“This year I moved in May 2007. My new housemates and I decided that we wanted to share wireless internet in our house. We ordered Qwest wireless the first week of June 2007,” Lindsey Case writes to Consumerist’s Ben Popken.
Case writes, “When I received the modem and start up disc, none of the codes would work for my computer, nor my housemates. I called Qwest and was told that it was because I had a MacBook. During the month of June I called Qwest over nine times, and was repeatedly told in both polite and in rude terms that the problem was my Mac, not Qwest. During one call to Qwest, an employee told me that he could get it up and running in 30 seconds if my computer were a PC. When I asked him if any of his colleagues were trained for Macs, he told me that hardly anyone uses Macs and Qwest should not have to train its employees in a practically obsolete system. He then transferred me, against my will, to the apple support line.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: According to Qwest’s website, “Embracing diversity and creating a culture of inclusion makes Qwest a better company. By incorporating a variety of viewpoints, insights and perspectives, Qwest is a better service provider, a better community partner and better able to serve our diverse employee and customer base…. We at Qwest are committed to delivering world-class products backed by unmatched customer service. We do this through the Spirit of Service while also setting a high standard for ethical business conduct.”
Contact:
Dave Heller
Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer
I am on a Quest to never use Quest products
I am on a Quest to never use Qwest products… thats better
first post
He then transferred me, against my will, to the apple support line.”
Huh? Don’t you send Windows peeps to the Windows support line and Mac peeps to the Mac support line?
If he’s setting up a wireless network the computer he’s using shouldn’t make a difference.
As much as I want to bash the idiot tech support guy for his anti-Mac comment, the blogger in question seems like a bigger retard.
Sounds like Qwest is making itself out to be an ‘obsolete system’.
BORING!!!… whatever blah blah… nothing to see here, move on.
Lip service from Qwest. Hit them in the pocket book and Boycott Qwest and share this message.
MDN Magic Word = modern. Like in get up-to-date.
That’s right Kool AId drinkers: Time to break out the torches and pitch forks and rally around this obviously bogus story.
Then we get all worked up when someone plays the fake virus card…
Just my $0.02
Qwest, you just lost all of my future business.
People say mac people are elitist. Maybe we just know more.
I find pc people to be ignorant. Most mac people know both macs and pcs. While pc people know nothing about macs.
Qwest. Wasn’t that a cereal from the 60’s along with Qwisp and Quake?
(“Quisp was re-introduced in the 1990s as the ‘first Internet cereal’ and is still in limited distribution. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quisp“)
I use Qwest broadband and have not any problems at all with the technical end, customer service on the other hand can be a little trying at times. If you have a problem with tech. support request to speak to a US based supervisor, if you get an off shore tech. rep your chances of being able to understand their english are poor to none.
My DSL is Qwest never had an issue, though I use a Netgear DSL Modem, a non-Qwest ISP named FastQ Communications (http://www.fastq.com) and my Wireless is via Apple Airport Extreme (with Gigabit Ethernet) basestations.
My ISP is owned by the former AMUG BBS sysop.
I wrote and complained…. said that I would move my company’s telephone (which I currently have) to the local competitor (cox communications) and though I was considering transferring my company’s long distance and high speed internet to cox, I will have serious second thoughts unless I receive an email explaining that Qwest intends to change its policy on Macintosh technical support.
Aren’t they still seeking the Holy Grail?
More importantly, what is the air-speed velocity of an unladen swallow?
Luckily we don’t have “Qwest” in my area, so I don’t have to deal with these obviously retarded dolts.
I believe the guy. Anytime I have called ISPs with problems and mentioned I have a Mac they tell me to call Apple (and sometimes rudely) I remember when I switched to high speed the guys that came to my house to set it all up kept asking where my computer was (I had an iMac G4) when I pointed and said “there” he just kept looking at me. Finally he said “Not the monitor! Where the hell do you plug in the cable”. They had never seen an iMac and were completely thrown by an all in one.
Just call Apple first when you have an issue. Save yourself a headache.
This sucks: I was really looking forward to giving them my money because they’re the only big telecom with the guts and basic sense to deny the federal government’s unconstitutional demands for customer information and call monitoring.
