The real question for 3Com is why they don't want our money? They are losing support $ because there support plan is unworkable and too damned expensive. If they had a workable plan that was affordable then I suspect they would have a very large take rate among their customers. It begs the question of whether they really want to support the product at all, as they are INTENTIONALLY limiting the number support customers. Seems to me like we need to reach the right person at 3Com who would like to rack up some easy sales $ to change the plan. Mark Thornton San Marcos Internet, Inc. 512-393-5300 ----- Original Message ----- From: Jeff Mcadams <jeffm@iglou.com> To: <usr-tc@lists.xmission.com> Sent: Friday, January 21, 2000 11:40 AM Subject: (usr-tc) State of the Hub followup
Well, I've gotten answers concerning the state of support contract rules for Total Control equipment.
Support is still purchased on a per-chassis basis, with surcharges for having more than a certain number of ports in the chassis, and its still required to have the same support coverage on all chassis within a single site. These are the exact same support contract rules that have driven many of us to stop carrying coverage of our TC chassis, and rely on our own wits, and resellers. I think this speaks very poorly of 3Com that, after two to three years, these issues still have not been addressed at all!
I still fail to understand why support is required to be done on a per-chassis basis when it would actually be *easier* to do it on a per-card basis. Serial numbers for individual cards are easily retrieved via SNMP/TCM from the chassis, serial numbers for the chassis requires copying the number off a barcode label physically applied to the chassis. Serial numbers are already tracked on a per-card number by 3Com (witnessed by the ability to sign up for warranty coverage of equipment on a per-card level on the totalservice web site by entering the serial number of the individual card). I still fail to understand why 3Com requires equal coverage on all equipment in a location (this was stated as being on a single site...our past experience indicates that 3Com will not live up to this statement), I also fail to understand why 3Com requires equal levels of coverage on all the different *types* of equipment in a location. I don't think it takes a genius to realize that a quad card failing and taking 4 ports out of service is considerably less critical than a HiPer Arc failing and taking up to 300 (or more) ports out of service.
I invite 3Com to share thier reasoning for these support contract rules, and especially invite 3Com to rectify the problems as they currently exist. I hope solutions presented will be substantive solutions, not someone calling me to once again explain what the support coverage options that currently exist are. I've been through that many times, explaining it again isn't going to solve the problems.
I would be interested in hearing what the "unbundled service" offerings shown on 3Com's web site are about (http://support.3com.com/infodeli/services/index.htm). The individual I spoke with (who was very personable) indicated that unbundled services indicated on that web page are *not* available for the Total Control equipment. -- Jeff McAdams Email: jeffm@iglou.com Head Network Administrator Voice: (502) 966-3848 IgLou Internet Services (800) 436-4456
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