US Cable Support > Suddenlink > Suddenlink Incompetence

Suddenlink Incompetence

when talking with level 1 phone support, you generally DO have to jump through the hoops. You really need to get ahold of ANYONE above a level 1 tech.

On a side note though, if you are troubleshooting, at the very least continue running your speedtests to the same server.

Also, just to document the speed problems, run speedtests to the same server every half hour or every hour for a couple days and keep track of ALL the info. This will help prove your case. The more data you can gather, the easier it becomes to get help.

You may also want to look into enlisting the help of Pete here on the forums if you can not get anywhere with the phone support after you have collected this data. Proving they are throttling or overselling is only half the battle. You'll still need to push for more bandwidth to be purchased by SL for your area. From experience with a couple other companies, this process can take QUITE a while.
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20/2 Suddenlink : Current
5/1 CMA : Old
15/2 TWC : Old

reply to jdmm72
I don't care to troubleshoot with any of them. If they don't provide, I will demand a credit. If they continue to fail to provide, I'll move back to Lumos.

I don't troubleshoot with Level 1, I immediately ask for a supervisor and if they stonewall, I demand a truck roll. It has been 4 truck rolls over the past year. Usually lasts a few weeks, and it gets worse and worse, eventually my phone will quit working also, due to low BW.

Again, I don't troubleshoot with this jokers, I know my equipment, how to administer my equipment. I know the problem is on their side, and I'm the customer, who happens to be a MCP, was a CCNA working towards CCNP, and is a graduate computer engineer.

I do have a log of different speedtests. I also find that one speedtest site may be inconclusive, but multiple from all around the country kind of get the point across.

It's not my responsibility to prove that their service is sucking, it is their responsibility to provide what they promise to keep me (and my customers) as a paying customer.

Heck, at this point, they only have my phone and inet service. I have TV through Dish, and Alarm through NextAlarm. Dish contract is about to expire, so bundling with Lumos again wouldn't be too bad.

If you don't care to troubleshoot, then please don't come into a support forum and bitch. By all means, switch companies if you feel another is better.

And what they promise is speeds UP TO (x amount) mbps

There's atleast a dozen things we could check over, see if we could get the issue resolved. But you seem content so have a nice day.
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20/2 Suddenlink : Current
5/1 CMA : Old
15/2 TWC : Old

That is nothing but a weasel response Moldy, up to 10M, maybe you should work for their customer care also. 80% of that is acceptable, less than 80% of rated speed is a fail, and of that 80%, I expect rated speed at least 90% of the time, or again FAIL. And frankly, I've been on this site since 2002, so please refrain from telling me what I can and cannot do.

Again, Moldy, I do not feel the need for your help. IT IS A BACKHAUL issue with Seldemlink, not an issue with my connection, my computers, my routers, my house, my land, my cables, my biorithyms. And I am content to confirm with other WV (read: not Louisiana) customers who seem to be commenting lately about speed issues during peak time in WV (again: not Louisana).

The only help I need is for SUDDENLINK, not Moldy, or whomever else, to realize that they OVERSOLD my area and remedy the said issue.

:thumbs up:

reply to jdmm72
Can you please provide information like where your located at in Nitro area, you can provide that information to one of the tech support contacts listed on the forum for Suddenlink. They can get your information to the right people first so they may be able to help you and get the problems fixed.

reply to jdmm72
Happens here in Charleston as well but not nearly as bad.

reply to jdmm72
I usually do not post in here but after reading this I had to. I love people like you, the "CCNA graduate computer engineer" types that think the world revolves around them. Moldy was only trying to help. Calling and demanding a supervisor and a truck roll is not going to solve anything.

If you are so intelligent, and you know the area is "oversold", why do you demand a truck come out? You already "know" they will not be able to do anything about congestion during the evenings.

Do you have a Docsis 2 or 3 modem? If you have a D2 modem you are sharing one channel with 200-500 people. (waiting for the "i shouldn't have to buy another modem" speech)

It's the nature of cable internet-go back to your other company if it's so bad.

Also, for your phone not to work you are either:
a)Running torrents or some other upstream application that is killing your upload
b)Your speeds are dipping below .2 megabit on a regular basis. One voice channel does not take up that much space. Please provide a speedtest showing this.

I used to have the same attitude when I had issues-Pete was able to help me when I asked nicely.

reply to jdmm72

reply to RonPaul
Long winded answer....

