What to do when your ISP off-shores tech support

Sat Dec 27 05:59:34 UTC 2008

The problem with oursourced first level support is that they are totally
disconnected from real time operations and wouldn't be aware of problems
that network engineers are currently working on.

They have their scripts to answer the standard questions ("it tells me
to press the ANY key to continue, but there is no "ANY" key on my
keyboard"). But they are not trained nor do they have access to serious
diagnostic tools to help knowledgeable customers.

A good support person is someone who knows more about their own
network/product/serrvice than you do.

A bad support person is someone who only has access to the same
documents as end users (eg: the standard user guide) and is only of use
to clueless customers.

A good company would oursource entry level support to the lowest common
denominator, but make the script such that it is very easy for a
knowledgeable customer to get transfered to a "good" tech support.