Man, I love how Roadrunner is fast and cheap.
I hate the fact that their DNS servers are always failing (all 4 area servers), how the cached IP addys keep slipping, and how their staff entirely consists of total retards.

I called in today because I sent an email through a “service webpage” whcih guaraneed it would reply with a fix for my problem within 4 days. The reply I got within 2 days was “Call the service number. Kthxbye.”

So I called the service number. I got to Help Desk One, which are local guys. This is where I used to work some four years ago. They troubleshoot cable modem and hardware problems. Barely.

ME: “I’m having a problem with the Raleigh DNS servers.”
LEVEL 1: “Let me check your cable modem hardware.”
ME: “My cable modem is fine. Solid as a rock. My problem with the servers is [LONG LENGTHY TECHNOBABBLE EXPLANATION].”
LEVEL 1: “Hmmm, your cable modem looks fine from our side.”
ME: “That’s exactly what I just said. [REPEAT EXPLANATION].”
LEVEL 1: “Let me transfer you to Level 2″
ME: “…ok”

LEVEL 2:”Are you using a router?”
ME: “Yeah, right now in fact, but this problem happens both when I am connected through the router and when I’m connected straight to the cable modem.”
LEVEL 2: “OK, I see. The first thing I want you to do is connect the PC directly to the cable modem.”
ME: “Let’s try this again. [I explain my situation in detail. I have him ping my website, I have him try through other DNS servers. He sees that the DNS servers are bad].”
LEVEL 2: “Let me transfer you to Level 3″
ME: “…ok”.

Now, I remember the Level 3 guys back when I worked at TWC on the frontline. I worked at a job that basically paid, oh, about $28-32K depending on how many holidays you worked. If you stayed there long enough, and showed Real Promise, you may one day be promoted to Level 3, where you get 35K a year. You wear a red club shirt with the little RR logo and carry a laptop case with you, and look important. What I REALLY remembered well about these guys is that they would wait for 2 weeks to look into a client’s case, and then close it because “Oh, this was probably related to that storm we had two weeks back. Probably.” Of course, it isn’t. And of course, they don’t call the client. Rather, the client calls in a MONTH later to find that their case was closed TWO WEEKS AGO, and that the case CANNOT be reopened, and that they have to open a NEW CASE, wait TWO MORE WEEKS, and pray to f***ing God that they didn’t just close the case again on a whim.

So I was a little hesitant. But hey, these guys control the servers, right? They’re Level 3.

When the Level 3 guy got on the phone, I explained everything to him, had him do the nslookups and everything. I proved to him the problem. He marked it down in my account and promised to contact someone in charge of those DNS servers and open a case.

ME: “Oh, so we can’t open a case now?”
Level 3: “Well, I’m going to just take notes here, and I’ll contact the server team to open a case.”
ME: “So, we have no case number right now? No way to track this issue?”
Level 3: “Uh… sorry, no.”

On one hand, he was very nice and very helpful. On the other hand, I’m not holding my breath. I get a better connection to my root domain www.z-builder.com when I tap into my neighbor’s wireless DSL conenction than when I use my own.

Here’s the real weird thing: So all my browsers can’t negotiate (by hostname) to www.z-builder.com when the DNS servers fail… and yet my Outlook email picks up email from the server like there was no problem! I checked the settings three times, and sure enough Outlook is connecting by Hostname, and not IP Address. I’ll give $10 to the person who can explain to me how Outlook can connect by hostname to my email server when DNS (and thus all my web browsers) isn’t finding it.

Suicide: Orie saw a Yahoo Japan news article. Suicide is up a lot these days. 30,000 a year. 10,000 a year die in car crashes. They’ve had a “War on Traffic Accidents” for a while now, to host campaigns to talk about and alleviate traffic disasters. And yet suicide is three times a bigger killer. It seems everyone’s afraid to talk about it.

It makes those RPG scenarios that take place in Japan, with everyone committing Seppuku, a little less unrealistic. Though the favored method in Japan is still hanging. Followed by “jumping in front of speeding train, and exploding all over the place”.