In article <951123045818.17481@SDG.DRA.COM> Sean Donelan <SEAN@SDG.DRA.COM> writes:

Welcome to the new and improved Internet. More clueless people cal NOCs these days (is it plugged in?) so more caller screening is done. Likewise there more clueless people working in NOCs so more levels before reaching someone who even understands what the problem is.

I've had an idea in the back of my head for a long time about dealing with this, ever since I tried to call an 800 customer assistance number and got a nice message saying "the current average wait is 45 minutes"... I guess it could apply equally well to NOCs, so here it is. Provide a "secret" layer 2 NOC. When someone calls the NOC 800 number who is obviously more clueful than the NOC operator/screening person, pass them onto the next level of experts, and also give them a new "secret" 800 number. Then in the future, that caller will skip the first layer of screeners who handle the "is-it-plugged-in" problems. Of course, there is no reason to only have two levels. Callers with proven technical competence (over time) automatically get shunted to help at the right level for their know-how. Periodically, you probably want to recycle the 800- numbers down to the lowest level so that word of the secret numbers doesn't get too widespread. I'd sure like to see someone implement this (or something like it). A few companies we have worked with have had individual techies give us their direct number and say "from now on, just call me direct", but this is rare and probably would be a bad idea for a NOC. --Jamshid