Tech Support Annoyances
Written: Sep 10 '02
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Pros: Functional Product with Print Server included.
Cons: Annoying Tech Support Experiences
The Bottom Line: Tech support experiences are marginal. Website support is relatively weak compared to others. Product is certainly functional anyway once you get it set up.
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| usadan's Full Review: (SMC7004AWBR) Wireless Router |
I've had this product for over a year. It has proven stable and functional once it is set up. I have from two to four computers connected, one wireless and the rest are wired. It is connected to a Samsung printer. As another reviewer stated, it would be nice if the printer was connected via its USB connection instead of the parallel port but once it is setup, it doesn't matter.
The toughest part for me has been setting up the printer servers in both Windows 98 and XP. A couple times I have reinstalled the operating systems (for reasons unrelated to this product) and thus have to reconfigure the printers. It's a headache each time.
Normally I'd just go to a company's website and get the details there. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find clear answers on the details on the SMC website so I've had to call twice.
Hold times for tech support has been typically 30 to 60 minutes. An hour on tech support hold is a very long wait and does not leave a good impression. I have no idea what the competitors do to their customers.
Tonight, after 30 minutes on hold, they transfered me to someone, probably based in a foreign country, with whom I had a very difficult time communicating. He It seemed as if he has answered this type of question many times before. Despite the language difficulties, he made it sound like he knew what to do although seemed eager to end the call, rather than talk me through it. said he'd mail me instructions.
The fact that they have instructions to mail obviously makes you wonder why they don't just put what he mailed me on their website. Or if its there somewhere, why they don't make it easy to find.
I think this tech support specialist was outsourced to a foreign country. We went over my email address letter by letter about three or four times (its very simple too). I could barely understand him and wasn't even confident he had the my email address correct.
It took about an hour for the simple email to arrive. The technical content was helpful but had some errors in it. It helped enough that I could figure it out at least.
Anyway, I don't know how other wireless routers are for tech support, but my experiences with SMC tech support really don't add much glow to an otherwise competent product.
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 170
Driver Availability: Don't Know
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Epinions.com ID:
usadan
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Reviews written: 3
Trusted by: 0 members
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