But it does cost the company money, and frankly saves me time, and in my world (network consulting) time is money. And yes, I am a graduate computer engineer, I have a BSCpE with a focus on wireless communications and automation (robotics) from WVUIT. Also, I had held the CCNA (in addition to MCP, MCDST, A+, and Network+, all because certain jobs wanted them) since 2001 and finally got tired (because of very little reward) of renewing so it has expired.

I was working for Bellsouth (specifically ADSL) when it started INITIALLY rolling it out (2000 I believe, maybe 2001), at a whopping speed of 300kbps, and had Charter when they offered a blazing 128kbps, so, I've been around the block a few times. I have been in the network field for over 15 years, starting in 1997.

Modemwise, I have a SL provided Arris TM602G/511 telephony modem which is DOCSIS 2.0, not even sure if SL has D3 here (my bet would be a unresounding NO). According to »suddenlinkfyi.com/2011/07/19/max···-widens/, it is only in Jackson and Mason county WV, not Kanawha (where I live), Putnam, or Cabell (the most populated areas). With my talk to SL last night, they are trying to offer the 107Mbps service here in the near future (read: DOCSIS 3.0).

So, data usage...torrents NOPE. The issue pops up when we use...NetFlix, on our Blu-ray player, with my desktop asleep, laptop off, the only things on the link are a Cisco 851 router, secured Cisco wireless access point, WII (asleep), 2 Dish Network non-DVR receivers (trivial traffic), the Blu-ray player and 2 Droid Xs, the cables all come to a (albeit cheap) GigE switch, then to the router from the switch. My desktop, with a tuner card, is also wired to the switch, which allows me the actual bandwidth to stream recorded TV to my other machines in my local network(including the blu-ray player).

Do I even notice that the speed slows down to 3Mbps, nope, not with normal web browsing, but when your non-technical wife tells you that Netflix isn't working again, and you see the speed ticker on it showing 3.0Mbps (it needs roughly 4.8Mbps to stream HD), you get aware very quickly. Not to mention the fact that she didn't want to switch back to SL in the first place, which she reminds me of everytime there is a problem.

The phones dropping out are my wife's biggest concern, because it means our house alarm also ceases to be anything more than just a loud noise maker, which makes her nervous.

As for speed during telephone outages, with this last foray into SL world, speed or full connectivity is assumed to have been the issue (internet connectivity was lost also.)

The last time I tried SL, 4-5 years ago, when they just rolled out telephone here, dial tone issues were not always related to internet connectivity, as I usually had an internet connection, but no dial tone. SL also only offered 1.5Mbps, while DSL offered 3.0Mbps, and a cheaper price ($50 vs $75/month), so it was a no brainer.

But no, we all know that rebooting my computer isn't going to fix the issue, especially with the telephone service cutting out, and the issue being manifest on a internet enabled Blu-ray player. Removing my router is not going to fix the issue, nor is replacing cables, modems, etc. And that is about all that tier 1 support can do, minus sending a tech (who hopefully this time, will get the see the issue, as my appointment is LATE). There are only so many times I am willing to reboot my sleeping computer. (sleeps most of the time as a Kill a watt meter shows 173W during idle and 2W in sleep.)

Also, I don't know how many times I've been asked to powercycle the modem by removing the power cord, problem is, the SL provided telephony modem has an internal backup battery. Pulling the power plug, it just goes to battery, yep, the battery is still functional (modem stays synced and all), and frankly they can reset the modem over the system, so they don't even need my permission to do so.

So again, where is the problem. Do I need to really prove that my stuff is running correctly, every single time, when I can point that the problem is on their side of the (telco term) point of demarcation? Everything on this side of the demarc is my problem, I will handle it as I see fit, on their side is their problem.

When I do this stuff professionally (Consulting) (for AT&T, Verizon, Frontier, and Lumos (all Telcos, not cable providers), this cost the company $85/hr, but here they expect me to do these steps over and over, depending on the script they have, for free. No thanks.

I don't know if you're just new to the area or uninformed, but SuddenLink deployed DOCSIS 3.0 in the Charleston area (including Nitro - where I live also) a few years ago.

Here is the proof... I just pulled this from my ARRIS DOCSIS 3.0 Touchstone WideBand Cable Modem, which was installed by SuddenLink after my Surfboard bit the dust.

As a consulting to all of the big Telcos making $85/hr, I'm sure he would have known.

