Earthlink: End of an Era?

Last night I could not connect to the internet. My daughter had been on earlier, the wind was up so I suspected a server outage or lines down. I tried a few things, nothing worked. So I called tech support at Earthlink. Now let me state here, that I have been a customer of this company for over a decade. I used to LOVE them. Now I like them, well better than my alternatives, but they have become like all the ones I avoided in the past, about getting it done and doing more not about customer service.

I called, I get the voice response sftw call router asking me what sort of connection I use. I answer. It offers me the option of trying the self help route or a techie. I try the self help route after 3 more questions it puts me in queue for a tech (THAT was a waste of time). So I settle back to music on hold. I keep getting the adverts to check my trouble online at their troubleshooting site. If I could access the stupid site I would not be calling. GET THIS THROUGH YOUR HEADS! If you are in a technology industry and people are using an alternate tech to contact you for support, it is probably because it is not working!

So that starts annoying so the poor techie has a customer that is not pleased by the time she gets to me. (not very long btw MAYBE 10 minutes so they get good points for that). First let me say the technical support person, Julie was not awful or stupid or any of the horror stories one hears, but she was obviously following a script or a decision flow based on the problem type. I am afraid I am a troublesome customer. here is how it went.

She asks me what the problem is. I tell her I cannot connect and it was working maybe 6 hours previous. Did she know of any server outages in my area? She looked and said nothing had been reported so let's check my side. First we do is it plugged in and are the lights on stuff. I checked before I called, but yeah any techie should check that first.

Ok. Next she says Open I.E. (FIRST MISTAKE One should ask the customer how they connect. as it so happens I do not use a browser to connect) I tell her I do not use I.E. (yes I have suspicion of what she wants to try). She says oh what do you use? I tell her Opera, but the browser is not the issue, I connect using a network connection profile I set up. She puts me on hold again and comes back with we can check your Opera instead. By this point I have I.E up.

We try the connect to the ip addy routine with a new default connection. My firewall is going nuts so I have to keep telling it ok. I mention this. No response (SECOND ALWAYS ASK ABOUT FIREWALLS, what if it was in lockdown mode or gaming deny mode?) No luck so she has me clear cache. (Not needed since I stated I do not use that to connect so the cache cannot be the issue.) We clear all history then try again, no luck.

So now she wants me to delete all network connection profiles. So I delete the one I just made, the others stay. It took me a while to tweak em and if the plain vanilla doesn't work it isn't the connections. So we try several more things through the browser including changing my master account password from a high security password that I use to a no security one. I was not happy with that and was less so later on.

FINALLY we get to trying a ping from the command prompt. YEAH! The modem works (I knew that) The diagnostics show nothing is wrong on my side and the phone line works because I am calling from it. It is now perhaps 45 min to an hour later. She says she will call back in about 10 min . I load up a game nada 2 hours later, so I turn all off and go to bed.

This morning same thing, no connectivity. So I call back. The call routing sftw recognizes I called about connectivity last night and asks if I am calling about the same issue. I answer yes assuming (incorrectly it seems) that that will bring up a call number that the techie can access. Now I get William. Now unlike Julie, William does not hear so well. First he asks what the problem is. (hmm no call record on his side?) So I tell him I cannot connect to the internet. Because NOW I have stuff to do that I did not get done the night before I am not in the mood to humor anyone. So when he says You cannot browse the internet? I correct him.
No, I cannot connect at all. I am not looking to browse I am looking to get online, open winscp and ftp some files to the test box. I am not using a browser I am trying to merely connect. (I am not a morning person btw)

He starts to walk me through the open i.e routine. I sigh, open it and of course nothing (I have to sign in don't I?) I am still trying to get the network to go through while I am talking, suddenly it goes through then disconns. Hmm I mention it to him. He says really? He sounds surprised, mainly because we have not really done anything. I try again it goes through, I open winscp and connect to the test box. It's back. I thank him and tell him it is up now.

