Republish: Tales from the Data Center
Originally Published in 2015
So, I have a very heartwarming story today related to the WISP industry.
So this started back in March. A client was having issues with a circuit. The transport provider had so many failures in troubleshooting the issue from the start. First, the tech from the transport company did not have the tools he needed (we found this out 12 hours later) and could not troubleshoot the problem properly. Second, the Transport company (okay, let’s just call them Zayo from now on) had little to no documentation on this issue.
So, after 12 hours of back-and-forth troubleshooting, the transport provider finally sends a tech out. The tech gets on site and is told he should be in another location because they finally found a problem with the switch port. If the tech had had the proper tools, this process wouldn’t have taken 12 hours. But that’s another story.
So, here is part one of the heartwarming part; the problem is determined to be a cross-connect at the data center. I called Eric Rogers at 3AM, and he was at the data center at 4 AM, tracking down the problem with the backbone provider. The problem is a loose jumper inside the Backbone provider’s cabinet. It seems that when the circuit started having issues, someone from Zayo was working inside the patch panel. They knocked the jumper loose, and when it was opened back up, it just kinda fell out. A simple plug-in and it was fixed. It shouldn’t have taken 12 hours to fix, but that’s not the end of the story.
Fast forward to a few weeks ago. Keep in mind the above happened in March. It’s now September. Zayo sent the client a substantial bill for their tech’s time that night, saying it was a cross-connect issue and not a Zayo issue. There are threats to turn off the services if this outrageous bill, which was their fault initially, is not paid. So, here is where heartwarming part #2 comes in. Eric Rogers takes time out of his very busy day to write a letter detailing what he saw that night and the problems. After submitting the letter to Zayo, the client received word from Zayo that they had credited the account. This is as close to a win as you get in the provider world.
So, it’s thanks to guys like Rick Harnish who have fostered the willingness to work together, making situations like this possible. Eric got up at 3AM to help another WISP out and took the time to put words to paper to help correct a resulting lousy call. We could review all the failures in this issue, but the wins make it great!
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