Best Telco Stories

[Kimberly Adams]

Most of us in the networking world have had issues working with telcos.  Here is your chances to share your funny telco stories!

Here is mine....

One site had a frame relay circuit that was bouncing and spent more time down then up.  The client was running on their backup ISDN circuit and getting huge bills.  I kept working with the telco and they kept saying it was a CPE issue.  We replaced the WIC 3 times and same condition.  I told them that the issue was with the line and when they tested it they said they saw no issue.  Finally after about two months of this, I asked my field engineer to go on site and hang out for at least 2 hours.  Then I called the telco and told them that all the equipment was replaced, the chassis, card (again), everything.  The telco tech broke into the circuit and told me that he now sees the issue.  That the faulty Cisco equipment was masking a secondary issue with the circuit.  They repaired the circuit and it came back up.

The funnies part of this, we didn't replace anything the last time.  The chassis was never replaced and the WIC was, but it was never the issue.

I just love dealing with some of the telco's out there!

Happy New Year to all.

Kimberly

[Rob Huffman]

Hey Kimberly,

I used to work for a Telco, so I have many stories

This is the most recent one that happened right before the Holidays. There is a

small business on our campus that is using ADSL for their connectivity. The poor

guy who runs the place was having problems and he needed a hand to try and get things

fixed up. The service was really flaky so we had the Telco do a cable transfer which seemed

to help a great deal.

About a week later his service is completely dead. I contacted the Telco and was very surprised

to find out that they had gone and done another cable transfer. They didn't let anyone know that this

was taking place. WTF! I asked the Telco tech if they thought the cross-connect jumper in the

main demark would just magically move when they did this change and he said he was unaware that anything

would need to be done at this end

Love em!

Cheers!

Huff

[Kimberly Adams]

Huff,

That is a good one!  I am sure you have a lot of good stories working for a telco!

Give you a +5 for this one.

Kimberly

[Rob Huffman]

Hi Kimberly,

Thanks for posting back so we could give your great story the +5 it deserves

It sounds like you used "reverse Telco Psychology" on them. Hahahahahaha!

I thought you might like this Telco story......from back in the day. We were going

through Safety training and of course there were many lists of Rules. The one that

struck as pretty crazy was Rule #3.

RULE # 3 - No Riding on moving buildings.

Whaaaaat??

So we swore on our hearts that we would never ride on a moving building and passed the

Safety training.

Years later I found out that the reason the rule existed was due to the fact that some guy who was

supposed to disconnect an aerial service so a building could be moved off its foundation decided that

he would just ride on the building and hold the line up out of the way instead. It turns out that the guy

got pulled off the building when the line he was holding got caught on some other wires. I guess he broke

some bones but was lucky to walk away at all.

So remember.....

RULE # 3 - No Riding on moving buildings.

Cheers!

Huff

[Kimberly Adams]

Huff,

That is great, I will always have to remember rule #3!  +5 for the rules.

Cheers,

Kimberly

[Rob Huffman]

Hey Kimberly,

I guess you and I are the only people who have trouble with Telcos

Here is the latest one. Just happened 10 minutes ago.

The Telco always asks me to help them extend circuits to new locations here on campus

due to the size and intricacies of the place. So this lady from the Telco phones me to ask

if I can help one of their techs next week. I say "no problem" just let me know what date and time

you are coming. She replies "we'll be there on Tuesday January 11 between 8:00AM and 6:00PM

Whaaaat? .............................................................................................

I remind her that I'm helping them out here and that a 10 hour window of waiting around for them

probably won't work. "But that's how we always do it" she says. Typical telco response!

We managed to work out a time between 12:30PM and 2:30PM. Hahahahahahahaha!

Cheers!

Huff

[Kimberly Adams]

Hey Huff,

I gues you and I are the only ones with Telco issues.  Yeah I personally just love the 10 hour window for a little assistance!  Nice!

One of my customers was standing in front of the smart-jack, when their circuit was down, telling me that there was a big red alarm light on it.  I called the telco and they said, it was an issue with the CPE (client premise equipment).  I conferenced in the client and he said he was standing in front of the smart-jack with a red failure light on it, the telco tech wouldn't beleive him or me.  I dialed into the router remotely and saw loss of frame, loss of signal, and an AIS alarm.