Oh no, they’re only diverse when it comes to sexual orientation and ethnicity.
Another hatchet job by MDN? I’ve been using Qwest DSL with our home network for 2 years and it hasn’t had any problems. They were initially slow getting to me (45 min wait on the phone), but after that I was up and running through our AEBSg in about 15 min. We’ve only had one time when their system went down (for about an hour). Other than that, it’s been smooth sailing.
As a long-time Qwest customer, this is extremely troubling news, if this is indeed true.
In the past I’d been able to get both myself and my parents set up with Qwest internet, despite the not-entirely-helpful materials from Qwest themselves, which were conspicuously Windows- or IE-only. Despite this, though, Qwest at least seemed somewhat amenable to the fact that we had only Macs.
That was about three years ago though. From the sound of this, I can’t necessarily trust that this will be the case going forward.
I’m sure it’s no coincidence that Microsoft and Qwest have been in bed together for a number of years now. I wouldn’t put it past MS to start dictating the operating systems Qwest would be allowed to support for their internet service, considering Microsoft’s less-than-rosy future outlook of late.
I will be calling Qwest customer service today about their policy regarding Mac support going forward. (Their service and customer support haven’t exactly been stellar of late, so perhaps it’s just one more thing I need to persuade me to find an alternative.) I’ll also be forwarding this story to my family and friends, many of whom are on Qwest and have Macs, so they can make their own inquiries.
All you have to do when talking to these guys is tell them you are doing exactly what they are telling you to do as if you were using a PC. I can usually get things done that way and they never know I am using a mac.
This took 2 minutes to find.
http://www.qwest.com/internethelp/opsystems/mac/index.html#osten
Not really tommy boy.
I was a trainer for @home before they went bankrupt and not training their support reps to configure a Mac is a choice QWest has made. It looks like they have a setup disk for PCs but not form Macs.
@Home had the same problem of not having a setup disk but they would at the minimum help set up a Mac with the customer.
These are ill trained support people probably pure and simple.
mw: think …
Qwest still exists?
I run into crap like this all the time. I just don’t tell them I’m using a Mac and I do the translation on the fly. Like when they say to open Right Click Network Places and Open properties, I know to just go to the network profiles on the Mac. Seriously folks. This shit is all the same on the side of networking. If they use a standard, there should never be any trouble connecting ANY wireless device. Problem is that the developers of the cheapo home wireless boxes use cheap parts that arnt tested on anything but a windows PC with some weird Wireless card. And when you call Tech Support and tell them you have a Mac, the more often than not, blame the Mac because they don’t want to take the time to troubleshoot with you. If those tech support guys were properly trained with networking skills AT ALL, they would be able to help you. But the only training they really have is how to read a screen.
back when Sallie Mae’s website for paying you student loans didn’t let you log in in firefox or safari, i was told by tech support that i should try accessing the site from a “normal” computer. That literally sent me into a rage.
About Qwest, this doesn’t surprise me. That is an awful, awful company. Back when i lived in a region that had qwest, it took them 2 months to set up and activate our DSL connection. Never again.
had qwest dsl for a while. worst. experience. ever.
one time, i called their support line, and the robot voice said that the average wait time was… one-and-a-half hours!
i switched to cox cable and haven’t looked back.
Come on guys, it’s one *tard who can’t get it right. No need to bash the whole company ferchrissakes. Jeez, my mortgage guy made some comments about my Mac, so am I going to boycott him? You guys want his name so you can too? WTF?
Most ISP tech’s who do the home setups know VERY LITTLE about computers in the first place. The extent of what they know is “ipconfig \renew”. Anything else and they “have to escalate” the issue. The tech’s are line tech’s. Heck I’ve showed so many tech’s the modem’s status page, showing the S/N ratios, etc, and they’ve been stunned. “How did you get there?”. They are dumb, get over it Maciscts.
Thanks for the link to customer dis-service. My message was simple, polite, informative and constructive. I hope others can say the same. We win no friends by abusing these jerks, regardless of how much they deserve it.
