Disaster recovery Toolkit
Story: BT: No danger of mass internet outage in UK
Pity that BT say otherwise ...
Sitting in a small village in southern Berkshire over the past weekend I received a telephone call from a good friend who had lost her internet connection.
Having set this system up for my neighbour who is an elderly great grandmother - I've created an internet junkie who now shops online & sends video postcards to her grandchildren and great-grandchildren who live only a few miles down the road !!
So receiving this telephone call is nothing unusual. Thinking that she had once again the network cable had been sucked into the hoover. Gladys explained that she was unable to get on-line, so she had checked the cables and because she could ping the router she knew the cables were in place; and just wanted to confirm that she had done nothing stupid before calling BT who often treat her as though she is an utter idiot.
Sitting there whilst Gladys phoned BT's Helpdesk (commenly called Bull-Talks) Gladys placed the call on speaker phone whilst she provided all the information that was required by the operator.
"Ping www.BT.com"
"I've done that and do not get any reply"
"What is the exact message you receive ?"
"I have ping'd the site and I do not get any response"
"OKay, can you ping anything else ?"
"Yes, my router, but no internet sites"
"Maybe you router is incorrectly configured"
"Maybe it's not, because it was working lastnight and I was surfing the web"
"er, hold the line please let me speak with a colleague"
"Hello, Apologies but the reason that you cannot connect to the internet is because a ship sank on the internet cable, and it may take upto 10 days to repair"
I tried not to fall off my chair and spill my coffee as I rolled around in fits of laughter.
"I'm sorry but did you say that a ship has sunk upon the cable that carries my internet connection to my local exchange"
"Yes Madam, a ship has sunk upon the internet cable, and it will take upto 10 days to repair"
Looking on in total disbelief at the stupidity of this woman Gladys finally hangs up the phone before bursting out in fits of laughter.
We're in Berkshire, and at least 70 miles north of Southsea, and at least a few hundred miles north of the Mediteranean.
Maybe someone should ensure that BT actually train their staff to firstly in their ability to conduct diagnostics, in geography and finally the ability to tell the truth !!
Full Talkback thread
