L1 Troubleshooting Guide
Ticking and Network support escalations:
For the time being do not escalate any support ticket strictly due to a node being degraded. If a caller has any issues with that node that can be confirmed create a support case per normal, but do not just see yellow and escalate cases until further notice.
Fully troubleshoot any degraded nodes before filing any network support tickets.
Escalation Paths
Advanced Support – We are getting rid of this bucket. If you have determined that the network is working as intended as seen by this guide, but the customer still can’t get connected or can’t get to specific websites like iTunes, that’s not in our scope of support. As long as they have internet, or as long as the network is up and working, then there’s little more we can do to help that’s not mentioned in this guide. At the same time, we no longer process callback requests. If a guest wants to know when the network is working again, they’ll either have to check periodically, or call us back within 24-48 hours for an update.
NetOps Screening – We are getting rid of this bucket. If you have determined, according to this guide, that there is something wrong with the network and there are no open sugar cases for this problem and this location and there are no WAM alerts being sent out, then you can escalate your ticket to Network Support for review.
ContactWorks – We are getting rid of this bucket. Don’t use it.
Refund Request – Process as normal. This will not change.
Manager Requests – Escalate this request to an available L2 or Team Lead. If nobody is available to take that call, escalate via email to cwleads@cwxtx.com.
Template
Fill out this template as you troubleshoot. By keeping a record of such fields as the username, MAC address and so on, you’ll be able to reference those quickly if you ever need to check the account again, check for the status of a MAC’s connection, or have the gateway IP on hand if you need to direct your caller’s URL there.
Name:
Park:
Phone:
Issue:
SSID:
Gateway IP:
MAC(s):
Usage on that MAC:
IP:
Signal:
Lot:
Username:
Account Type (credit/coupon/balance):
Subscription Expiration:
T/Sing Steps:
Check Guest Connection
The idea of this section is to first check the connection flow of the customer from their computer to the internet. By doing this, you can see what part of the process the customer is getting hung up on.
1. Gather your customer’s name and location.
While gathering this information, pull up the location to check for any outages – check the Current User Access list to verify name spelling and to find and notate the customer’s MAC address. While you’re there, check that MAC address to see if the usage is shaped or blocked. You can also click on that customer’s name to check their account for usage and to see if their subscription is active.
2. Check to see if your guest is even connected wirelessly and get them connected to Tengo with at least 3 bars of signal strength. (2 and less bars show a signal issue.)
“On your list of available wireless networks, what does it show you’re connected to?”
You can also check their tower to see if their MAC address is connected and if they have a valid IP address.
(If they are connected wirelessly, but are not showing up on a node ARP table, or their device says “limited or no connectivity”, chances are, they are not getting a correct IP address.)
3. Check to see if your guest can pull up the park login page by one of the three following:
- start.tengointernet.com
- gateway IP address
- weather.com (if this results in a search, have the caller click on any of the search results to achieve the same effect. – If the weather page comes up, you could already be online, if the login page comes up, just proceed to step 4. If the page cannot be displayed, chances are, the IP address is missing or there is a communication problem on the network itself. Try the Internet Explorer (no add-on) step as a final attempt to bring up the login page.)
(If none of the above work, follow these steps exactly – if they don’t work, then the issue is a lack of communication between the computer and the node:
- Start up Internet Explorer (no add-ons)
- File – open – gateway IP – enter
(If you still can’t get the login page to work, proceed to the Network troubleshooting section.)
4. Try and get your guest registered or logged in.
Try to see if you can look up their account to see if they’re using the right credentials or if their account is even active. You can also take their MAC address and check the blocked list to see if they’re on that. Sometimes, if just one of their MAC addresses is on the blocked list, no MAC address will be able to log in. If any errors arise when logging in, conduit into that node’s login page and try to replicate the issue. If you can replicate it through your conduit, the issue is Tengo side and needs to be escalated. If the issue cannot be replicated, continue to troubleshoot the browser and try the gateway IP to reload the login page.
Check Network Connection
If the customer can’t get connected wirelessly, or they can connect, but you cannot bring up the park login page by any means, check the network connection to see if you can find the breakpoint.