I demaded they replace the card in the smart-jack after fighting with them for a couple of hours.  Finally, the telco said, we will dispatch to the site, but if there is no issue with our equipment we will bill you.  We don't usually do this and perfer to have the client address their equipment issues before sending anyone on site.

I told them to bill the crap out of me if there is nothing wrong with their smart-jack.  The next morning the tech showed up on site and found an issue with the smart-jack.  Replaced it and magically all was fine!!!!  Go figure!

Good luck with them next week.  +5 for your story.

Cheers,

Kimberly

[Rob Huffman]

Hey Kimberly,

That's the way to do it buddy! Just tell them to bill the **** out

of you if they can prove the problem is not theirs.

Put their money where their mouth is! Sweet! +5

Cheers!

Huff

[marikakis]

Hey Rob, your badge just changed color in front of my eyes!

[Rob Huffman]

Hey Maria,

Happy Holidays my friend! Hope all is well with you and your

family

Cheers!

Huff

[burleyman]

Great posts....here is my on going saga

We deal with a few telco's but 2 main ones.

One of them, who I will leave nameless, whenever we have an issue with a circuit down or flapping I call them to report the situation. When I am 100% that it is their issue causing the problem i always answer yes to all their usual questions no matter if I did what they ask or not. So I open the ticket and monitor the circuit. Almost 100% of the time about 20 to 30 minutes later the circuit comes back up and it is almost the same amount of time every time. I call back and let them know it is back on line and ask the most difficult question of all..... what happened? And nearly 100% of the time with this telco I get "we did not do anything". I thought it was so funny one time when I opened another ticket I told the person when they said " I will get a Technician on the problem", I told them there was no need that me just placing the call to you should be enough to fix the problem. They asked what I meant and I told them, "Every time I call the circuit comes back on line in 20 to 30 minutes and when I ask you what happened I get the same answer, " we did not do anything, so I don't think I need a technician", needless to say they were speechless and guess what....they said they found a problem and let me know what they did....go figure.

Now for a good telco....the other telco we deal with the most is great and I will mention them by name because they earned it, Paetec. Whenever I call them they will tell me exactly what happened even if it does not put them in the best light. How refreshing and honest. Now the funny part with them and they even could not believe me when I told them.

On another call with Paetec's circuit they said they could not find anything on their side but the last mile provider could be the issue and they would contact them. So I asked who they were and they told me....it was the provider I just mentioned above. So I told Paetec my stories about them and they laughed. So now when Paetec called the other provider and let them know they saw a issue with the circuit on their end they took the info. Guess what about 20 to 30 minutes later the circuit came back up and the Paetec tech called me right away to let me know it was back up, but when he called I could tell he was hold back laughing. Before I could say anything he goes to me..."go ahead and ask me what happened" followed by laughter that he could not contain...so I asked, he told me they said they did not do anything....how funny...even telco to telco. The Paetec tech has called me twice since laughing to tell me it happened again with another customer.

Mike

[Rob Huffman]

Hey Mike,

That's so funny and yet so true! +5 my friend hahahahaha!

You might remember a TV show called "Hogans Heros", in it

there was a character named SGT. Shultz (sp?). Most of the Telcos

use his most famous line all the time.....

"I know nothing!"

Nice to see you back Mike!

Cheers!

Huff

[Kimberly Adams]

Mike,

That is so very true with telco's!  +5 for your stories and I think I know which telco you didn't name....we work with them too!!!!!!

Huff....nicely done with the Hogans Heros reference!!!

Cheers!

Kimberly

[burleyman]

Oh the fun we have.......

Rob...should we call you Hogan.......after all with the first honors of being awarded the "super gold" you are CSC's hero..... 

I slay myself some times.... 

Congrats Rob, much deserved!!

Mike

[Rob Huffman]

Hey Kimberly,

Just a follow-up here on last weeks story.....remember the Telco tech was

going to come out yesterday.....

We managed to work out a time between 12:30PM and 2:30PM. Hahahahahahahaha!

Well he showed up @ 10:15AM and forgot to Call b4 coming. UUGGHH!

Same old story

Cheers!

Huff