Face it: Macs make up less than one in ten PCs that they might have to deal with. If their software worked on a Mac, the number of actual calls from Mac users would likely be under one in twenty. We’ll have a better argument when we are #1 than at our current #3.
Dave
Isn’t Qwest a cereal? I like cereal.
I’d do what MS does, but I’d end the call by complimenting them on their knowledge of Macs. That will not only mess with their heads, but it will also educate them. They’ll come away from the call thinking that supporting Macs isn’t so bad. The next Mac user who calls will get better service.
Imagine if you were the tech guy, and a customer complimented you on a skill you didn’t think you had…
What makes me laugh about this is Apple uses networking standards, so if Qwest cant comply to global networking standards then they should close up business.
Qwest – you are the weakest link.
Goodbye.
Umm, if one company can actually make AT & T look competent, then that is Qwest. After being slammed twice by them, and experiencing similar customer service – I certainly have no love for them. A company with the scandals that it has had should embrace each and every customer that voluntarily chooses them.
@Mauritius Kestrel
What? European or African swallow?
Yeah, but what’s Qwest gonna do after everybody switches?
MW: anyone. Anyone? Someone? Bueller?
It’s so sad. My dad worked for Northwestern Bell, then US West, and finally Qwest for 40 years from 1963-2003 and he can’t believe what a crappy company it’s turned into. And he’s using a 2004 eMac. Although, like Nathan wrote, I do give them props for standing up to Shrub.
And it’s not just them. I had an issue setting up my new Airport Extreme and Airport Utility said it was some issue from my ISP, Comcrap. I called Comcrap and they said it was Apple’s fault and I’d have to call them. Luckily it worked perfectly when I got home that night and didn’t have to call either company.
Get with it people, Macs aren’t going away they are just going to take over.
@bd: How do you know so much about swallows?
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Bogus…any Mac should work with any wireless system out there. I keep my Macbook around in my mini-van…there is always a non password protected signal out there to pick up and surf the web. Never a problem with any carrier, as I piggyback whenever I choose. Bogus that there is a Mac problem, as the bandwagon has passed Quest by already and they missed the boat. What an attitude to take in addition.
If you read the entire article on the referenced page it all makes sense.
I have to say, I was leary of Verizon when we signed up for the FIOS service, but so far, so good.
I have Qwest DSL with my new iMac and am enjoying 7 Mb/sec. speed that does not fluctuate like Comcast. Never had a problem. I find Qwest quicker overall than Comcast. This problem the writer experience is odd. Why would it work on an iMac and not a MacBook? Obsolete my ass!!!
“Jeez, my mortgage guy made some comments about my Mac, so am I going to boycott him? You guys want his name so you can too? WTF?”
yes. please post it. I’ll go key his car.
I went on their website to send them and email and before I can get an address I have to tell them how much money my company plans on spending on telecom communications!!!! YEA, thats who I want to do business with.
I invented Qwest, and they support me just fine.
Remember: it’s pronounced “quest,” not “Q-West.” However, in the spirit of rudeness, we should purposely mispronounce it at every opportunity.
“none of the codes we were entering were working”
setup a wireless network much?
The blogger was probably trying to install Windows only software that is not necessary on the Mac. Often Internet Service providers want you to install their crap when all it contains is ad-ware garbage – branded IE or whatever. Stuff you don’t need to use the Internet service.
i used to have qwest and had zero trouble connecting it to an all Mac household. what changed since last month?
on the other hand, their service and DNS servers are crap. i had to use another DNS server to avoid frequent issues.
Can’t even begin to express what minions Quest has come to be. Hope I never have to do business with them, but if I do they’re gonna kiss my ass first.
By the way, this militant attitude is an exact duplicate of what you’ll get if you invite a MS certifide consultant into your workplace – exactly – almost the exact same words too, like Macs are obsolete and the like. It’s truely amazing what mindless imbeciles MS promoters are, and all the while squealling about how Mac users are somehow brainwashed.
Okay, that’s as far as I can go without using excessive and excessively foul language.
Does anyone see a problem with Internet-based help systems when the problem to be solved is getting on the Internet in the first place?
