[ale] [rant] I dislike "we only support winblows/OS X" AT&T internet

[Michael H. Warfield]

Ok,

	I was kinda sitting this one out and staying quiet but I guess I need
to chime in as counterpoint.

	I recently had some similar problems with one of my DSL lines with
AT&T.  I gave them some pretty detailed outage information and they
rolled a truck after running some remote tests with me on the line and
disconnecting things in the house to trouble shoot the noise level.
They know exactly and explicitly that I run Linux cause I told them that
right up front when I provided them with the diagnostic information I
had gathered.  At no time did they even hint that running Linux was
unacceptable or any problem in any way shape or form.  The gal I spoke
with immediately did some remote diagnostics and wasn't happy with the
results.  I think the other poster got a bad first-line support person.
Next time you run into something like that, ask for their manager.

	The guy who came out for me ran some tests on my line and decided that
the SNL (Signal Noise Level) was marginal and so he switched out my DSL
filter in the house for one installed in the demarcation and brought the
DSL into the house on one of my spare pairs.  That improved the SNL by
about two points.  Not great but better.  No problem since on that line.

	I have never had a problem with any AT&T people giving me any grief
over running Linux.  In fact, that seems to be the one thing that breaks
them out of the script and to take you seriously.  Snowing them under
with details from your logs of up time and downtime also helps.  When
you start telling them that you are getting pad-t timeouts and it when
down here and you're getting this on your PPPOE interface, you start
getting a different reaction from them.

On Mon, 2008-03-03 at 11:45 -0500, tom wrote:
> On Mon, 3 Mar 2008, Jim Kinney wrote:
> 
> > Dropping DSL line is one of several things:
> >
> > 1. line noise - that will not get fixed by the phone co until it fails
> > completely since it requires they roll a truck. You need a signal
> > strength meter to verify. Phone co will only guarantee line quality to
> > demarc site. Bad house wiring is often a problem.
> 
> Is there any semi-reasonable way to lay hands on a signal strength meter?
> The wiring in the apartment is elderly.

	The AT&T tech pointed me to where that can be checked on the Westel.
Just go to http://192.168.1.254 (or where ever you may have remapped
yours to, I have one on .1 and one on .2) and from there go to
"Broadband DSL Line" and then select statistics from the buttons on the
right and then "DSL".  Watch for excessive CRC errors and note both
upstream and downstream attentuation and SNL.  Sorry, I forget what the
figures are that he quoted me as being good vs bad.  But your signal
meter is right there in the modem for you.  BTW...  I have the black
Westel.  If you have the white one or older firmware, your mileage may
vary.  There are even instructions up on the AT&T site (somewhere) on
how to update the firmware in your Westel modems from Linux (it's just
web upload so it's really no big deal).

	Right now, just glancing at my two modems I see the following:

	The one that had the problem...

                             Down Stream Path  Up Stream Path
DSL Sync Rate (Kbits/Sec)    8128              512
SN Margin (db)               10.5              13.0
Line Attenuation (db)        30.5              17.0
CRC Errors                   636               9

Time since last boot.... 61 days, 2 hrs: 9 mins: 6 secs


	The one that didn't...
                             Down Stream Path  Up Stream Path
DSL Sync Rate (Kbits/Sec)    8128              512
SN Margin (db)               11.0              12.0
Line Attenuation (db)        26.5              15.0
CRC Errors                   2539              24

Time since last boot.... 14 days, 19 hrs: 41 mins: 18 secs

	The "time since last boot" is on a "logs" page from another menu option
a couple of screens back from the statistics.

	I don't like AT&T for a number of reasons (and I detest the lying
bastards at Comcast) but not supporting Linux is decidedly not one of
those reasons.


	Mike

> >
> > 2. Bad modem. Semi-frequent occurrence. Only way to verify is with
> > another modem. If service is keyed to MAC then it requires MAC spoofing.
> > Phone co is reluctant to replace it as they can't RMA it anyway.
> 
> This I could handle.
> 
> <<snip some other good stuff>>
> > Good luck. The script-reading dweebs are useless and really don't care
> > if you have service or not. As long as they read their script, they
> > don't get in trouble. They also have no ability to run a line test from
> > their end.
> >
> > Speakeasy tech support can and will run a line test first thing to see
> > if there is a problem. Rather than argue with you, the person sending
> > them money, the presume that you wouldn't be spending the time to call
> > for help if the stuff was working. I've was terrified when Best Buy
> > acquired Speakeasy but so far it is still the same Speakeasy I have been
> > super pleased with for years.
> 
> I'll agree with you on Speakeasy. Only trouble with them is that here in 
> Charlotte they pretty much can not deliver dsl service. Outside the city 
> I've heard of success, but inside you get idsl from Speakeasy. I put up 
> with the limited service because of the quality of their support.

	Mike
-- 
Michael H. Warfield (AI4NB) | (770) 985-6132 |  mhw at WittsEnd.com
   /\/\|=mhw=|\/\/          | (678) 463-0932 |  http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
   NIC whois: MHW9          | An optimist believes we live in the best of all
 PGP Key: 0xDF1DD471        | possible worlds.  A pessimist is sure of it!

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