router settings, reason to be fired?

Well today i had an interview with an agent from a staffing company, after the interview they gave me a number to call and talk to a person that does the same help desk support job that i will be doing if i get hired.

This person asked me questions about DHCP, ipconfig and stuff like that. then he asked me a question about how to troubleshoot a system that has no internet, modem is working properly and what should i do about the router. so i tell them that i would give the customer the ip adresss of the router, u know the 192.168.1.1 so they can enter on the router configuartion page and fix it from there. So this guy tells me that i should never tell a customer about the router configuration settings, and that would be a reason to get fired if i do.

whats this about?

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Comments

mikey_b

Never support another companies equipment. In a help desk position for an ISP, never troubleshoot routers or modems that they haven't purchased or leased from you unless told specifically to do so (or if you are a part of a home networking team or something like that). It seems to be the way they work. I worked for a broadband help desk and this was their exact policy.

SRTMCSE

I think getting fired would be kinda harsh. But I def. see it being a policy. It's a pain supporting something that you have no control over (i.e.: routers, waps, switches, etc.) Most of the time when I had problems with my ISP they would make me plug directly into the modem before doing anything.

Danman32

It sounds like there isn't enough information about the environment.

If this is an ISP helpdesk, I suppose I could see the point of not helping the client work on his own equipment. You can't be sure you're talking to someone authorized to work on that network. However, if you were able to give the client the default IP and it worked, shame on the network administrator for not securing the equipment.

If it is the ISP's stuff and there's only a modem to connect to you and it isn't connecting to you, then you'll have to send someone out there if you are not allowed to walk the client through the settings. The interviewer shouldn't penalize you for that though, you weren't given the company's policies.

TheFORCE

this position is a helpdesk support postion for cablevision. a lot of phone calls.

garv221

TheFORCE wrote:

Well today i had an interview with an agent from a staffing company, after the interview they gave me a number to call and talk to a person that does the same help desk support job that i will be doing if i get hired.

This person asked me questions about DHCP, ipconfig and stuff like that. then he asked me a question about how to troubleshoot a system that has no internet, modem is working properly and what should i do about the router. so i tell them that i would give the customer the ip adresss of the router, u know the 192.168.1.1 so they can enter on the router configuartion page and fix it from there. So this guy tells me that i should never tell a customer about the router configuration settings, and that would be a reason to get fired if i do.

whats this about?

I could see someone getting fired for that. You never walk an end user through fixing something that could potentialy effect other users, let alone give them the password to the router. You should always remote into a router or a pc on the network that can remote into the router, I would hop a jet to the location before giving out my passwords. I thought help desk doesn't typicaly mess with routers anyways.

TheFORCE

yeah i understand what you are saying. i have setup a small LAN in my room and have a router that i connect to it from time to time to change settings. so i never thought that what applies to my LAN might not apply somwhere else where theres more than 1 user or where the user is not the person that has setup the LAN.

well they do offer a 3 week training period so that should answer a lot of my questions.

now i should decide if i should go for this or not. i have no work experience at all so it will be hard to go in there but at the same time it will be hard not to go in there, the experience that i will gain will be good for later on. hmm

mikey_b

TheFORCE wrote:

yeah i understand what you are saying. i have setup a small LAN in my room and have a router that i connect to it from time to time to change settings. so i never thought that what applies to my LAN might not apply somwhere else where theres more than 1 user or where the user is not the person that has setup the LAN.

well they do offer a 3 week training period so that should answer a lot of my questions.

now i should decide if i should go for this or not. i have no work experience at all so it will be hard to go in there but at the same time it will be hard not to go in there, the experience that i will gain will be good for later on. hmm

Sounds like a Convergys type of company. Outsourced technical support. Good place to start, don't pass it up, and keep an eye on your stats - you only have to be a little bit better than the next guy on paper to get ahead - with a lot of employees not everything is so personalized. The training is good and the money helps you stack the deck with certification materials and exams so you can get ahead if you so desire.

JDMurray

mikey_b wrote:

Never support another companies equipment.

This also goes for operating systems and software. When I do software support, I am very careful not to do any troubleshooting beyond what it may take to discern that my software is not the cause of the user's problem. I may mention possible corrective measures, such as a scandisk, defrag, registry cleaners, adding more memory, Windows updates, etc., but I never explicitly do anything that would suggest that I've taken ownership of fixing any problem with a customer's system beyond getting my own software working on it. This policy limits my liability and responsibility--although some customer don't see it that way.

12thlevelwarrior

Forget the loser that spoke with you on the phone, he sounds like a complete dork. It's obvious you wouldn't know company policy, he should have just focused on your technical ability. Forget him/her.

Webmaster

I agree with the other guy, but what's wrong with his question is that you don't know the company's policy. There's only one thing you could do, and that's gathering more information on how you should deal with this situation. At that point (well actually when you get hired) they (a manager, coworker) should inform of their policies and procedures for such scenarios. If that involves giving 'the guy who also changes the backup tapes' access details to solve the problem (with your guidance), than that's what you do. And recommend a better policy/prodecure

In short, imo that's a mean question. If you ever get the same question again, tell him you would check the helpdesk instruction manual, refer to existing policies and procedures. If he answers there are none, you can do two things:
1. Tell him there should be and you look forward to help writing procedures.
2. As we say in the Netherlands (not sure if the saying goes in English as well): you could stick a feather up his @ss* and tell him "I'd ask my wise colleagues".

(*think peacock)

garv221

TheFORCE wrote:

now i should decide if i should go for this or not. i have no work experience at all so it will be hard to go in there but at the same time it will be hard not to go in there, the experience that i will gain will be good for later on. hmm

I would persue the job, once you get hired you will know the policy.

Ten9t6

haha..sounds like he / she set you up. Like others have mentioned you don't know the policies of that company......

The company I work for.....what you will do depends on the customer, network, and SLAs....Some systems I work on, you can not remote in to...so the only option is to send a tech on site (gets expensive) or you talk a customer through troubleshooting / correcting the issue.....Others, I have full access to everything in the network.

You wont the policies or tools available until you start the job...Good luck to you...sounds like it will be a good experience...oh yes..when your knowledge pass that of the person that interviewed you...I would start asking him some crazy questions.....for payback..

Kenny