I’ve had Qwest DSL since they were US West. They’ve always treated me well. They’ve even sent a tech to my house to check out SNL problems. (And, don’t assume I’m a Qwest lackey. I’m just a customer.)
While I’m not saying that Lindsey is making this up, I am saying that based on personal experience, it has never gone as Lindsey described.
I would also add that if they want to transfer my call to a Mac head, then more power to them. I’d call that good customer service.
I’m not defending Qwest, but I use Qwest for DSL and use a Mac. I had it installed in 5 minutes, using their set-up guide no less. So something is fishy somewhere in this story.
Jesus –
It took two minutes to find because you have the internet. This guy was trying to GET the internet.
When I was setting up my current DSL service a couple years ago I saw that Qwest had discontinued their support of Mac. So I went with earthlink instead. I have since transfered my land line to them as well. Qwest is forced to allow them on their lines as a local provider. Too bad aboput Qwest.
Best day of my utility paying adult life was when I called to cancel my Qwest service in favor of my fiber internet and Vonage phone.
The lady asked my why I was cancelling, I told her I had fiber installed at my house. “Fiber?” she asked. Yes, Fiber Optics… She hadn’t ever heard of it.
This whole mac story makes me very glad that not a single penny of my income goes to Qwest, and I intend to keep it that way. Spirit of Service indeed.
Another example of MDN’s incompetence at reporting “News”…
“Qwest: Apple Macs are a ‘practically obsolete system’”…
I see no sign that “Qwest” said any such thing. If this incident happened at all (and I have serious doubts that it did) it was one moron who works at Qwest, and a VERY low level employee, certainly no one who would be authorized to state corporate policy….
Move on, Nothing to see here except MDN trying to act like a real news source and fanboys normal whining.
Nice to see that nothing has changed at Qwest in 9 years. At least they are consistent…consistently bad. I had the same situation when I moved to the Portland area back in 1998. Then I switched to @home and let my macs do the set-up all by themselves. While their mac support wasn’t much better at least the system worked regardless of the hardware. Ugh.
It’s so ironic when it’s actually Windows that is rapidly becoming an obsolete system. After all. Vista after 5 years of development is a non-starter as nobody wants it and the preferred Windows system (XP) is becoming a dinosaur. OS X Leopard is light years ahead of XP now and will have probably two to three more large updates (to 10.7 or 10.8) by the time Microsoft release Windows 7. What will happen to Mafia$oft over the next 5 years when they get a similar nonchilant embrace from their userbase for the next iteration of Windows? A userbase which I think will be considerably smaller by then.
“Does anyone see a problem with Internet-based help systems when the problem to be solved is getting on the Internet in the first place?”
I worked for a company that actually sent out a blast e-mail that asked users that were unable to use e-mail to send an e-mail to the Help Desk for assistance. Sure you could use someone else’s computer but it’s still funny.
And wasn’t this a Windows error screen at one time?
“Keyboard has malfunctioned. Press any key to continue.”
OMFG! I am appalled that a tech-support line was useless and rude! I DO protest in the strongest possible terms!
Puh-lese!
If you are a Mac user, you are going to run into the PC-centric tech support drones in just about every major corporation you contact. It is for this very reason that I advise all Mac users to bypass tech-support altogether.
I recommend that people who need solutions to their tech support problem go to the Apple Discussions board. It is amazing how quickly and succinctly my problems are solved there.
For example, I have a Lynksis Router that would not distribute our internet connection to the household Macs, and Lynksis had almost nothing on how to configure the router using a Mac. A few minutes on the Apple Discussions board and I had a procedure for cloning the MAC address, which worked flawlessly.
But if you want a headache and a chance to jump up and down and stamp your feet, go ahead and call tech support. I hear they LOVE Mac users!
I’ve been a Qwest customer for 3+ years. What they do is try to get you to use MSN. This is like an extra 6-7 dollars a month. I told them I didn’t need MSN premium, just the internet connection and they thought I was weird. Anyway, after trying to explain to them that I didn’t need anything Microsoft, they relented and noted that my machine was a PC on their records so that I could get the reduced price (minus the MSN premium). Really, the Qwest support folks are clueless. Really.
