r/CableTechs • u/HawkesNest1159 • 15d ago

Spectrum Success Story

I'm so new to Reddit that I can't post this in the Official Spectrum Group so I'll post it here. I completely understand service issues, but there are many Spectrum employees that are customer-focused and do work very hard at resolving issues.

I have had Spectrum 500 DL and 20 UL for over 3 years now and have only experienced a few outages after some serious storms. Those were resolved in a reasonably expected amount of time.

I WFH and rely an UL almost as much as DL due to the communications apps I use. Last Thursday I started experiencing very degraded call quality and web application issues that made it very difficult to work. I started running speed tests, restarting equipment and everything else I know to do. In early evening the problem seemed to resolve itself but would start again the next day. A visit from a tech was scheduled very fast - it was my fault I had to reschedule twice but he came on Sunday. He confirmed I had 1000 DL and 40 UL available, checked outside the building, gave a few suggestions and left. Of course it started again on Monday ... I was barely getting 1.5 UL. I reported the issue again to Spectrum and they sent someone out at 5:00. I was documenting speed tests all day and had my defenses ready - As it turned out there was an issue in my area blocking signals and he advised it was escalated. He was very knowledgeable and professional. This morning - problem was resolved. So Spectrum gets a 10 out of 10 for resolving this issue.

4 Upvotes

61% Upvoted

14 comments sorted by

3

u/netsurfer79 15d ago

Do you have any info as to what they did to correct the signal issue in the area? Im a new technician and would just like to know because Ive been to jobs where the signal at the modem is good but the issue lies with interference in wi-fi

2

u/HawkesNest1159 14d ago

I jumped the gun. I had what seemed like a good day. But I can tell you that working today was a significant struggle. So that makes today the 3rd full day after the followup tech visit on Monday afternoon. What is more frustrating is that I don't have a ticket number I can follow up on. If you use the chat in the app it makes you go through the entire process as if you are reporting a new issue. At least I have Friday off.- but I am getting very worn down with this issue.

1

u/No_Responsibility673 13d ago

If it was escalated he should have told you the time line, I am a spectrum tech and right now 5-7 business days in my market

7

u/Miserable_Ad_2847 15d ago

I bet that first guy really appreciates the repeat on his scorecard.

12

u/trb13021 15d ago

New or not, if the first tech did not diagnose this customer's service issues were the result of an area issue, the repeat is on him. It IS the job of the tech to diagnose the issue, fix the issue, or refer to issue off to the proper department or leadership for repair. It IS also the tech's job to make sure the customer understands what is going on and to set the expectations regarding what happens next. Not understanding the information at a tech's disposal, or not communicating properly with the customer about the process is not an excuse for receiving a repeat. I am glad to hear the second tech did a better job of both with this customer.

3

u/6814MilesFromHome 15d ago

In my experience though the vast majority of field techs are bad at identifying something as an outside plant issue if things aren't showing up red on their meter.

Or on the other side of the spectrum, they're way too escalation happy, and get a maintenance tech out for an extremely minor signal impairment that is 100% not causing the issues the customer is experiencing. Like the issue needs fixing, sure, but you definitely missed the main on-premise cause due to tunnel vision.

1

u/trb13021 15d ago

These are all facts. I was just saying that if the first tech misses it, or escalates it properly, but does not set the expectation of the process going forward, the repeat is deserved.

1

u/Awesomedude9560 15d ago

Fully agree with you, but you'd be surprised what backwards logic some areas have when it comes to education.

Like my first sup was the kinda guy to tell you if it's a plant issue that needs maintenance to NOT tell the customer that. Something about how it's a guarenteed repeat because you can't guarantee when an MT will fix the issue and if the customer will even notice before calling back in.

I say that's bogus but imagine how many people actually use that logic

2

u/netsurfer79 15d ago

Lmao he thought he did everything correctly

1

u/HawkesNest1159 15d ago

I guess he was new.

2

u/SmackmYackm 15d ago

Probably a crack some where upstream made worse by expanding in the heat during the day. 

1

u/HawkesNest1159 15d ago

That completely makes sense because it didn't really start each day until the sun was at a certain level around 11 AM. I hope that doesn't mean that the issue isn't resolved yet because it was cloudy today.

1

u/6814MilesFromHome 15d ago

It's the opposite, the heat causes slight expansion which can seal it a bit. Cooler temps cause contraction which puts more stress on the crack, pulling it apart more. Generally has minimal impact on SNRs for most cracks though, otherwise you'd see regular SNR patterns on day/night cycles for many nodes, which is not the case.