NOW I still suspect it was a hardware issue on Earthlink's side and they did not bother to tell their tech support. It MIGHT have been an AT&T or Sprint issue with lines, but again, either Earthlink did not know about it or they did and did not inform their techies. The reason I suspect this is a third party group is that in the past when I have called, they have checked the record, recognized that I have been a customer for a long time and I might have a clue about how to use the service. Neither William nor Julie seemed to have this information. Nor did they have the O/S info that should be on my account information based on my purchases. Last walking through a tech support decision flow is all well and good but most people who support their own company's products can listen to the caller, ask a few questions and have a good idea where to start, you can always back track to the flow if you know exactly how your supported product works.

So It seems this is the end of the era of Earthlink being a GREAT ISP and it has now slipped to a good one. But hey it is still better than Verizon. But then again Sneaker net is too.

February Blahs

February is a dreary month. So I like to forget it exists and drown myself in geek like activities. This year - so far it has been nothing but one disappointment after another.

Zone Alarm - I used to love this firewall. It was great. Now I question it. I have had no intrusion attempts since installing it. At least according to it. I used to have pages on my 98 machine. I have not chaged internet providers, I have not changed my browsing habits, much. So suddenly going to Vista and the new version made all those SQL Server worms leave my ISP alone? I MIGHT believe it IFF every time it asks for permission for a file to access the internet it did not come back with no info in the knowledgebase about these files. Many have been in the system since XP. I fear Zone Labs may be losing their edge, I hate to see that.

Firefox - Yes it is one of the most popular browsers. Yes I have it and use it. But since it is becoming more and more popular, it is losing it's edge imho. It now takes longer than Opera (with multiple tabs) to load. Its interface looks a lot like Opera. (althought I may have Opera to blame for that, too) But now sites that look best in Firefox no longer look good in Opera. Opera hasn't changed. Sigh. So Firefox has bought into the heavy overheads to make it more user friendly. Also, it seems it is very forgiving of HTML errors to the coder. The reason I have Firefox is a convention I wish to attend this year could only do online registration if we had Firefox. The forms did not even work in the virus breeder known as I.E. Bad show on the part of the developer, but still one wonders why they would not work in ANY other browser? Trying to become Microsoft, guys?

Opera - Yes, it is still my main browser. The reasons? First it is not very popular, that means the hackers have not found security holes in it or do not bother to exploit them. But the developers seem to have a severe case of Firefox envy. Go back to making a fast loading, efficient browser that is W3 compliant. That is all I ask guys.

Gaming companies - EVERYTHING is online, yet nothing seems to be compatable with anything else. And why can't someone make or include a basic translator built into the gaming interface online. I would love to have more friends in Europe, but my French is borderline, My Italian is awful and forget my German. It would be nice to coordinate. More on that here.

ISPs - All seem to assume that we have access to high speed lines. I do not. Well I may, but it seems AT&T themselves are not certain. At&T decided to charge more for dial up than for DSL. You can read about it here. Good thing I use Earthlink.

Panda Security - Another company I loved. Great scanner, online capability. BUT their site still links to a scanner that does not support Vista. Guys, the OS has been out for over a year. Get with it! Trend has been supporting it since May of last year at least. Oh yeah and NONE of em support Opera, but at least most now support Firefox.

And last but certainly not least:

MICROSOFT - First I want to know what is in each update, so I can decide if I need it. The user friendly update check just lists updates, one has to go difgging to find out, How ard would it be to put a little sentence or two. Like, fixes a home networking issue. Security issues in OS fixed. I mean they'll all be in the cume anyway. But at least let me save a little time? Then there is the latest udate to I.E. Ok sometimes I still need it to check a site. So I admit I keep it updated. Well I did until recently. Update failed. It happens. So I check details. I get the usual helpful Microsoft Information - Error details: Code 800719E4. So I hit the site and go looking. DO you know running a search for that error code returned the result that the code was not found ANYWHERE on the site? The get help, link next to the code listed a few obvious options but nothing with information about that code.

What's new. Did I really expect Microsoft to make it easy for me to find how to fix my own machine? I am certain they would rather have me throw it away and buy all new from them again. It Ain't happening. Not even if I have to get an AS400 or an HP 9000 and load their proprietary O/S At least they give users of their operating systems a manul with a list of the error codes.

Maybe next month will be better. I doubt it, but I can hope.