I had a Qwest guy come up to me once. I threw him right out the freakin window.
Each Qwest DSL modem allows one to configure the modem using a web browser. I’ve used this technique in Linux, Windows, and OS X. Once you’ve used the CD-ROM to install using the browser method, one can even bookmark the IP address of the modem for future. Thus, it is possible to manage the modem without the CD-ROM.
This sounds like a lack-of-employee-training issue to me. But Qwest does have a proven record regarding customer privacy — that counts for a lot in my book.
Sorry to hear of your problem, but I know exactually what you mean.
When I connected to broadband they sent me a cable modem and ethernet cable. No problem. Hook everything up, call their tech support to get the MAC number into their system (no not that Mac :-) ) and off I went. The problem came when I tried to go wireless.
I bought the wireless router and guess what?? It did not support Mac systems. I am serious. It will work with a Mac, no problem, but I had to borrow a friends PC to load the software so I could get with wireless unit programmed and running. However, once it was running, I can connect with my iMac wireless, NO problem. Its just that most wireless units (Airport excepted) do not have drivers for Macs so you CANNOT DO THE SET UP WORK.
Its really stupid, but that is the deal.
en
PS, do no not know if that was your problem, but it sure was mine unit I borrowed the pc for set up.
If Qwest is like most companies, their frontline customer service is all outsourced. The inevitable result of this is low accountability, lack of alignment with proclaimed corporate values, and at best an uneven support experience for customers.
The Mac stuff is just the tip of the iceberg, I’m sure.
I also use Qwest and have had no problems with them. They usually have no idea I’m even using a Mac as I just translate their Windows-centric instructions to Mac on the rare chances I’ve had to call tech support. After they get through with their instructions I tell them that I’m on a Mac and just used the info they gave me for networking. It usually fries their brains, but I want them to know there are Mac users out there. I even had my phone and DSL moved to a new house yesterday and the service order was filled without a hitch other than they changed my VCI settings without telling my ISP which required a tweak on their side to get me running. Otherwise it was seamless. All tech support services have their horror stories at one point or another. I remember having to deal with someone in India for Apple Care tech support when my graphics card died in my G5 tower. I’d already run the hardware test and all the other things they require you to do before they will issue a work order to get it fixed yet they insisted that I go through them all over again while they were on the phone with me, which produced the exact same error messages I told them I was getting the FIRST time I ran all those tests. I was on the phone with that guy for two and a half hours and could barely understand a damn word he said and had to put up with him reading through his script before I could finally get what I wanted/needed from him. Qwest hasn’t cornered the market on inconsistent tech support by a long shot.
I can’t vouch for Qwest, but Bellsouth (now AT&T;) has sent cross-platform setup CDs since 2001 if not before. Now when it comes to tech support, you are still on your own. Thank God I’ve had to call tech support just one time when something inexplicable happened to my DSL modem. IT droids are simply that. They know nothing about computers. They know nothing about networking. They can’t think outside of the box, which is why they have the job that they have.
As for the constitutionality issues, the leftists who post here have impressed me with one thing only — their unrivaled ignorance. How’s that “everyone who disagrees with me must be censored” campaign going, guys?
“This year I moved in May 2007.”
Duh, 2007 IS this year. She could co-star with the support guy in Dumb and Dumber.
@ Mr Peabody,
Remember, nothing exceeds like excess!
To the rest of us:
Let’s do some basic fact-checking before going off the deep end against QWest. Maybe they are recidivists, maybe they are Mac-hating MS fanbois, but verify first, then vilify.
The same in the Netherlands Europe, where a large provider Het Net mentiones this in their rules : We ondersteunen niet als.., U maakt gebruik van een Apple PC of Notebook …= We do not support etc .. if ..!
Apple should perhaps be much more agressive to defend their worldwide customers.
On the very rare occasions that I’ve had to call my ISP’s tech support line (Eclipse in the UK), the reaction I’ve got is, “Oh thank God – a Mac user!” – and when you call them, you’re actually talking to a proper tech, not some Tier 1 numpty reading off a script.
Qwest are Qwakers
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Try Speakeasy.net.
