“Even though some Qwest employees told our reader that Qwest wireless wouldn’t work for her because ‘Macs are practically an obsolete system,’ Jon Lentz, Qwest director of network operations, wrote to inform us that Qwest, does, in fact, support the use Macs on its network,” Ben Popken reports for The Consumerist.
Thank you for bringing this issue to our attention. I work at Qwest, and I am Mac user with Qwest Broadband. I want to clarify that Qwest Broadband absolutely works with Macs. I apologize for the poor experience Ms. Case had with our technical support – it runs counter to our goal to provide outstanding customer service. We have Mac specialists in our technical support centers, and there is an online resource available for Mac users with Qwest Broadband.
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: That’s more like it. Now if only Qwest would get around to updating their online Mac resources to cover beyond Mac OS X 10.3 Panther (released over four years ago on October 24, 2003) they’d really be cooking with gas.
Thats funny…I was thinking Qwest was an obsolete telco
WWAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!! too late
Pathetic.
MDM Word: “very”
Just goes to show that anyone with a pulse can get a job at a tech support center.
One person got an anti-Mac a-hole in tech support, the company is clearly making an effort here. Let’s not trash them just yet.
No, let’s trash them for being one of the most ordure-filled telecom companies in the west! I live in Colorado, and until you’ve been “had” by Qwest, you don’t know what you’re suggesting here.
Anything and everything that befalls this company THEY DESERVE!
To me, this sounds like the recordings of the tech support’s call activities are being reviewed, and a certain call operator will be flipping burgers soon.
When Qwest uses the phase ‘Macs are practically an obsolete system,’ then Qwest has gone past a point of no return.
There is nothing Qwest can say or ever say that will make me want to give them my business and hard earned money.
It is a free market and I can find similar services elsewhere.
As far as the person with the original problem is concerned, Qwest doesn’t support Macs. As far as the next Mac user seeking support from Qwest is concerned, they might not support Macs, because they have no guarantee their call won’t be answered by the same jerk. All the nice letterns from the director of network operations (who I believe) don’t make a bit of difference to the person on the phone seeking help. I the rep is lame, lazy or both, the result is the same as if Qwest was making no effort at all.
Which gets us to Strategy One for dealing with support lines. If you think you’re getting a bogus answer, hang up and call back! You’ll get a different person who may have a better grasp on the question. They quality of tech support line is always proportional to the care of the industry for the individual customer. Telcom views us as fools to be taken advantage of and that attitude works its way down from the top to the lowest tech support call center worker.
Well, I don’t have any personal experience with Qwest, but clearly they’re at least doing PR damage control. Most companies just bury stuff and hope it goes away on its own. If they are telling the truth about their Mac support, then that’s even better. If they are actually reviewing the tech support phone records and take action, that’s even better still. How much do I hope for? Not much, but it does look like they’re trying.
My experience with Qwest DSL started about 6 years ago.
The initial setup experience was horrible. Since then it just plain works. I can’t remember the last time that it didn’t. I do have an old cisco modem so that might help plus I chose their no ISP bring your own thing instead of MSN. Friends with the Qwest MSN manually setup the connection and install nothing and seem to have no problems either.
This is a common problem not limited to Qwest. I live in Canada and offer my IT services for a select few. Some are using windoze systems and others are taking my recommendations and switching to Mac. From my experience with Bell, Cogeco, Rogers, basically everyone in the internet supply business all leave new Mac users to fend for themselves. Including setting up blackberrys and what not.
The customer service industry with respect to phone and internet supply is based on a model from many years ago. And, as such I would say that 7 times of 10 when calling customer service you will be told that the aforementioned company does not support Mac.
The customer service call centre goals are for shorter call times. That means that instead of helping their customers through the problems it is easier to get off the phone to lower the average call time and let some other CSR take care of it. They all have targets to hit when it comes to average call time. Spending time with a unfamiliar system and a new Mac user lowers their potential for bonus based on time.
SAD but TRUE!
@lurker – Yeah, I’d love to wait ANOTHER 45 minutes on hold for a tech rep if I don’t get the answers from the first one. That’s always a fun way to waste a whole day.
I have to back up what Tranz4m has said.
I have Qwest DSL and an independent ISP that hooked me about 4 years ago. It has been reliable service with the Qwest supplied modem. Very reliable and always up.
I think the the “practical obsolete’ part of the tech support guy statement might be referring to his services. All his calls are PC related, i.e. non Mac issues – hence that’s his little universe. One Mac issue and he is out of his element.
For those of you thinking of dumping cable for DSL, I for one have had no issues with qwest DSL service, and I’m running 10.4.10. Just my two cents. An no, I don’t work for them. I can’t speak to thief voice stuff as I don’t have call forwarding, waiting , ring back etc. etc. Just a phone and DSL that’s it. Both work without issues.
Are the telcos different than Comcast in the level of Apple support? The only broadband provider I’ve ever had is Comcast, and when I got it installed, I don’t remember the question of what type of computer I had ever being mentioned.
I bought the “modem”, did the install, and was done in about 15 minutes, and tech support has been great, at least for me.
Who will be fired at Qwest?
“For those of you thinking of dumping cable for DSL”…
Not sure why, but I’ve never had a good experience with DSL here in So Cal. It’s slow, spotty, and not as good as cable. This experience holds true with my mac converts also.
Do not.
Do too.
Do not.
Do too.
Doughnut?
Yes, thanks! Where were we? Oh yes, I came here for an argument.
I tried to signup for qwest dsl at my home and they informed me that it would cost $10/month more because I was a mac user. All I wanted was an IP. I don’t care about their email or hosting if that’s what’s not compatible.
I don’t use Qwest, but what one person reports was said to them does not neccesarily mean that they represent the whole company.
How can we judge any of this without hearing the tape and listening to both sides?
@PCIdiot,
Judge this by going to Qwest’s support site linked by MDN:
http://www.qwest.com/internethelp/opsystems/mac/index.html
You’ll see that it’s true that they stopped updating their website for Macs after OX 10.3! That clearly demonstrates that they are making no effort to provide support for the Mac.
Problem with Qwest is their partnership with Microsoft and resulting subsidization of MSN. Qwest’s ISP by itself costs a lot more. When they decide to give me comparable DSL rates without being shackled to M$, then I might consider giving them my business.
To PCIdiot:
What’s a tape? Still using that dial-up modem and a rotary phone?
Nice to see a response from Quest! Thanks
I disagree with Jim – TIV. I’ve never had as slow downloading on DSL in two different states across the continent as I do with my present NV cable provider. Between 8 to 8:30 am and 6 – 6:30 pm it is slower than trying to pour cold molasses. I never had that happen with DSL. I’m switching.