Posted: 10/5/2014 3:01:46 PM EDT
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may the fuck be upon them, their children, and their children's children.
Saturday morning I get home (from a car dealership) around 10 AM and my internet's dead. Try the standard "power cycle" the modem, the router, plug straight into a computer bypassing the router, etc.. and nothing could get an IP address from their DHCP. I figure it was a local outage, and I went to take a walk around Lake Pflugerville, buy groceries, and grab lunch. Get home and it's still down. The only support number I could find on their mobile website was a phone number in the 212 (NYC) area code. When I finally talk to a human, I'm told that they shut off my service so that I'd be forced to call them so they could tell me about the free upgrade from 20 Mbps to 100 Mbps they were giving everyone to compete with Google Fiber. Yes, they turned off my service to get me to call them so that they could tell me how they were better than the competition.  Eventually working with the tech we got it working when my router was disconnected (straight Modem -> Surge Protector -> PC). Couldn't get it working through my router though, but I figured myRouter == myProblem (not the tech's).
They offered to send me a new modem so that I could actually use the high speeds since my current modem (leased from them) was capped at 50 Mbps. Problem with that is I've been running speedtests regularly and getting results in the 80-95Mbps range for months, so obviously the modem I'm using is just fine. On a whim, I updated my router to use my PC's mac address and suddenly that started working. I drive past their office on my way to/from work. I'm thinking about stopping by to talk to a manager on Monday. TL;DR: These fuckers turned off my service and blocked my MAC address so that they could try a sales pitch to sell me shit I already had when I called support. ETA: Does the FCC regulate ISPs? |
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What you're describing never happened.
You lost connectivity, I'll buy that. Your router was at fault, I'll buy that. TWC did not, I repeat, did not fuck up your service just so you'd call them. Even if the tech you spoke to specifically said they did, it didn't happen that way. Sorry. |
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That seems somewhat farfetched but I guess it could happen because something sort of similar happened to me from TWC. They upsold me on the turbo plan (at an additional $1.50/mo) but they said I'd need a new modem. No problem. 2 days later my internet is down (dammit) but there was a box on the porch that came from TWC with a new modem in it. So on a whim I hooked it up before I called them and lo and behold. Boom there it was.
They had cut me over to the new service prior to telling me, but they had the equipment there to handle it. Locally, I'd have to say that I've been pretty satisfied with TWC. Just don't get me started on what I think about a Comcast TWC merger 
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Quoted:
What you're describing never happened. You lost connectivity, I'll buy that. Your router was at fault, I'll buy that. TWC did not, I repeat, did not fuck up your service just so you'd call them. Even if the tech you spoke to specifically said they did, it didn't happen that way. Sorry. For a sales pitch I agree, I can see this in extreme cases where a repair or upgrade is needed to the equipment at the customers location and the customer has avoided all manner of contact for months on end. |
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Quoted:
What you're describing never happened. You lost connectivity, I'll buy that. Your router was at fault, I'll buy that. TWC did not, I repeat, did not fuck up your service just so you'd call them. Even if the tech you spoke to specifically said they did, it didn't happen that way. Sorry. For this issue it sounds as though their was an IP conflict with the customer's router causing him to lose connectivity and after the router was bypassed issue was resolved. The MAC spoofing working contributes to this theories possibility. Most likely cust care came up with an answer becuase they couldnt figure out an explanation and then sent it to tech support. What your saying is technically not true; TWC, when required, will disable service to force a call but it would not be done for this reason, primarily this is done for security concerns. In the OP's case mailings would be sent out and possibly auto calls to let them know of the change. |
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Twc is the worst fucking company ever. They literally were rated worst isp by the public, and isps were then rated the worst segment of industry, making twc the worst company in the worst industry in america.