They’re based in Seattle but available nationwide. Their quality service is simply amazing…for Mac or Wintel. And they’re all about freedom and privacy.
Release the hordes!
When I got my first Powerbook, I did have to flash my Linksys router at the time to a new bios that was mac compatible. So some wireless hardware does not interoperate with macs without an upgrade. But to call macs an obsolete system….
I have been a Qwest user for 2 years and have never had a problem with them. The Qwest people have been great and helpful when I have had questions. They have always seemed well versed on Macs, and seemed to know much more about the inner workings of a Mac than I am.
BustingTheSkullsOfIdiots:
Whaat?? Your comments always amuse me, but not in a good way. You are not funny, as some other posters can be from time to time.
We all have our off days, but it seems to me that it’s you who are the epitome of irrelevance. Your knee-jerk reactionary rantings really are idiotic. How old are you, 15 ?
If you look at the link to their Mac support page, it appears that they have information for 10.x-10.2 and also information specifically for 10.3. They’re a bit behind.
I’ve been using Qwest DSL for two years and it has been a very dependable service. I even had one of their techs give me his cell phone number in case I had any problems.No complaints here.
Been using Qwest DSL when the top speed was 64kbs it’s now 7mbs. I have never used Qwest or MSN as my ISP. I’ve always used a local mac friendly ISP.
I would never get cable broadband cause they force you into using them as the ISP. I love the flexibility or choosing my own ISP for my internet connection.
My ISP allows me to run my own servers Mail MX, FTP, WWW and DNS servers, and I control my own domain records too.
See if a cable company will allow you to do that.
@Jesus and @ @Jesus:
This is the same crappy thing with the big ISP’s in Europe:
There’s T-Online (Germany), AON (Austria) and Bluewin (Switzerlland) where the monkeys on the phones of the hotline have no slight idea about Macs although the setup is on their internal help pages.
They just don’t know that the info is right there. And they also don’t know that a router setup with Safari is the same than a PC using IE (nearly, beside of the fact thet PC users hardly find their mac address… muahaha).
No kidding, I knew somebody who called T-Online and they transfered to ‘their’ Apple team. Gues what: The guy was transfered to AppleCare directly. Must have been a nice surprise for both, my friend and the AppleCare agent.
Agent: Welcome to AppleCare.
Friend: Hi, are you the Mac expert here at T-Online?
Agent: Sorry, did you say T-Online? You called AppleCare.
Friend: No, your colleague transfered me.
Agent: You called T-Online and have been transfered? Is that right?
Friend: Exactly. They wanted to put me through to their Apple team.
Agent: Well, “their” Apple team seems to be an external one called AppleCare. That was a bad joke. Let’s see how I can help.
Result: AppleCare fixed the router issue in less than 1 hour, whereas T-Online was not possible to do it in 14 days.
To sum it up: All ISP’s arogant enough to ignore Macs should be told a lesson. Feel free to choose a better ISP where possible.
bd:
“What? European or African swallow?”
African. I’m sure of it.
I’m not falling off the Bridge of Death on that trick again.
> Shoeman wrote: Move on, Nothing to see here except MDN trying to act like a real news source and fanboys normal whining.
You forget, sir! This story was told by a Mac fanboy, and repeated by a fanboy website.
Therefore, it must be true!
When I say that I use System 10, it throws the tier one, card-reading tech support turd for a loop and immediately transfers me to the tier two, extremely knowledgeable, probably-high-cause-he’s-so-relaxed tech agent.
Good grief. I was a Qwest customer and never had a single problem when I had their DSL service. They have support pages on their site for Macs, so they obviously realize they have Apple customers. As with any company, you’ll always find an asshat with a personal axe to grind.
Don’t complain or threaten to move your business unless you, yourself have a bad experience. Quit being lemmings folks.
Move on, Nothing to see here except MDN trying to act like a real news source and fanboys normal whining.
Yeah, no shit. MDN is the last source a person should use for Mac news. MDN is a fanboy site with 90% ads, 10% content and they don’t give a shit about real news – only how many hits they get to accumulate that all-important ad revenue.
