When I did tech support for a UK telecoms firm, that was the easy way to fuck off an awkward customer with any kind of connectivity problem - stability, speed, whatever. Generally, people’s routers were connected to the same NTE as the landline.
“So what we’re going to do, is replace the ADSL filter, see if it’s a gubbed filter, it’s a nice cheap and easy fix. Can you remove the filter from the wall socket please?”
click
Beautiful.
ADSL filter thats pretty damn funny! its like the blinker fluid equivalent of tech support
This is actually true though. With ADSL you needed a filter to split out the ADSL line with the phone line.
Go figure i did not know that
Every day’s a school day.
In fairness, it’s nothing short of sheer voodoo what they managed to do with the simple copper loop. As usual though, it was the rural communities that felt the pinch (and the gains) more than most though.
The chances of it being the filter were stupidly low, and I don’t think I ever had a case of the filter being at fault - but it was one of those potential issues that would make a customer look stupid (and £120 lighter) if BT tipped up and declared it a customer equipment fault.
In newer homes (at the time), there were NTE faceplates that had a filter built it, with individual ports for telephone and for data telephony cables. They didn’t last long though. Maybe they were stupidly expensive in comparison, maybe BT could see the fibre future and stopped producing them.
One of my best memories is going to my local Radio Shack because I needed something plus I had a crush on the girl who worked the counter.
While there, she took a call and answered like she was supposed to:
“Thanks for calling Radio Shack. You’ve got questions, we’ve got answers.”
After a brief pause for the other person speaking:
“Why is that a dangerous slogan, sir?”
Another pause:
“We never said it would be an answer you liked.”
Did everyone clap after?
Are you implying people don’t make jokes like that?
At the customers expense? No they don’t.
I used to all the time when I worked retail. I’m making fun of the company more than the customer and most of them understand that in my experience
Snot Flickerman never heard that conversation. You don’t have to defend them.
I had someone do this at work once. It was hilarious. But i had to tell them to never do it again.
It was cathartic though.
