Most irritating replies from Technican Services

[Milambar]

Last night, I got called round by one of my neighbours to fix his internet.

When I tried to connect his PC to the internet, I got that highly annoying

"Please click here to activate your broadband connection" link.

Which is weird, and annoying because up to yesterday morning, his internet was working just fine. I advised him to call VM, which he did. After him spending 45 minutes on the phone to INDIA (or someone with a very strong indian accent), and constantly powering off everything and rebooting everything (yes, we'd already done this ourselves, but no matter, we will do it again), the technician said "Its all fixed."

Erm, no its not. We are still getting "Please click here to activate your broadband connection", and cannot get ANY websites.

As far as the gentleman on the other said was concerned, the modem shows as connected at his end, that was an end to the matter.

We did click the link, and worked through it, but it changed nothing. He is still in some kind of "walled garden" that insists he "Please click here to activate your broadband connection."

I'm at a loss as to what to advise him to do. Any advice?

By the way, this edit is to add the following information. His modem is a silver Ambit 120

[whydoIneedatech]

If you are in the walled garden and the activation process fails then you need to call Tech Support so they can try and remove you from it, otherwise you will continue to to go round in circles.

[Ignitionnet]

I think his complaint is that he phoned tech support and as per the Bangalore rent-a-techs wasted his time then blagged him.

I do wonder if they are actually capable of fixing anything that can't be fixed through rebooting or following their little flow charts exactly.

[whydoIneedatech]

I think his complaint is that he phoned tech support and as per the Bangalore rent-a-techs wasted his time then blagged him.

I do wonder if they are actually capable of fixing anything that can't be fixed through rebooting or following their little flow charts exactly.
You hit the nail on the head with the reboot script, but if he is in the walled garden then it needs sorting out.

[Ignitionnet]

You hit the nail on the head with the reboot script, but if he is in the walled garden then it needs sorting out.

For sure - is it a case of calling until he hits someone who actually knows what they are doing rather than someone who'll force him through the flowcharts and have him reboot his PC, his modem, and leave him wanting to reboot his brain?

[Nedkelly]

If it is a ntl home Model 100 120 200 250 256 type in 192.168.100.1 password is root and root and look in modem configuration
Cable Modem Operation Configuration
Network Access : Allowed
Maximum Downstream Data Rate : 20480000
Maximum Upstream Data Rate : 768000

Mine is set up for 20 meg if i remember if it is not reg it goes to 100000 and 512000 this is how i knew a modem had not been reg or removed :)

[whydoIneedatech]

For sure - is it a case of calling until he hits someone who actually knows what they are doing rather than someone who'll force him through the flowcharts and have him reboot his PC, his modem, and leave him wanting to reboot his brain?
Its a pity that I am on holiday then:p:

[Nedkelly]

Why do we put customers through this :confused:

[ikthius]

phone after 6pm, you normally get wales who know what they are doing

ik

[whydoIneedatech]

Why do we put customers through this :confused:
This is an NTL side problem and can usually be sorted with a phonecall.

---------- Post added at 20:05 ---------- Previous post was at 20:04 ----------

phone after 6pm, you normally get wales who know what they are doing

ik
You are just as likely to get Liverpool who also know what they are doing.

[piggy]

Why do we put customers through this :confused:

because its a cheap option, ok it dosnt work but its cheap :rolleyes:

[Nedkelly]

This does seem to happen a lot i know some of the service techs have this problem when changing modems they get stuck in the walled garden .ex telewest customers dont seem to have this problem is this true :)

[whydoIneedatech]

This does seem to happen a lot i know some of the service techs have this problem when changing modems they get stuck in the walled garden .ex telewest customers dont seem to have this problem is this true :)
The Walled Garden is just an NTL problem as yet and it can happen to any modem be it an old established Ambit 120 as with the OP or a brand new Ambit 256 fresh out of the box.

I hope they decide not to go live on the Telewest side because things will begin to get silly.

[techyguy4]

It seems that OP is from area reference 20.There is an issue going on which will be sorted out by 19th evening. (7:30PM Approx.). After that call tech support and they should be able to activate the services.

[Ignitionnet]

It seems that OP is from area reference 20.There is an issue going on which will be sorted out by 19th evening. (7:30PM Approx.). After that call tech support and they should be able to activate the services.

How do you know where OP is, they don't mention where they are?

What is area reference 20?

The services are not a new activation, the modem used to work but became unregistered, it's not a registration issue.

[Nedkelly]

There is alot of this going on and these faults are being sent out into the field when they could be fixed over the phone :mad:

[Ignitionnet]

There is alot of this going on and these faults are being sent out into the field when they could be fixed over the phone :mad:

What is area reference 20 Ned? I presume that to be a franchise code?

[Nedkelly]

It could be i know this area is machine / area 30 which is what we say to despatch when calling in ? Thats all i can think of :erm:

[looper35uk]

This is an NTL side problem and can usually be sorted with a phonecall.

---------- Post added at 20:05 ---------- Previous post was at 20:04 ----------


You are just as likely to get Liverpool who also know what they are doing.

Totally agree with you about Liverpool, I find them to be extremely helpful and friendly.

[techyguy4]

Check your bill and you will find area reference. And I do not know the location of OP but most of these issues are from this area 20 so it was just a guess.

[Ignitionnet]

Check your bill and you will find area reference. And I do not know the location of OP but most of these issues are from this area 20 so it was just a guess.

Might be better to check than just say that it's an area fault that will be fixed by 7:30pm tomorrow. The guys who would resolve the provisioning server issues don't work out of hours and it should be sorted a bit earlier than that as there'd be no modem registration possible in all the areas covered by those DHCP servers which would be an MSO on a 4 hour timescale.

OP is in Manchester, M41.

[joglynne]

If it so of any help I'm in M41 and can confirm it's area 20.

[LondonRoad]

If you are in the walled garden and the activation process fails then you need to call Tech Support so they can try and remove you from it, otherwise you will continue to to go round in circles.

What is a walled garden?:confused:

[Ignitionnet]

If it so of any help I'm in M41 and can confirm it's area 20.

Cool, fingers crossed it's all sorted.

[whydoIneedatech]

What is a walled garden?:confused:
All NTL customers are kept in a walled garden until they go through activation, in theory that is, some existing customers are going into it by accident.

[LondonRoad]

All NTL customers are kept in a walled garden until they go through activation, in theory that is, some existing customers are going into it by accident.

Thanks for that. It's quite a pleasant phrase compared to some of the things it called.:)