Hit ’em where it hurts and install AdBlock in Firefox or IE7 Pro if you’re a PC user. Maybe then they’ll clean up their act and start reporting on real Mac news like this:
http://www.news.com/8301-13579_3-9811753-37.html
Mac’s are obsolete. Come on, no one uses those…
I tried to get Quest DSL for my mac, and was told that they only sell for PCs. They then told me I could get it from a 3rd party provider with monthly bills from both Quest for the required phone line / DSL, and another from the internet provider. I went with this with no problems, except my ping is seldom below 200. The Quest website even lists “not available for Macs”.
Typical. I have had Quest DSL for a few years now. When I signed up, they had no software and no support to offer Mac users — I had to figure things out on my own. I just bought my folks a new iMac, and when Quest came to set up their DSL line, they initially blamed signal strength issues on the Mac, which the installer agreed was a crock of s%&t;. There has clearly been no Mac support or training within the company, and like all Microsoft buffoons, they immediately think any problem is with the OS .
I will never re-Quest to use anything from them. There service statement doesn’t match what they actually do at all. They somehow come to the conclusion that Macs are outdated yet they don’t back that up with any real facts. I can say with high authority that I can get my Mac on a network faster than any PC especially if it is DHCP. The Mac does it for you, no configuration necessary. So for them to state that the Mac is out dated is just plain FUD by people who don’t have any facts period!
Looks like Quest doesnt need any of our money…. Fine with me…
This company sounds like Bell Sympatico here in Canada. They advertise that support and service is fine for Macs but when you have a problem… “oh sorry… we no know Macs” Utter BS!!!!
I have Comcast cable broadband. Since I use a router, I never had to install their special software, because it’s the router than interacts with the cable modem. The Mac just needs to interact with the router as part of the local network (which does not require special software or settings). That’s the way to go, even if you have just one Mac.
Recently, when I had to replace a broken cable modem (Comcast gave me a new one after initially insisting that the problem was with my Mac), I did have to call tech support to activate the connection for the new cable modem. At first, the tech support guy insisted that I install their Mac connection software, which would go through the process. I insisted that since I used a router, I did not need to install any special software and that I did not want to install their proprietary software; with my previous cable modem, everything worked fine with no special software or settings. The guy finally admitted that he could “flip a switch” on his end and it would then work. So if you use a router (including Apple’s Airport base stations), don’t let tech support tell you their software is not designed for Macs. No software is needed.
Those Qwest tech support guys are sure going to be surprised as more and more calls will come from Mac users.
Glad we don’t have QWEST here…. Verizon Online (both FiOS and DSL) have a DEDICATED Mac tech support line! Bravo Verizon!
Meanwhile, weren’t a bunch of QWEST execs thrown in jail for fraud or something? I just remember seeing in WSJ that Joe Nacchio, w/ his crooked toupe, being convicted for some sort of corporate scandal….
” Vista after 5 years of development is a non-starter as nobody wants it “
Except Vista accounts for about 8% of the world’s computer users and is growing at 1% a month. It’s Mac OS X that’s actually the fat ugly girl at the dance.
@ ByeTakeCare,
How odd! Qwest actually charges me MORE to use Qwest without MSN. The Qwest+MSN service is 26.99USD or something close to it. Qwest without MSN cost me over 30.00USD per month.
Wow, so this what’s become of the company that Johnny built. After all those years of travel with Bandit, Hadji, his Father and his “other” Father, I would have thought he to be more enlightened. I guess he just sold out.
MW:cold
useless article, it does not mention why the WIFI router wasn’t working with the mac.
probably a user mistake, there is no reason why the mac would not work with that modem
I know people on Qwest that are using Macs just fine and got their laptops up and running in minutes. Whoever you spoke to is an asshole and should be peed on.
@TotalMac
“I would also add that if they want to transfer my call to a Mac head, then more power to them. I’d call that good customer service.”
Hardly, good customer service would entail telling the individual that you don’t know the answer to the question, or aren’t as familar with the Mac as others in your support team, let me have you speak with one of them who will be better able to assist you. The bad service comes from comments about qwest not needing to train people on an obsolute system, or if they were running a PC it would be fixed in 30 seconds, etc, etc. No need for any of that.