How is it working for AT@T or other Internet providers

Comixbooks

Comixbooks

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I want to quit my current retail job and maybe get a networking job.
I want to be on the field and do installs and fix problems not sure if I have the mental capacity to do so but willing to try.
 
Retail sales in general sucks, no matter what company you work for.

The only job that is "outside" at AT&T that they will ever high for again is a premises technician. Bottom of the barrel in the company for outside techs. AFAIK they are paid hourly and are union in most places in the country. Even then I think they only work on "uverse" branded products, so nothing exciting about that; even at a business.

Most other "internet companies" contract out all installations and most repairs. If you are (or work for) a contractor, expect to be paid by the job, not by the hour.

A really small ISP could be good to work for, but 95% of the time you need experience to even be considered. Small companies don't always have the money to train someone from the ground up.
 
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Comixbooks said:
I want to quit my current retail job and maybe get a networking job.
I want to be on the field and do installs and fix problems
Click to expand...

Field jobs usually = cable monkey. Cables monkeys are not network techs and typically can't spell TCP/IP much less troubleshoot it.Networking problems are usually solved from an office using a remote console.
 
If you have any brains you don't want to work for an ISP... they are basically robots that just read/follow a procedural guide. Those people you see on the trucks... as Nick said, cable monkeys... they don't know their asses from their elbows and most are contracted out. The benefits are nice, but you are never going any place there.

If you want a real networking job, look at local computer consulting companies.
 
Yeah, I worked for a contracting company that was sent on work orders for ISPs like AT&T. It was not fun. Most of the time they just gave you a sheet with step by step instructions, sometimes they gave you no sheet and no instructions and you hoped you would get paid for the job. I basically got sent out to plug in power cords and network cables, and then sit there while the real techs did the troubleshooting remotely.

Some of the jobs I was sent out to fix were awful. The previous techs would plug core routers into extension cords and set them on cardboard boxes if they didn't have racking tools. The last one I went on before I left, the router was on a cardboard box, plugged into an extension cord, and the previous tech apparently didn't have a long enough cable to run over the suspended ceiling. To fix this, he left the door to the demarc closet open, stretched the cable out the door, across the middle of the office, and to the opposite wall where the rack was. The cable was suspended about 12" off the floor, so the people in the office had to step over it when they walked between cubicles.
 
Nicklebon said:
Field jobs usually = cable monkey. Cables monkeys are not network techs and typically can't spell TCP/IP much less troubleshoot it.Networking problems are usually solved from an office using a remote console.
Click to expand...

Ouch, some one is a little bitter.....

If you want into the industry, you need to start at the bottom and work your way up. If you are stuck in the field being a "Cable-Monkey" then it is for two reasons, one is your not very bright or the other is you're really keen to be dirty.

Nothing worse than working for a company who hires in little shits who come in with big creds yet has no clue of whats goes on in the real world. These are the guys you don't want in a data-centre or outside of the office either.
 
It varies.
I worked for a local Telco doing field tech for their DSL and DTV (basically ADSL-fed digital cable service.)
It was not some "cable monkey" job.

Obviously I can only speak for that one company as I worked for it, and it's local to Alaska.

I imagine there are others that are similar.
 
I've worked for some smaller ones (~6 exchanges, <8k customers total, exchanges ranged from ~500-1500 in population) and it's a pretty varied job, need to know more then how to pull cable. A lot of the jobs we end up doing depends on the individuals skill set. A couple of our guys are older TDM guys so they handle most of our T1 issues, me and another guy take care of most of our packet based stuff, and a couple others who used to be electricians handle most of the equipment at our cell sites. But we all and up doing things like OneCall locates, tv/phone/internet installs, trouble tickets etc.

The last place I was at our training budget was pretty much zero. Currently place we have the budget just not the time as we're busy with getting our FTTH installs wrapped up. We sent a few guys out to Calix and Metaswitch events for a week but that's about it.
 
Sounds like you guys all worked for actual ISPs. Around here its all contract work, the ISPs don't have any employees outside of the billing office. They give you a paper ID card that says you're "from FairPoint" or "From Time Warner" and you're forbidden from telling the customer that you're local (which is impossible to hide in Maine).

I imagine Dish does the same thing, which is probably how one of "their" techs managed to light my house on fire while running coax.
 
There is also a difference between residential and business / enterprise. Both AT&T and Comcast have their own employees that come out for issues in the area I am in. They do subcontract out residential though.

Most of the people I have talked to have been working for said company for more than 10 years so I'm guessing the turn over rate on those areas is not high. They probably have decent jobs and most were decent to work with. That would likely be the area you would want to shoot for as opposed to being a subcontractor for residential.
 
Lost-Benji said:
Ouch, some one is a little bitter.....
Click to expand...

Nope, I'm not bitter at all. I've never been a cable puller nor would I want to be. It's just a simple fact that in most cases cable techs are not network techs. Being a cable puller is certainly not in the recommended path to become a network guy as most people would consider them separate career paths.
 
Nicklebon said:
Nope, I'm not bitter at all. I've never been a cable puller nor would I want to be. It's just a simple fact that in most cases cable techs are not network techs. Being a cable puller is certainly not in the recommended path to become a network guy as most people would consider them separate career paths.
Click to expand...

Sorry but thats the attitude I have seen many times from "Networking" guys who took that very same dim view of the guys doing the dirty work for the "Networking tools" in some ACed office. First two got the sack when they were stupid enough to try and educate a customer that the issue was customer fault when they were the idiots who plugged a loop-backed cable back into same switch stack, crashing it. I was the dumb Cable-Monkey who found the most basic of F-ups.
I have progressed to owning my own business and have no time for cocky pricks who don't respect the end-person who needs to deal with the customers.
 
I started in networking about 6 years ago (been in IT professionally for abouy 17), and while cabling wasn't the only thing I had to know, I had to know it and do it. It's not a bad skill to have, and if you want to climb the ladder, it'll only help you as long as you grow.
 
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