Miguel_Cruz@ub.cc.umich.edu (12/12/88)
Re: Bill Chen 'Trying to talk to someone technical within the phone company is next to impossible.' That's because there aren't any technical people in the phone company. It's just wall after wall, level after level, layer after layer of "service representatives" and other bureaucrats. I have spent continuous hours on the phone trying to talk to someone who knew any fact not in the inside few pages of the phone book, and have never had any luck. My theory is, with the divestiture, AT&T got all the technical people, and the BOCs were just left with some pretty foolproof equipment and a whole lot of middle management. Miguel Cruz Miguel_Cruz@ub.cc.umich.edu
jbn@glacier.stanford.edu (John B. Nagle) (12/14/88)
I never found this to be an insurmountable problem, but the operating companies do try to protect their technical people. If you're a commercial account, paying business rates, and have a clear idea of what you want, you can usually get it. John Nagle
john@apple.com (John Higdon) (12/15/88)
I suggest that if Miguel Cruz cannot find technical people in the phone
company, it is because he hasn't tried hard enough, or because he hasn't
convinced the front line people that he knows enough to deserve to speak
with technical people. The operating companies maintain a solid protection
screen that shields the really technical people (and they're there, trust
me) from all the wanabees and jargon speakers that would otherwise totally
waste their time.
In the last year I have spoken with an old-line crossbar tech (who knows
what every single relay is for, what it does, and how it all works together)
when I had a really sticky problem with some lines in a xbar office that had
just had CONTAC installed. The problem was with insufficient loop current
from the originating register upon dial tone acquisiion on ground start lines.
He found fourteen bad originating registers.
Also I have had some interesting conversations with an in-house person who
happens to write generic code for the 1/1AESS in wide-spread use by the
local phone company.
Frankly, to say that the operating companies don't have any technical people
is admission of a serious deficiency on the part of the speaker.
--
John Higdon
john@bovine ..sun!{apple|cohesive|pacbell}!zygot!bovine!john