Hello again everyone, first I would like to appolagize for the delay in posting, but I am back now and this week I will look at issues most tech’s run into when they take the word of others and don’t check it out for them self.

I know when I was starting out if someone told me that they had already checked the most obvious cause of a problem I would take their word for it and look for other causes.  This is a mistake, and in hindsight a very obvious one.  There are many people out there who think they know how to check for errors when in reality they are not even in the same ballpark.  This is especially true when they tell you that they have had a professional look at it, however their idea of a professional and mine seem to differ drastically.

Just recently I was on a job to install hardware and activate the internet for a store.  I have everything hooked up properly and I was told that the router had all the required setting programmed into it, not only was this untrue but the technician who shipped the parts argued with me about it.

Here is the rundown on the issue I hook up all the hardware computer, modem, router etc.  Power everything up get no internet, I try to look at the settings internal to the router but I have no password, so first I test the modem direct connection to the computer and hook it up fine with a static IP setup, so I come to the conclusion that the router is not configured properly, so I call the company I am working with at the moment to get the password for the router to check the settings.

I tell the tech on the other end that I need the password to check the routers settings, he tells me everything is fine that I did something wrong, so I humor him because I am not infallible but I was 99% certain I was right.  After reconnecting the router, no connection.  Now I know I am right so I ask again for the password to verify the setting in the router, he goes on the whole tirade about how he programmed the router himself and has been doing this for ten years etc etc.  So after another 20 minutes ( minutes I am billing for by the way ) he finally  gives me the password to check the router and I find two things wrong immediately.

First he has a connection that requires a static IP setup programmed for PPOE and second the router does not even work it will not accept changes to the setting nor accept a reset so he shipped a broken router with invalid settings in it.  So after all this he concedes that he made a mistake I hang up hook the internet back up direct to the modem and leave, than I have to return the next day to install the new router.

Now I am not one to over-bill or waste time but when I run into problems like this I do not feel bad about it.  It goes to show that you can only count on your own eyes and expertise in an issue when you encounter problems.  But it does go back to an old article one that I myself forgot to do and that is get all passwords upfront, although in this  case I don’t think it would have helped because I do not think the tech would have given me the password without the song and dance.

So back to my point, you should always go with your gut first no matter what the client says has been done, or who has looked at it etc, 9 times out of 10 you will save yourself a lot of headaches in the long run.  You can always tell them they had the I D 10 T error.

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