5. Double check the login page to make sure it’s functioning correctly.
Determine if the park is pay-per-use, shared authentication, or free to connect, then conduit into the park login page and see if it works correctly.
6. Check the connection between the guest and the tower.
Make sure the user is connected to their access point / tower with at least 3 bars of signal strength. Check that access point / node to make sure they have a valid IP and to make sure you see a strong signal associated with their MAC address. You can also ping the guest’s IP address from the tower, but if you get 100% packet loss, it just means the guest’s device is firewalled.
You can also ask for their lot number and check to see just how close they are to that tower. There’s a good chance that they’re actually closer to another tower, and that is the one having problems. Switch your network investigations to the closer tower.
7. Check the tower.
Check to see how much red is on the tower’s analytics. Check to see if there are any other users on the tower. Check the uptime of that tower to see if it was down recently. Check to see if everyone is having bad signals or just your caller. If this is an access point, you can also check the noise:
-105 to -120: Unnatural noise – network issue that needs a reboot first, then an escalation
-95 to -85: noise is within normal limits
-80 to -55: Noise is extremely high and needs a reboot first, then an escalation
uptime 10+ days just needs a health reboot
8. Check the connection between the tower and the gateway.
Go to the gateway and do a ping to that access point / tower. If you find packet loss, perform 2-3 more ping tests to test for consistency. If the packet loss is consistently 13%+, escalate for network investigation.
9. Check the connection between the gateway and the internet.
Test the gateway connection to the internet by pinging out from the gateway to the internet.
Ping google.com to test the internet connection and ping auth.tengointernet.com to see if their system can reach the authentication server.
Like in step 8, if there is packet loss, perform 2-3 more ping tests to test for consistency. If the packet loss is consistent, escalate for network investigation.
10. If everything on the network side tests fine, including the park login page, the issue may still be guest side. Continue to troubleshoot the customer’s computer, or browser, or network settings.
11 Slow Speeds – If you have confirmed the issue is caused by slow speeds from the park owned ISP, use the following script:
“Mr/Mrs Customer, I certainly understand the frustration you are experiencing with the slow speeds at [name property]. Please allow me to first address a common misconception. There is a difference between the wireless network with which your devices are able to connect, and the internet speeds with which those devices can enjoy the internet.
You see, the [name property] has an independent Internet Service Provider (or commonly known as an ISP), which provides the direct connection to the internet. That being said, we provide the wireless network, which sits on top of this internet connection, in order for you to enjoy wireless connectivity throughout the [name property].
More importantly Mr/Mrs Customer, I wanted to help you understand that some sites have limited amounts of bandwidth (which is the total throughput speeds that devices can connect to the internet), and that bandwidth must be shared between all the guests at [name property]. While we can control the connectivity of the wireless network, the speeds and bandwidth available to you are controlled by the company that provides the internet connection.
Mr/Mrs Customer, do you see the difference between wireless network connectivity and internet speeds? While the two are very much related, they are very much different.”
Please be mindful of your call handle time on complex troubleshooting issues. Language barriers or callers who are inexperienced with computers will certainly take care and time, but the above steps should help compensate, even in those cases.
Final Checks
If your caller cannot bring up the login page, or they cannot connect wirelessly, but the equipment has other users and is communicating without issues, and the login page comes up for you via a conduit, try just a few more steps on your caller’s computer:
1. Remove all TengoInternet entries from their preferred access list, and make sure DHCP and DNS is automatic.
2. If they are using Internet Explorer, have them try Firefox. If they are using Firefox, have them use Internet Explorer. If they are using Safari, have them try any other installed browser. Just direct them to the gateway IP address to try and bring up the login page.
3. Have your caller try and connect to another TengoInternet SSID, even if the signal strength is slightly weaker.
4. Win XP
(command prompt – admin)
netsh int ip reset log.txt
netsh i i r r
netsh w r c
reboot the pc
Win Vista / 7
(command prompt – admin)
netsh int ip reset
netsh i i r r
netsh winsock reset catalog
reboot the pc
5. As a last resort, have your caller shut down their computer, wait a minute or two, and turn it back on. While they are doing that, reboot the access point or node and tell your caller to try again in 15-20 minutes.
If none of the above steps work, recommend that they look into having the performance of their computer checked before trying again.