I work in IT. And need a high speed line to work on remote sites. My apt in nc says we have twc its great. 10 months later, 168 emails and countless hours and phone calls later.... I say, apt owners, get this shite fixed or im suing the fuck out of you. And i will win. They get special treatment, twc actually says, oops its our fault, fix it in less than a week. Their response to me... "For all your time and trouble sir, we give you $20 credit." 10 f'n months of my life = $20. If corps really were people, as us gov says, id flat out murder twc, then myself in and gladly live in jail on your dime knowing id served the community well.... |
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Quoted:
For this issue it sounds as though their was an IP conflict with the customer's router causing him to lose connectivity and after the router was bypassed issue was resolved. The MAC spoofing working contributes to this theories possibility. Most likely cust care came up with an answer becuase they couldnt figure out an explanation and then sent it to tech support. What your saying is technically not true; TWC, when required, will disable service to force a call but it would not be done for this reason, primarily this is done for security concerns. In the OP's case mailings would be sent out and possibly auto calls to let them know of the change. Quoted:
Quoted:
What you're describing never happened. You lost connectivity, I'll buy that. Your router was at fault, I'll buy that. TWC did not, I repeat, did not fuck up your service just so you'd call them. Even if the tech you spoke to specifically said they did, it didn't happen that way. Sorry. For this issue it sounds as though their was an IP conflict with the customer's router causing him to lose connectivity and after the router was bypassed issue was resolved. The MAC spoofing working contributes to this theories possibility. Most likely cust care came up with an answer becuase they couldnt figure out an explanation and then sent it to tech support. What your saying is technically not true; TWC, when required, will disable service to force a call but it would not be done for this reason, primarily this is done for security concerns. In the OP's case mailings would be sent out and possibly auto calls to let them know of the change. I never said TWC *wouldn't* disable service to force a call. I said, in this case, they didn't disable service so they could make a sales pitch for upgraded service. |
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Quoted:
What you're describing never happened. You lost connectivity, I'll buy that. Your router was at fault, I'll buy that. TWC did not, I repeat, did not fuck up your service just so you'd call them. Even if the tech you spoke to specifically said they did, it didn't happen that way. Sorry. Ok, lets say you are right. The phone call went something like " hello, I'm sorry to hear our service has failed you, how about an upgrade to that crappy service?" Either way it's pretty stupid. |
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Quoted:
Ok, lets say you are right. The phone call went something like " hello, I'm sorry to hear our service has failed you, how about an upgrade to that crappy service?" Either way it's pretty stupid. Quoted:
Quoted:
What you're describing never happened. You lost connectivity, I'll buy that. Your router was at fault, I'll buy that. TWC did not, I repeat, did not fuck up your service just so you'd call them. Even if the tech you spoke to specifically said they did, it didn't happen that way. Sorry. Ok, lets say you are right. The phone call went something like " hello, I'm sorry to hear our service has failed you, how about an upgrade to that crappy service?" Either way it's pretty stupid. You just making shit up, now? |
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As someone who spent several years working in IT I really think you are mistaken. There was likely an outage and when you called it's their standard procedure to see if they can sell you more service/added service.
ETA you could have called about something else such as slow speeds or a bill and you would have gotten the same sales pitch. |
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I hate dealing with them. I have the same problem every 2-3 years where the connection on the drop at the street corrodes or whatever. It causes my modem to constantly reboot. I run the diagnostics and it's basically telling me bad return path with the db readings. Call them and ask them to send a tech out. No, you have to bring the modem in for an exchange. Nothing wrong with the modem, but they won't budge an inch until you do that. Ends up taking about two weeks and a dozen calls to finally get someone out to go up the pole and put a new connector on it. |
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Quoted:
What you're describing never happened. You lost connectivity, I'll buy that. Your router was at fault, I'll buy that. TWC did not, I repeat, did not fuck up your service just so you'd call them. Even if the tech you spoke to specifically said they did, it didn't happen that way. Sorry. Either they did it the way they said, or they lied to me. Either way it's a shitty way to do business. |
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Quoted:
For a sales pitch I agree, I can see this in extreme cases where a repair or upgrade is needed to the equipment at the customers location and the customer has avoided all manner of contact for months on end. Quoted:
Quoted:
What you're describing never happened. You lost connectivity, I'll buy that. Your router was at fault, I'll buy that. TWC did not, I repeat, did not fuck up your service just so you'd call them. Even if the tech you spoke to specifically said they did, it didn't happen that way. Sorry. For a sales pitch I agree, I can see this in extreme cases where a repair or upgrade is needed to the equipment at the customers location and the customer has avoided all manner of contact for months on end. They have NEVER tried to contact me, and the equipment on my end hasn't changed and the service is back up and running. |
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Quoted:
As someone who spent several years working in IT I really think you are mistaken. There was likely an outage and when you called it's their standard procedure to see if they can sell you more service/added service. ETA you could have called about something else such as slow speeds or a bill and you would have gotten the same sales pitch. I've been working in various capacities of IT / programming / networking for 19 years. The tech may have lied to me, but everything I typed is what happened. If they had an outage it would seem odd for the outage to magically go away the very moment I called (though I deal with a lot of "it magically just started working" at work...usually the magic happens right after the network, storage, or DB guy gets on the phone). The router WAN side was simply getting an IP via DHCP. It's currently a 3-day lease, but I don't recall what the lease times were before this happened. |
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My mistake, wasn't implying that that was what happened in your case, more so that I could see this as a reason for an ISP to intentionally interrupt your service. Sorry if I came off as rude. I was half expecting them to say something like "your wifi was cracked and someone's been downloading 10 terrabytes of bittorrent movies" or something like that. That would have made sense. I'll try to get ahold of a manager in person to get the real story from their side. If the tech lied, there may still be a problem and I want that solved before it happens again. If the tech didn't lie, someone needs a swift kick in the nads. |
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Quoted:
What you're describing never happened. You lost connectivity, I'll buy that. Your router was at fault, I'll buy that. TWC did not, I repeat, did not fuck up your service just so you'd call them. Even if the tech you spoke to specifically said they did, it didn't happen that way. Sorry. I dunno. I HAVE talked to TW billing before. If their billing dept. is as stupid as the idiots I talked to, I can see someone at the home office thinking "Hey! That's a GREAT idea!" I agree it's unlikely, but stupid isn't something TW is a stranger to. |
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Pics of router?  I thought that rule only applied to women, but hey, if you get off on pictures of SOHO routers then here you go... 
Hope it's safe posting that outside of the Router-Of-The-Day forum. After all the router isn't wearing anything, and she's got three RJ-45 cables sticking into her at once! 
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