Ummm (directed at low rent)....TELCO, vs Cable Operator, see the difference. Telco(Telephone Company) vs Cable Operator (or Cable Operator, to make sure it is simple enough for you to understand.)

Suddenlink is a CABLE OPERATOR. They are as much as a Telco as Vonage is, honestly.

I do work with and for TELCOs, not cable operators.

Call up Suddenlink and ask them for a T-1/2/3 line and see what they say. Since they are a CABLE OPERATOR (T lines only apply to Telcos (or Telephone Companies) in multiples of 1.544Mbps), you will probabaly get silence (or they will offer business class). Yep, that's my realm, not cable TV. Oh, and T lines are guaranteed rates, not this "up to" crap that is offered to residential customers (by both Telcos and cable operators). You pay for a normal T-1 at 1.544Mbps, you get 1.544Mbps guaranteed, but you pay for it.

But again, I didn't say that SL doesn't have DOCSIS 3.0 here, I said I would be willing to bet they don't (see the difference, estimation vs fact, I know it's a hard concept to grasp), as they don't advertise the fact, nor do they deploy DOCSIS 3.0 modems in my area as far as I'm aware.

(BTW Smokey, thanks for the contribution)

Additionally to back my assessment, my parents have a maximum data rate of 1.5Mbps on Suddenlink. That is the maximum suddenlink offers them. So because you are on D3, doesn't necessarily mean me or my parents are. I'm in Nitro, and my parents are in Saint Albans, almost in Tornado (less than 1 mile from Tornado). Tornado has the higher speeds available as a previous Charter network, but not my parents who were on the previous Thompson Cablevision, again less than a mile away.

Right now, SL in this area is a collection made up of the networks from smaller cable companies. For example, my parents were in the Thompson cable system out of Sissonville when SL swallowed them up, I'd almost bet they aren't on D2 (well probabaly really are D2). They don't get VOIP, and get a completely different set of cable boxes and modems than every other SL customer I know, and get the lowest speed available (and I believe actually pay more than me). They also get a different channel lineup, but it still says SL. Also, the SL trucks from Scott Depot don't even have compatible equipment to fix issues, so they must dispatch out of Sissonville, even though Scott Depot is like 5 miles, and Sissonville is like 35 miles.

Although Smokey, I do believe my area was part of the former Charter network which does support what you are saying, but I'm not sure, as I didn't live here then.

So, the fact that you have D3 in your immediate area (even in the same town) doesn't prove that I myself also am on that system, and is really not even a good assumption at this point. I will have to ask that directed question next time I speak with Suddenlink.

If you guys are both IN Nitro served out of the same headend and one has D3, both of you have it. There is no way there are two CMTS's for such a small town where one might not be upgraded.

reply to jdmm72
That battery backed modem has a reset button in the vicinity of the rj45 jack that you can use if/when they ask you to power cycle your modem.

reply to jdmm72
This guy is why i love running my own business. If you didnt want to troubleshoot and insist it isnt your side (it very well could be, but most likely not), id give you notice you need to find another provider.

Remember, when you call in and are an ass, would you like it if you were on the other end of the phone being treated like that?

I have been on the other end, it sucks, but it is what it is. I studied, learned, and got experience to get out of that situation.

And here is a little secret about running your own business, you piss off or fire a customer they WILL tell a minimum of 5 to 10 people of how bad your company sucks. You please a customer, they MAY tell a maximum of 1 or 2 people. Firing customers is a good way to go out of business, QUICKLY. Here is another secret, I'm still making dialog with SL, so we aren't at that point yet, close, but not there.

Additionally, let's say you were a roofing contractor who provided "up to 100% protection" against structure water damage (doesn't have to be explicit, it is implied) on a new roof. When your product provided less than 100% (30% in this case), you'd get your pants sued off. I know internet failures don't carry as grave consequences, but it is an good example.

And some of you really need to work on your reading comprehension. I NEVER said it wasn't DOCSIS 3.0, I said I'd bet it wasn't and I quote "my bet would be a unresounding NO" (umm....implying that I don't know, nor for that matter really care), but some are too dense to figure that out. I don't rent the modem, I use the modem they provided for VoIP applications, it is a DOCSIS 2.0 modem, and is their current flagship for the area.

I'm not that hard to work with, but when I get the run around, which every company does now, I get increasingly difficult.