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Airtel DSL troubles - part deux
This is a post with further details about my tryst with Airtel and their not-so-great high-speed DSL plan. Please read on if you are interested in this sort of thing - what follows is my conversation with technical support, some useful debugging information if you are on Airtel and the secret location of their non-flaky DNS servers.
Ok, so I had to deal with the usual non-technical support person and hold tunes for 10+ minutes before I spoke to a "technical support" person who was sadly not much more technical than the first port of call. Anyway, I had them confirm for the record that I was indeed being billed for the 2mbps plan and then laid out my case.
Exhibit 1: My device information from the DSL modem's config page
But, since they had a script to read and I had a part to play they naturally couldn't accept my word and had me jump a bunch of useless hoops - since I knew this was coming and resistance was futile I did what they asked. Of course I snapped at one point when I was asked multiple times to open Internet explorer and cmd from the start menu and told them I was not using Windows. This confused the agent for a while and then he continued reading from his script - *shrug* at least I tried.
1. They had me visit their unlisted "Official Bandwith meter site". Ok, so net result, the page read "Your current bandwidth reading is: 482.20kbps which means you can download at 60.27 KB/sec. from our Network to your last mile provision."
2. The tech agent had me re-configure the DSL router with the exact same settings it had in the first place, except he wanted me to rename the profile - like that helps.
3. He told me to check my DNS servers and so I got nasty and told him they (Airtel) couldn't run a half-decent DNS service - I was given more IP addresses - so the unpublished, but supposedly better DNS servers to use are:
202.56.250.5 and 202.56.230.5
Well, do they work?
Heh, nope...
Finally, I have a complaint number and an assurance that Airtel's finest will be on the case and I should expect a "response" (note, not resolution, but response) in 24 hours.
No, they did not ask me if they had been helpful at the end of the call, I think they knew my answer.
Ok, so I had to deal with the usual non-technical support person and hold tunes for 10+ minutes before I spoke to a "technical support" person who was sadly not much more technical than the first port of call. Anyway, I had them confirm for the record that I was indeed being billed for the 2mbps plan and then laid out my case.
Exhibit 1: My device information from the DSL modem's config page
But, since they had a script to read and I had a part to play they naturally couldn't accept my word and had me jump a bunch of useless hoops - since I knew this was coming and resistance was futile I did what they asked. Of course I snapped at one point when I was asked multiple times to open Internet explorer and cmd from the start menu and told them I was not using Windows. This confused the agent for a while and then he continued reading from his script - *shrug* at least I tried.
1. They had me visit their unlisted "Official Bandwith meter site". Ok, so net result, the page read "Your current bandwidth reading is: 482.20kbps which means you can download at 60.27 KB/sec. from our Network to your last mile provision."
2. The tech agent had me re-configure the DSL router with the exact same settings it had in the first place, except he wanted me to rename the profile - like that helps.
3. He told me to check my DNS servers and so I got nasty and told him they (Airtel) couldn't run a half-decent DNS service - I was given more IP addresses - so the unpublished, but supposedly better DNS servers to use are:
202.56.250.5 and 202.56.230.5
Well, do they work?
$nslookup mail.google.com 202.56.250.5 Server: 202.56.250.5 Address: 202.56.250.5#53 Non-authoritative answer: *** Can't find mail.google.com: No answer
Heh, nope...
Finally, I have a complaint number and an assurance that Airtel's finest will be on the case and I should expect a "response" (note, not resolution, but response) in 24 hours.
No, they did not ask me if they had been helpful at the end of the call, I think they knew my answer.