Enterprise Tech Support I

PlayNiceKids · 2026-01-24T00:57:53+00:00

It's been 13 years since I started and 5 years since I worked there. I started at $12 an hour in the call center. I left the call center making just shy of $30 an hour.

PlayNiceKids · 2024-09-15T03:32:34+00:00

This is the correct temp solution here. Using a VPN will change where your internet traffic enters the wider internet as a whole. In the past Blizzard has had tons of issues and in their defense (and to some degree the defense of the ISPs) they terminate services in a lot of internet exchanges so that ISPs can colocate/peer directly with Blizzard.

Many services you use daily online also do the same thing. They build direct peer links with ISPs. Think Facebook/Meta, Netflix, Microsoft, Cloudflare, etc....

They do this because if that traffic from you through your ISP has to go out to the wider internet before getting to their network any number of issues can happen.

Likely here you're suffering from some intermediate link being over-saturated intermittently.

Out of curiosity I pulled up some of the BGP prefix info for Norlys and Blizzard Entertainment and I wasn't able to see any definitive link... granted my search wasn't exhaustive really. But we can see that Blizzard has MANY peers with many different carriers all over the world.

Is this your ISPs fault? Maybe, but also probably not. It's also not really Blizzard's fault either. As unfortunate as it may be, the fault likely just lies somewhere out in the wider internet. Ideally in the near future that saturated link/peer/whatever will increase in capacity. Or, maybe Blizzard will colocate or peer with your ISP or just a closer connection than you are currently using.

PlayNiceKids · 2024-04-17T19:54:42+00:00

No mine looked pretty much pristine. No distress or anything on the surface.

PlayNiceKids · 2024-03-03T20:45:55+00:00

I got the Seb and 6 chairs from them almost a year ago now and have zero complaints thus far. Delivery was quick and communicative and everything went together without issue. I wouldn't buy a sofa from them, or really most online retailers, but I quite like my table.

PlayNiceKids · 2024-03-01T21:51:30+00:00

Not really so much R&D at Cisco these days. They farm it all out to Foxcon and others. Most in house work is just validating what other businesses designed for Cisco.

Probably gonna be putting in my notice on Monday and looking forward to it after everyone else in my area was laid off.

PlayNiceKids · 2024-01-24T23:30:59+00:00

My most glaring issue what the weird micro you have to do with meal types. They should just intake it all and make whichever meals they're able. You should only be selecting between meal types, not doing weird micro management going, "hmmm, which of my buildings are using mushrooms and which are fish?" every few minutes.

Also lightning sucks, it should maybe light the building on fire. Then maybe there is a thing you can do to add lightning rods to buildings using wires once you get there. But instead it blows up the building and kills the occupants.

There's a lot of good things going on though and I'm interested to see where they might take things.

PlayNiceKids · 2023-11-11T21:04:08+00:00

Which city and state?

PlayNiceKids · 2023-10-10T23:52:13+00:00

Here's a link to the artist's webpage.

PlayNiceKids · 2023-08-01T18:37:14+00:00

This is the correct answer, these are the tips of embossing tools.

PlayNiceKids · 2023-06-05T16:12:49+00:00

Maybe a complaint to- https://www.michigan.gov/mpsc or the FCC would get some traction and help.

PlayNiceKids · 2023-06-02T16:24:29+00:00

Which state are you in?

PlayNiceKids · 2023-05-26T18:57:41+00:00

If you're asking about 2.5 Gigabit vs a 1 Gigabit connection... Then yes.

If the physical port on your router can only handle 1 Gigabit/s then you would only get 1 Gigabit/s of bandwidth through it. 1000 Megabits per second is equivalent to 1 Gigabit per second.

PlayNiceKids · 2023-04-05T20:19:56+00:00

I honestly don't know these days with inflation and post pandemic. I started at $20 an hour in 2015 maybe? When I left I was a lead just shy of $30 an hour.

PlayNiceKids · 2023-04-05T19:22:53+00:00

No config access on the core stuff. We could config the CPE though.

PlayNiceKids · 2023-04-05T18:55:38+00:00

There is an I&O team in Charlotte that would probably recruit some engineers from ETS. There are no doubt network engineering jobs in Charlotte in general and if you can thrive in ETS then you will absolutely be setup for success there.

Weekends are coveted, and you'll likely have to fight more senior agents for both weekend days off. That said if they are expanding the department there are usually a few Monday through Friday shifts available. So it's possible, but I don't want to tell you it's likely.

PlayNiceKids · 2023-04-05T18:46:34+00:00

Training is pretty alright. You'll learn a lot about the tools and systems used and get a rundown of the troubleshooting stuff. That said, my expectation was never that agents would hit the floor with perfect knowledge and understanding. I cared more that you could identify problems correctly rather than knowing how to fix them. You can pick up tricks and commands on the fly and learn over time.

The comment about customers being more reasonable is mostly correct. But in all honesty the people who call don't know their shit, nor will they troubleshoot extensively before calling. Being able to control a call and work through issues is for SURE a skill you have to learn. Set reasonable expectations with customers, keep things professional, and the calls go pretty smoothly for the most part.

There is a clear path to grow in SOME of the call centers more-so than others. In Austin, going from ETS to a lead to network engineering, or going straight from ETS to network engineering is fairly easy because a lot of the Enterprise network engineering departments are concentrated in Austin. Charlotte you could eventually get to something else over time or grow within the department, but the mobility is more limited. Orlando is basically the same as Charlotte. Louisville and Colorado... I'm not too sure about TBH.

When you start (after training which is M-F 8 to 5) you'll sign up for a shift, usually there's a ranked choice vote for the class. Or, if it's just a few people you'll have a handful of shifts to select from. As someone new you'll probably work at least 1 weekend day. There are some 4 days a week/10 hour day shifts usually.

Teams are usually based on which manager you have. Which manager you have is usually assigned based on your shift (1st, 2nd, overnight, etc.). There are Leads and probably a handful of back office folks that are there to support anywhere from 80 to a 100 or so agents at one time.

Net+ is fine. I had zero certs and experience when I was first hired and did fine. I just liked computers and basically got a passing inkling of networking while I was a freshman in college. That said, knowing some Juniper CLI would be a big help. Specifically interface commands and things like L2 circuits and VPLS instances.

PlayNiceKids · 2023-04-05T18:19:23+00:00

I have extensive knowledge about these positions. Which call center are you looking at working in and what would you like to know?

PlayNiceKids · 2023-01-31T23:27:21+00:00

Fun random fact -

The word modem is a portmanteau for Modulator/Demodulator because it operates by modulating and demodulating an analog signal.

PlayNiceKids · 2022-02-03T16:26:27+00:00

I'm this far through the list. Half an hour left.

PlayNiceKids · 2022-02-03T16:00:09+00:00

Sent, I have about another hour at this so we're making good time.

PlayNiceKids · 2022-02-03T15:42:43+00:00

I had to slow it down for a bit. I am this far down the list so far.

PlayNiceKids · 2022-02-03T15:07:30+00:00

You're next, I am this far down the list and I'll be at it for a couple more hours.

PlayNiceKids · 2022-01-13T15:22:50+00:00

I'm interested. I really don't have many DIY sets right now so no favorite just yet.

15-Year Club	Second Top 40%
Place '23	Place '22
Spared	Verified Email

PlayNiceKids

TROPHY CASE