I recently bought a refurbished Linksys CM100 cable modem for $20 since the cable modem Time Warner Cable provided has been a pain in the ass (we had a Toshiba PCX2600). Being a huge fan of Linksys hardware, I couldn’t resist such a great sale. The only problem was I knew activating it was going to include spending an hour or more between fighting an automated phone system, waiting on hold, convincing a level 1 support person that it IS possible to put a new device on the network, more holding, then getting a higher up tech person to get their act together. Luckily, it wasn’t nearly as bad as I was expecting.
First step was to get to an actual human. Time Warner Cable must have updated their phone system recently because I’ve never dealt with a voice recognition system that actually works as well as Goog411. I wasn’t able to get to a human the first try since it decided I was just having connection problems and told me to restart the modem and watch the flashing lights (impressive, but not what I wanted). I couldn’t figure out how to get out of that process so I hung up and called again. As soon as I gave it my phone number again, it said “I’ve noticed you recently called for tech support. Is this call for the same problem?” Answering “Yes” connected me directly to a level 1 tech. Shocking! I’m definitely keeping that trick in mind.
The level 1 tech agreed to set me up, no questions asked (fully expected them to ask why I got my own since they don’t charge rent). He asked for the MAC address which he looked up and found it wasn’t on the system. He opened a ticket for me and forwarded me to a higher level tech. I sat on hold while he called the 2nd tech and was quickly connected. I verified the MAC again with the 2nd tech, he clicked away for a minute then asked me to restart my router and BAM! Internet was back up and faster than ever.
Maybe TWC is getting their act together… Maybe I just got lucky. Either way I applaud their new phone system since I’m sure it helps keep the lines open for more obscure requests like my own. I also applaud their techs because they weren’t reading a script. They knew their shit. Well done TWC!
That said, they had better not try to re-introduce those tiered billing plans again. If they do, they might just wind up next to Apple on my Shit List
Eric is a software engineer and father of two, who's hobbies include video games, open source software, and just being a geek. Read more from this author