Just follow the instructions
Posted by: Aiken Drum on 19 January 2005
I spent hours last night trying to get a plug and play DSL router for broadband to work. When finally I got to speak to the helpline, Three simple things sorted out the problem;
· Switching off the firewall
· Disabling the antivirus software
· Checking the box telling the system not to use dial up.
After the event it makes sense – but not when you are in the throes of sorting it out and your spouse keeps popping in with expectation on their face, only to leave in disappointment, with an increasingly lower opinion of your technical abilities. You know the sort of thing – nothing much actually said, but very meaningful looks.
I wonder why the supplier did not mention these three items in their (brief) instructions. I could have saved a lot of time and not felt inadequate due to an inability to get the darn thing working. The helpline costs the local rate so is not expensive – maybe their technician are bored and need baffled members of the public to speak to and impress with their problem solving abilities.
At the end of the conversation with the help line, I mentioned that I also needed to set up the email accounts. The time being moments before the stated end time of their service, I guess I got the briefest of help they could provide commensurate with them not working after hours: “the letter you got gives you an address. Go there and it will be fine.” Foolishly I believed them.
Other than being slightly unnerved by a typo in their instructions – hhtp rather than http, I assumed that the process would be simple. But no. Try as I might, the address they gave resulted in nothing at all, and despite a detailed search of their website and pressing a number of buttons, I got nowhere – and my “old” email account also refused (understandably) to play. I called it a day at midnight and went to bed email-less.
A quick conversation with the provider today identified that I need to disable both the firewall and the anti virus – and also the pop-up blocker! Silly me, I should have realised. This done I should have email. What I also have is lasting annoyance that the provider could have also mentioned this little thing in their installation letter.
Why do things like this have to be so difficult? A few simple directions and avoidance of the assumption that I would instinctively know what I was to do would have made me feel I was an achiever last night rather than an abject failure.
End of rant.
Well almost - email is still not working - an hour on the phone this evening to be asked to ring back tomorrow to speak to a technician.
The rant goes on.
· Switching off the firewall
· Disabling the antivirus software
· Checking the box telling the system not to use dial up.
After the event it makes sense – but not when you are in the throes of sorting it out and your spouse keeps popping in with expectation on their face, only to leave in disappointment, with an increasingly lower opinion of your technical abilities. You know the sort of thing – nothing much actually said, but very meaningful looks.
I wonder why the supplier did not mention these three items in their (brief) instructions. I could have saved a lot of time and not felt inadequate due to an inability to get the darn thing working. The helpline costs the local rate so is not expensive – maybe their technician are bored and need baffled members of the public to speak to and impress with their problem solving abilities.
At the end of the conversation with the help line, I mentioned that I also needed to set up the email accounts. The time being moments before the stated end time of their service, I guess I got the briefest of help they could provide commensurate with them not working after hours: “the letter you got gives you an address. Go there and it will be fine.” Foolishly I believed them.
Other than being slightly unnerved by a typo in their instructions – hhtp rather than http, I assumed that the process would be simple. But no. Try as I might, the address they gave resulted in nothing at all, and despite a detailed search of their website and pressing a number of buttons, I got nowhere – and my “old” email account also refused (understandably) to play. I called it a day at midnight and went to bed email-less.
A quick conversation with the provider today identified that I need to disable both the firewall and the anti virus – and also the pop-up blocker! Silly me, I should have realised. This done I should have email. What I also have is lasting annoyance that the provider could have also mentioned this little thing in their installation letter.
Why do things like this have to be so difficult? A few simple directions and avoidance of the assumption that I would instinctively know what I was to do would have made me feel I was an achiever last night rather than an abject failure.
End of rant.
Well almost - email is still not working - an hour on the phone this evening to be asked to ring back tomorrow to speak to a technician.
The rant goes on.