I need a phone IT guy for my office.

[SmileDocHill]

My office is in Frankfort and I am changing my phone service over to Comcast from At&T. Had the install/ change over scheduled and the guy came out and informed me that I need to have my IT guy there at the same time or shortly after to get the phones hooked up. The way I understand it they change the service over, put the router in so the cable gets transferred to phone lines and then my guy is supposed to divvy that out to the existing phone lines. It is becoming harder than I thought to find someone to do this since most people that do this actually work for At&T or similar Co.

I have 3 lines, not changing actual numbers, not trying to change the phone "network" itself (meaning I'm not running new or additional lines, just hooking the existing network up to a new source). I cannot imagine this will involve running any lines through walls. If you cannot tell I'm not intelligent enough about the subject matter to describe the project well. I need to farm this one out.
PM would be the best way to reach me.
Ideally I need to schedule this on a Thursday afternoon, or a Friday. The painful thing about this is that I will have to coordinate schedules with Comcast install guys, a pre-scheduled time for At&T to stop service, my IT guy (you) and at a time that it doesn't totally shut down my office.

You guys know a guy?

 

[TTravis]

I do that kind of work in Indianapolis. Sounds like a pretty straight forward job. The biggest problem I find in these situations is that I usually wind up waiting several hours to Comcast to show up. Give me a call and I will ask a bunch of questions to determine what you have. From what I gather so far, you can probably handle it yourself with some guidance. I can come out, but it is about 60 mile drive from Plainfield. I would be happy to talk with you. My number in Indianapolis area code is 243-7888. Tom Travis

 

[Sailor]

They pulled that same crap with me. Nobody ever said I needed my own guy out there. Comcast shows up and what do you know, the installer knows a guy that can come over right now and do it.

 

[MrsGungho]

Brighthouse is the same... well at least we had to have someone come over and fix his mistakes. Guy we know who worked for Comcast came over and done it

 

[SmileDocHill]

They pulled that same crap with me. Nobody ever said I needed my own guy out there. Comcast shows up and what do you know, the installer knows a guy that can come over right now and do it.

This is my suspicion on the situation also.

Thanks for the offers guys, I did find a local guy (and I don't think he is connected with the installers original referrals ) that can do it.

 

[hornadylnl]

They have phones in Franktucky?

 

[evilblackrifle]

I've had nothing but trouble with Comcast. I've switched to Vonage, and have had no problems. However, I do need an analog phone line for the fax. (Costs pennies.) Easy enough for me to hookup. Even with multiple lines, installation was very straight forward. Customer service is fantastic. Try getting that from Comcast. They suck.

 

[zx6rman96]

pretty typical....i work for the "phone company", we just get the dial tone or internet from point A (office) to B (demarc/terminal) everything behind that is up to the customer or IT guy to figure out where everything needs to go. We will do it for you, for a charge of course, but i think thats pretty much how every company runs. Your IT guy will know your setup/system better than a tech from your providing service.

 

[SmileDocHill]

They have phones in Franktucky?

It is a pretty nice one. If you dial the wrong number Thelma at the switch board usually knows what number you were trying to dial and just patches you through.

 

[SmileDocHill]

The only contact I could find that had a chance of having local knowledge was my regional sales guy. I asked him if he know any IT guys that could help on my end and I think he got in touch with some of the Frankfort Comcast guys because they came out today to look at my setup and seem to think it is pretty easy . It is scheduled and a separate IT guy is not going to be needed. I honestly wasn't trying to be the squeaky wheel. I think my sales rep was the stimulus here. I suspect he was concerned because the tech didn't even look at my setup before "requiring" a separate guy when at least some of the transfers are pretty easy. BTW 90% of what I'm saying here is speculation. All I really know is that I asked my sales rep for a referral, he got a little concerned about the situation, and now it is all fixed.

 

[IndySSD]

All I really know is that I asked my sales rep for a referral, he got a little concerned about the situation, and now it is all fixed.

Man, that sounds like a good customer / company interaction to me?

Glad to hear you're all set!

 

[Tactical Dave]

pretty typical....i work for the "phone company", we just get the dial tone or internet from point A (office) to B (demarc/terminal) everything behind that is up to the customer or IT guy to figure out where everything needs to go. We will do it for you, for a charge of course, but i think thats pretty much how every company runs. Your IT guy will know your setup/system better than a tech from your providing service.

This..........


I also work for the "phone company".

 

[SmileDocHill]

This..........


I also work for the "phone company".

That is what I figured also. I mean why would you guys have to mess with how my internal phone system is setup? (not sarcastic) That is why I didn't want to sound like I was complaining. What made this different, I thought, was that a guy like me that is not "in the business" has a hard time finding a guy to do that kind of work. Partly because I didn't know what to look for, is it the same skill set as a computer network? I got the impression most "phone" guys historically worked for a particular phone company and therefore were not available to to a change over unless their company was involved.
That is also why I tried very hard not to sound like I was complaining to my sales rep, or that I felt "customer service" required him to have guys in his pocket to do it. My logic was simply, why reinvent the wheel, surely I'm not the first customer to ask for a referral.

