Optimum Online has self install- Why cant @home do it?
This is a business decision made by an individual MSO. Do you allocate manpower to provide hand holding to millions of technical illiterate folks out there? What takes more time and resources, a tech install or troubleshooting botched self-installs?
It's the MSO's responsibility to implement and support self installs - cablevison ,which offers the optimum online service, is an @Home partner.
Why should they fail? You plug in the networking card, plug in the modem, run some software and you are in. Big deal.
cable-modems.org
Note the optimum self-install kit does not include a filter. I wonder why?
boards.fool.com
Note this line in the linked post: BTW, they said their biggest installation problems have come from customers who attempted to "help" do the install.
The task is beyond the ability of the vast majority of net users. Yet, we know the self install regime is coming for all MSOs, I can only assume @Home is helping to build a support team and knowledge base of real world problems and work arounds.
50+ million people have self installed dial up modems. They figure it out.
Right. All 50+ million installed their own modem - zero pre-configured PCs were sold. The analogy to dial up is specious. Your contract relationship with an isp starts after you already have your modem working. How many uncounted man hours did that take?
Add in a USB modem or a preconfigured PC and its even simpler.
Sure.
Here is snip from an ATHM news group:
>Oh yeah, spent many hours on the phone with @home techies with no >solution, I ended up buying a PCI ethernet card. Problems instantly solved. Haven't had >a single problem since. USB is convenient but it really isn't reliable for an ethernet >connection (personal opinion). Scrap the USBconverter.
> ron wrote:
>
> > Why do I have to unplug and replug the usb2ethernet converter some mornings.
> > other mornings it comes on during the machine bootup. Im going to wear the
> > plugin out at this rate. @home said their updated usb driver would fix that.
> > they lied. I tried to put it in and the machine said its the same as what I
> > got off the disk that came with the converter. anyone had this problem?
> >
> > ron
I was initially set up by @home with the USB connection and had nothing but grief.
Kept getting Java configuration errors. After about six months of deleting the usb
dialer, then letting the computer "find" it again, I got fed up, told @home that
they would either fix the problem for good or I'd go to another ISP. They agreed
then to send a truck to install a NIC card. No problem since and at no extra
charge.
[end of ATHM news group snippet]
AOL has self install DSL
I guess that's why AOL has literally tens of DSL users.
My friend has dsl - it only took a few weeks and a NEW twisted pair strand to his home. Lots of field modified lines out there.
ospmag.com |
