Like Talking To A Concrete Wall

I’m a network engineer for multifamily stuff. I deal with everything from helping tenants figure out their routers to configuring the actual network. Most of my job, however, is just educating people on the finer points of the Internet — you know, “Your Internet sucks because you bought a router from 2006,” or, “You’re not going to get 1G over Wi-Fi. Plug in if you want better speeds,” or, “If you complain about 750Mb/s during peak hours, you’re gonna get a brickin’.” — that type of thing.

It’s a Friday. I’m eyeing the clock, ready for my shift to end at beer-thirty. Suddenly, the phone rings. Normally, I don’t take calls on Friday just before beer-thirty, but today is different. It’s [Property Manager].

Property Manager: “I have no signal in the parking garage.”

That’s odd, as the access point is checking into the controller, but I dispatch a tech to check it out.

The tech calls back.

Tech: “It’s working fine. Coverage is a little spotty in some further areas, but overall, it’s great.”

I call [Property Manager] back and let her know that everything appears to be working.

On Monday, I come in to find a ticket from [Property Manager]. She says the Wi-Fi still isn’t working. I press for more details. It turns out that one of her tenants isn’t able to update his electric car. I call [Property Manager].

Me: “We’ve verified that the Wi-Fi is working, and I can see it working for other folks. Can I speak to [Car Owner]?”

It turns out this is unacceptable. To appease [Property Manager], I send out a tech to install a long-range access point just in case, and afterward, I walk the parking garage with [Property Manager].

Me: “Okay. We’ve walked the entire garage. You saw I had a signal the entire time, correct?”

Property Manager: “Correct.”

Me: “So, if [Car Owner] calls and complains, it’s not on our end. Can you make sure he gets that message?”

Property Manager: “Yeah. He’s not going to like it, though.”

Me: “That’s fine.”

A week later, [Property Manager] is calling in again. [Car Owner] refuses to speak with us and is still having the issue. I have to really pressure to get to where I can meet [Car Owner] to investigate and see if I can help. I finally get [Car Owner] to agree to meet me during his lunch.

When I finally meet [Car Owner], the issue is immediately clear. He has found more or less the only parking stall completely surrounded by concrete.

Me: “Well, there’s your issue; you’re surrounded by concrete. The signal is great everywhere but here.”

Car Owner: “So, you can’t fix it?”

Me: “There’s nothing to fix. The signal is great everywhere but the one stall with giant concrete walls. Just park somewhere else.”

Car Owner: “No. You need to get this fixed.”

Me: “Oh, you have assigned parking? We can talk to [Property Manager] about getting you a different stall.”

Car Owner: “No. I don’t.”

Me: “Then what’s the issue? I don’t see any [Electric Car] charging stuff here.”

Car Owner: “I’m not going to park somewhere else and let someone ding my [Car Model] with their car. I pay good money to live here, and I haven’t been able to update my firmware once. This needs to get fixed.”

Me: “Sir, I can’t change this. If you want, we can see about running a cable and equipment to just where your car is. It’ll be at least $6,000 because we need to penetrate a whole bunch of concrete — and that’s if [Property Manager] agrees to it. Or you can park your car in a different stall. Your choice.”

I informed [Property Manager] of the situation and the potential fix. I never heard back.