Phone service through Comcast just recently became available in this area so I write off any inconvenience to local guys figuring out the bugs. Bugs will be there, it is how you handle it that shows the company's character.

+1 Comcast

 

[Tactical Dave]

That is what I figured also. I mean why would you guys have to mess with how my internal phone system is setup? (not sarcastic) That is why I didn't want to sound like I was complaining. What made this different, I thought, was that a guy like me that is not "in the business" has a hard time finding a guy to do that kind of work. Partly because I didn't know what to look for, is it the same skill set as a computer network? I got the impression most "phone" guys historically worked for a particular phone company and therefore were not available to to a change over unless their company was involved.
That is also why I tried very hard not to sound like I was complaining to my sales rep, or that I felt "customer service" required him to have guys in his pocket to do it. My logic was simply, why reinvent the wheel, surely I'm not the first customer to ask for a referral.

Phone service through Comcast just recently became available in this area so I write off any inconvenience to local guys figuring out the bugs. Bugs will be there, it is how you handle it that shows the company's character.

+1 Comcast

Im fairly new with the company so anything ZX6man says should be listened to before what I say***,

We get the dial tone to your home or office, set up the phone jacks, plug everything in to make sure it works. Anything special that needs done that is outside that scope is on you.

Now with my company there are techs that sometimes go the extra mile to help out if it is not a big deal but that is if they still have time in their pocket from the job and it is a quick and easy deal. We only have so much time per job.... if jobs take to long we get a talking to from management.
But generally we get the service to the phone jack and anything past that is on you.

 

[SmileDocHill]

Im fairly new with the company so anything ZX6man says should be listened to before what I say***,

We get the dial tone to your home or office, set up the phone jacks, plug everything in to make sure it works. Anything special that needs done that is outside that scope is on you.

Now with my company there are techs that sometimes go the extra mile to help out if it is not a big deal but that is if they still have time in their pocket from the job and it is a quick and easy deal. We only have so much time per job.... if jobs take to long we get a talking to from management.
But generally we get the service to the phone jack and anything past that is on you.

Thanks for noting this. It points out to me that while I was thinking it I never said that it is my understanding that this is a situation like you are describing. Comcast is going the extra mile here, . I don't consider it their job to take the time to figure out my internal phone system and risk "doing a favor" that turns into a project like opening a can of worms if it doesn't work out like planned. Plus, it is setting them up to for that to be expected when it is really an "above and beyond" type of service.

Stuff like this goes unnoticed or under noticed too much. If it goes well people see it as a small favor because it was a simple task. What they don't get is that they took a risk they didn't have to take. If they say "I'll do it", and then the change over process on MY WIRING doesn't go well then they a PR nightmare. The customer will more likely treat the guys like they were hired to do it rather than the fact that they were doing them a favor.

 

[Tactical Dave]

Thanks for noting this. It points out to me that while I was thinking it I never said that it is my understanding that this is a situation like you are describing. Comcast is going the extra mile here, . I don't consider it their job to take the time to figure out my internal phone system and risk "doing a favor" that turns into a project like opening a can of worms if it doesn't work out like planned. Plus, it is setting them up to for that to be expected when it is really an "above and beyond" type of service.

Stuff like this goes unnoticed or under noticed too much. If it goes well people see it as a small favor because it was a simple task. What they don't get is that they took a risk they didn't have to take. If they say "I'll do it", and then the change over process on MY WIRING doesn't go well then they a PR nightmare. The customer will more likely treat the guys like they were hired to do it rather than the fact that they were doing them a favor.

With out going into a lot of detail sometimes a tech is more then happy to take a quick peak at something. For instance a certain someone was at a job in an apartment complex doing an install and the apartment manager said so and so down the street suddenly lost service and asked if the tech had time if he or she could look at it. The tech said sure and knocked on the door knowing that their work had nothing to due with this customers issue. Tech talked with the lady at the door and said that it sounded like the box box for the tv went bad (they like any electronics don't live forever). and do call customer service and they will next day air her a new box. Stuff like that does not eat up time but helps company image. Like you said if we start to get hands on then there is a risk that it turns into a nightmare and is a job we are not supposed to be on in the first place. Same goes for if it is a job we are supposed to be on... if we run into issues and the job is outside our work scope then sometimes management has issues with that....... there is a fine line that you can't get to far from.

Just remember that if someone goes above and beyond you (people in general) can't get upset if they look into it some then say sorry I can't help you past this point.... some people can't be pleased though. It is the one person that ruins it for everyone...