Excessive Vodafone Support call waiting times 75 mins and then i have to wait an hour for a callback

Forums › One New Zealand (including Vodafone, WxC, Farmside) › Excessive Vodafone Support call waiting times 75 mins and then i have to wait an hour for a callback

i4n

43 posts

Geek

#157371 28-Nov-2014 21:22

Why cant a phone company

a) pick up a phone call from one of their customers in a reasonable time frame.
b) route the call from a phone on their netword to an operator who can actually access the accounts and details of that customer.

Started getting ping timeouts to 8.8.8.8.

http://wellington.speedtest.vodafone.co.nz/ was showing over 100 down 10 up, so unlikely to be a problem with my line.

But why why cant a phone company answer a phone in under an hour???

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#1185147 28-Nov-2014 21:27

Sorry you are calling cause you are getting ping time outs to 8.8.8.8, Have you actually got an issue with your internet connection can you describe what is not working?

I am sure this IP address is for a DNS server outside of the Vodafone NZ network at the other side of the world

Please advise what you are expecting to be done calling customer support about this?

i4n

43 posts

Geek

#1185150 28-Nov-2014 21:37

When the Google DNS server (8.8.8.8) does not respond, something is wrong with the connection, John

But the main problem is why does it take 75 minutes for a phone company to answer a phone????

johnr

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#1185151 28-Nov-2014 21:39

i4n: When the Google DNS server (8.8.8.8) does not respond, something is wrong with the connection, John

But the main problem is why does it take 75 minutes for a phone company to answer a phone????

How do you know this is an issue with your internet connection and not something going on with Google DNS or something else further upstream? Wait times are long cause of calls in like this

Still waiting for a description of what is actually broken / not working. You can't reach some websites / having issues with downloads?

Andib

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#1185155 28-Nov-2014 21:48

I myself also spend my free time pinging google DNS just incase something may be wrong.

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johnr

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#1185157 28-Nov-2014 21:48

Have you done pathping / tracert? time outs to 8.8.8.8 does you mean you have a faulty internet connection or there is actually an issue

i4n

43 posts

Geek

#1185159 28-Nov-2014 21:50

Was trying to RDP to a server in Aussie to finish some work, and the connection was so bad that it just kept timing out.
Checking wellington speedtest i was getting results like these

Last Result:
Download Speed: 103032 kbps (12879 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 9943 kbps (1242.9 KB/sec transfer rate)
28/11/2014 9:49:47 pm

Ping time to 8.8.8.8 was

Pinging 8.8.8.8 with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 8.8.8.8: bytes=32 time=2775ms TTL=42
Request timed out.
Reply from 8.8.8.8: bytes=32 time=3101ms TTL=42
Request timed out.

Ping statistics for 8.8.8.8:
    Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 2, Lost = 2 (50% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
    Minimum = 2775ms, Maximum = 3101ms, Average = 2938ms

Ping time now is
Pinging 8.8.8.8 with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 8.8.8.8: bytes=32 time=275ms TTL=42
Reply from 8.8.8.8: bytes=32 time=254ms TTL=42
Reply from 8.8.8.8: bytes=32 time=257ms TTL=42
Reply from 8.8.8.8: bytes=32 time=277ms TTL=42

Ping statistics for 8.8.8.8:
    Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
    Minimum = 254ms, Maximum = 277ms, Average = 265ms

johnr

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#1185172 28-Nov-2014 21:53

Sorry you are pinging a DNS server in the US but logging into a server in Aussie?

You would be far better off doing a tracert / pathping to the server in Aussie and a speedtest to Aussie using www.speedtest.net

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Talkiet

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#1185176 28-Nov-2014 21:58

Google DNS is anycast based and the 8.8.8.8 people in NZ are seeing is very highly likely to be in Australia.

Highly variable or stupid latency to 8.8.8.8, or packet loss - will almost certainly mean a problem somewhere (although in many cases it will be saturation of the upstream access link - less likely with fibre I grant)

Cheers - N

Please note all comments are from my own brain and don't necessarily represent the position or opinions of my employer, previous employers, colleagues, friends or pets.

i4n

43 posts

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#1185177 28-Nov-2014 22:00

Still waiting on that callback that was supposed to happen in an hour, an hour ago.

Yes, and i checked the ip address that i was connecting to, just not going put that in an open internet forum.
I couldn't reach either without packet loss John

johnr

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#1185178 28-Nov-2014 22:04

What is a trace route and pathping showing and are you doing this testing over ethernet or WiFi?

I take it you have power cycled the modem?

freitasm

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#1185179 28-Nov-2014 22:06

Wait there folks.

There are two things in play: long wait times on support calls and problems with DNS.

The long wait times... well, we all know Vodafone seems to be stretched. And I am sure they know it as well. The problem is that this is something going on for quite some time.

Now why are you calling support? Why are you using Google DNS and not Vodafone's own DNS?

Talkiet

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#1185180 28-Nov-2014 22:08

Hmmmm. I'm gonna go out on a limb here and suggest that if the local speedtest is giving these times...

Last Result:
Download Speed: 103032 kbps (12879 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 9943 kbps (1242.9 KB/sec transfer rate)
28/11/2014 9:49:47 pm

Then it's probably on wired, and power cycling the modem won't do much - there's only a default gateway there right?

If some traffic is working perfectly (local) and traffic to a more distant location is badly degraded, how likely is it to be an access network issue?

Cheers - N

Please note all comments are from my own brain and don't necessarily represent the position or opinions of my employer, previous employers, colleagues, friends or pets.

freitasm

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#1185182 28-Nov-2014 22:10

Vodafone to Australia can be pretty bad - has been for the last few months. Try accessing www.smh.com.au on Vodafone cable and you will see it taking a few more seconds than expected for a site just on the other side of the pond.

johnr

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#1185183 28-Nov-2014 22:10

@Talkiet very valid point about the power cycle of the modem if local speedtests are good,

@i4n Have you checked with who is hosting the server for any known issues and what DNS servers are you using?

My main point here is pinging 8.8.8.8 and getting time outs does not mean a fault, If that's all it took to show a fault we could throw away millions of $$$ of testing hardware

Talkiet

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#1185184 28-Nov-2014 22:15

Sounds like the problem occurred with a server first, then he replicated the issue with 8.8.8.8 (which SHOULD be in Australia for a NZ user)... It's _highly_ unlikely that the google anycast server is in the same place as the server being remoted to...

packet loss or variable latency will be independent of whatever DNS servers are being used for name resolution - so that's not a material issue in this case.

I'm _ALL_ for making people give accurate information to troubleshoot issues, but so far, on balance, this sounds (and I have no inside knowledge) like a genuine issue not related to this individual customer access.

Cheers - N

Please note all comments are from my own brain and don't necessarily represent the position or opinions of my employer, previous employers, colleagues, friends or pets.

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