Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!isis!aburt From: aburt@isis.cs.du.edu (Andrew Burt) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.modems Subject: Re: Practical Peripherals 9600 SA Message-ID: <1990Dec22.164000.9519@isis.cs.du.edu> Date: 22 Dec 90 16:40:00 GMT References: <1990Dec17.144237.19679@isis.cs.du.edu> <5134@husc6.harvard.edu> <128@mixcom.UUCP> Reply-To: aburt@isis.UUCP (Andrew Burt) Organization: Math/CS, University of Denver Lines: 38 In article <128@mixcom.UUCP> sysop@mixcom.UUCP (System Operator) writes: >With the 1.18 ROM the modem seems to work O.K. now. >I had endless problems with the 1.05 revision ROM, >and with PPI tech support telling me the problems were >caused by me. After I demanded to speak with the manager >of tech support, I got the 1.18 ROM. The moral is: >The modem seems to be O.K. with the 1.18 revision ROM, >but tech support leaves "a little" to be desired. Odd... I found them to be very helpful. I was on the phone with them for a couple hours (at their expense) while we tried various things. I suspect the problem is that they find (like most tech support places) that the problems almost always ARE caused by the user, so resorting to hardware fixes is usually the last resort. For those of us who are pretty convinced we have a genuine problem, not just a settting wrong 'cause we didn't RTFM, I suggest mixing discussions of the problem with a little personal background: My problem is "X", and I'm reasonably convinced I've tried all the "usual" solutions, I'm a Unix kernel hacker by trade, so I'm pretty technically competent, blah blah... Working that in *politely* is hard, but I find most tech spt. folks respond in kind. But tech spt. people have their procedures of "dumb user" things too try, and sometimes that is the problem (mostly, I'm sure, for avg users). Though there are places that won't bend (e.g., Borland), PPI skipped most of the "dumb user" things when I "let slip" what my background was. It was one of the few times tech spt. didn't "insult my intelligence" with questions like "is it plugged in", etc. So I was extremely pleased with PPI's support. Just have to bear in mind who tech spt. is geared to help, and it ain't wizards. -- Andrew Burt uunet!isis!aburt or aburt@du.edu "Kwyjibo on the loose!"