majority of calls in to Virgin's Tech Support are for really basic **** that just doesn't need much training. The problem stems as soon as it goes beyond that.

I do think Virgin's training is the weak area though, especially where offshore is concerned. I don't know why they're so terrible, I know onshore, even the terrible onshore agents, were never as bad as some of the offshore ones and nobody was ever told to read from a script yet that's all offshore seems to do. Maybe it's just a language thing - I really don't know.

Re: DHCP issue
 

it sure is a script thing. The last time I rang about something I explained to them what the problem was and they asked me my account details etc and while it was "loading on the screen" they asked me "is there anything else I can help you with today sir" and I felt like saying "how about you ****ing fix what I have you to before you get yourself in a pickle trying to do something else". They are so incompetent that they should realise multitasking is a bad idea and trying to have kiss ass customer service doesn't get you anywhere if you cant resolve the customers problem. I know it is cheap labour but you would think VM would look at the call stats and if people are having to ring back up to chase stuff up then surely something is wrong. I would like to think that VM would learn the lesson and people would leave due to poor service but unfortunately I think people bite their tongue and put up with it because of the bundle deals and they know they won't get it cheaper elsewhere and they aren't prepared to leave on principle and pay more.

Re: DHCP issue
 

Re: DHCP issue
 

This, and this.

Simply put, it's not that simple. As someone who's long graduated from reading the "Please try turning it off and back on again" script, going beyond to training staff and writing said scripts, to second line, third line, and management, as much as I detest offshore call centres and script monkeys, I'll begrudgingly accept there is actually both a place and need for them. Similarly, some highly competent technical staff and engineers are useless at communicating with front-line, let alone customers, and ought to be left to do their technical roles and not have to deal with end-users.

Re: DHCP issue
 

QFT.

Some highly skilled technical staff can't have a 'sensible' conversation with standard users, as they often assume basic knowledge that isn't there, and then get frustrated and either get annoyed or 'talk down' to the customer (which shows, and leads to a sub-optimal customer experience).

Re: DHCP issue
 

Script + Training + Corporate culture. It isn't a language barrier, other companies with similar far-east call centres have won awards for excellent customer service, it's all about what you train the staff to do, as well as what you allow them to do. Offshore can work wonders if actually permitted to think for themselves, but if the corporate environment tolerates only script monkeys and punishes them for daring to think outside their script, then script monkeys is what you will get.

Re: DHCP issue
 

This is probably the most realistic reasoning I've heard so far on the subject. For example...

This is something that's trained out. It's not a script thing and it has nothing to do with being a kiss-ass, it's entirely down to call flow. What Virgin DON'T want agents doing is going through a whole call, getting details of the problem, analysing, suggesting a solution, resolving it (ideally), etc. then getting to the end of the call and having the agent go "Is there anything else I can help you with today?" and have the whole call essentially start off again for a different problem. The agent is supposed to ask at the beginning of the call so that doesn't happen.

That's not something specific to Virgin, it's quite common in a lot of call centres, especially those that adhere to AHT. It's purely a business thing. Which leads me on to what qasdfdsaq was saying, the quality monitors pick up on little things like that and mark down the agent if they either don't ask it, or ask it at the end of the call. So really, the poor agent has no choice.

Re: DHCP issue
 

Just to add, I've had terrible on-shore agents with bad attitudes too, including ones who spent 20 minutes refusing to believe me and were adamant I was lying, until I taught them how to use Google cache to view a saved copy of their own web page at the date I ordered my services to disprove them.

Re: DHCP issue
 

This doesn't surprise me, either. I have definitely seen (And worked with) many terrible onshore agents.