Internode: your call is more important to us

David Flynn
02 December 2008, 1:00 PM

Dread waiting in ‘telephone queue hell’? Internode’s real-time Flash display of its sales and support phone queues sets a new standard for ISPs to follow

“Your call is important to us, please hold... your call is important to us, please hold...”. Anyone phoning their ISP for technical support can do without that recorded parrot-like recitation, but few ISPs give more than lip service to the notion.

But Internode, which usually sits at the top of the customer satisfaction tree in in any survey of Australian ISPs, has unveiled a new Flash-based Web service to help you spend less time in the queue even before you pick up the phone.

Now would be a good time to call: Internode’s real-time display of call queues and waiting times also shows the trends over the most recent 24 hour period

Click on http://www.internode.on.net/customer-service and you can see a real-time display of the company’s phone queues for tech support, sales and billing enquiries for both consumer and business plans. In addition to the current number of queued calls and the wait time until each call is answered, the page also charts the average number of queued calls and wait times over the past 24 hour period.

The software, which was cooked up by Internode’s resident boffins and is still in a beta stage, goes several steps beyond the call waiting stats available to iiNet customers, and Internode still gives queued customers the option to enter their phone number (landline or mobile) for a free callback service.

The service not only adds to the transparency of Interode’s operations but helps lighten the load on its call centre staff. Customers can check the queue times before they call – and, if there’s a bit of a wait and their need isn’t urgent, they can choose to cal back later (and even use the 24 hour chart to pick a time when the wait times are likely to be much shorter).

This also means that those with urgent calls stand a better chance of a faster response because potential non-urgent callers have voluntarily opted out until later. We’d like to see more ISPs, and customer service departments in general, adopt this ‘win-win’ Web technology.

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Uncle Bob (New user):

Very flash. Nice work Internode.

02 December 2008, 3:26 PM (4 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Bradley Anm (New user):

Didnt take APC long to start promoting Internode again.

iiNet has had this for years. And they go one better and show you network graphs as well

02 December 2008, 4:03 PM (4 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Dan Warne (Regular user):

You realise the story also mentions iiNet's graphs?

02 December 2008, 4:44 PM (4 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend

nutter (New user):

Hey Bradley.
When you start to run ACP you can promote anything you want to.

Anyway iinets looks ok but not that great though

02 December 2008, 4:41 PM (4 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend

agami (New user):

As a former Internode employee who left of his own free will more than a year ago I'd like to say the following: meh.

Seriously what's next? Internode changes the font on their website, 20% easier to read.

02 December 2008, 5:19 PM (4 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Bradley Anm (New user):

Quoting agami:
Seriously what's next? Internode changes the font on their website, 20% easier to read.

LOL. Will probally be Simon Hackett gets new glider. Dan How much does Internode pay you to promote them and bash Telstra on here and on Whirlnode

02 December 2008, 7:56 PM (4 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend

voracity (New user):

Great, but why is it in cruddy flash?

02 December 2008, 7:46 PM (4 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend

beersalot (New user):

the fan boys are out too play again

02 December 2008, 8:45 PM (4 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Raindog (New user):

Quoting beersalot:
the fan boys are out too play again

Yep, legions of the beggars, Node Fanboy, iiNet Fanboys, Telstra Apologists, Gamer Windologists, Macophiles. They're all like a curse to reasoned communication.

02 December 2008, 10:31 PM (4 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Supertech (New user):

Quoting beersalot:
the fan boys are out too play again

It begs the question.
"Why are there so many of them?"

Maybe Internode gets things right.

03 December 2008, 12:27 AM (4 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend

MiCCAS (New user):

*claps*

03 December 2008, 12:41 AM (4 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend

beersalot (New user):

with prices on par with tel$tra ( just in the expensive way ) you gotta be smart hay Raindog, and trust me go look in the internode forum they know its still cr@p cause there customer service has allways been like that.I was with them before and i know ppl there still even there business service is cr@p..... my rant is over

03 December 2008, 9:16 AM (4 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Raindog (New user):

Quoting beersalot:
with prices on par with tel$tra

When did this happen?

Quoting beersalot:
you gotta be smart hay Raindog

Not something I've ever had issues with, but hardly on topic

Quoting beersalot:
and trust me go look in the internode forum

what to read the whining of the most unrealistic of fanboys and fanatics, pass on that thanks

Quoting beersalot:
cause there customer service has always been like that.

I've always found customer service to be an Internode, plus, have had Node go into bat for me and for my customers on numerous occasions and establish DSL on lines that Telstra has refused. I'd rate Internode services as one of the best.

Internode is an APC advertiser, one of many, get over it people there is no conspiracy!

03 December 2008, 11:24 AM (4 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend

adsl2exchanges (New user):

Glad the screenshot didn't show the wait times >30 mins when i had a look at the graph.

03 December 2008, 12:11 PM (4 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Jonathan (New user):

There is no doubt that they provide a top quality service, but their customers sure do pay a premium for it.

03 December 2008, 1:18 PM (4 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Tin (User):

Well I liked the idea, even if some people think it's not newsworthy.

03 December 2008, 1:35 PM (4 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend

beersalot (New user):

lets play the quote game hay raindog

I've always found customer service to be an Internode, plus, have had Node go into bat for me and for my customers on numerous occasions and establish DSL on lines that Telstra has refused. I'd rate Internode services as one of the best

all i can say is you must be joking
:end MY QUOTE

03 December 2008, 2:04 PM (4 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Raindog (New user):

Quoting beersalot:
all i can say is you must be joking

Your free to suggest I'm joking but I can assure you I am not. I have no problems recommending Internode to my clients, with customer service being one of the major reasons for such recommendations.

03 December 2008, 2:46 PM (4 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend

CBR1100XX (New user):

Quoting Raindog:
I have no problems recommending Internode to my clients,

I agree that Internode has good customer service but am well aware of recommending anything to anybody, especially friends. Because Murphy's Law will inevitably come back and bite you on the bum.

I have been with Internode for over 3 years with nary an issue and yet after recommending it to my neighbour, Internode has let him down badly ! Took them 2 weeks to get him hooked up, promised download limits rarely allocated and invoices sent for required payment while he has set up auto payment each month !

I don't think he has invited me to a BBQ since !

03 December 2008, 3:18 PM (4 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Raindog (New user):

Quoting CBR1100XX:
but am well aware of recommending anything to anybody, especially friends.

Know where your coming from there. Friends, who know you as someone who can potentially provide free service and advice that they'd otherwise have to pay for are usually not friends at all. And the more they want for free the more likely they are to be unreasonable to deal with. Not a comment on your neighbor (I don't know the circumstances) although a sudden decline in BBQ invites doesn't speak highly of the man.

I don't things that I do for income as a free service for friends, neighbors, or the inevitable friends of friends for exactly the reasons you outline.

Good service is not as simple as problem free supply. The mark of good service is what actions are taken to resolve customer problems, and how quickly those actions are put into place.

03 December 2008, 3:36 PM (4 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Jeff (New user):

It's pretty useless I think - when you want support its usually because there is a problem with the internet connection, in which case the graph isn't available (probably) ...

03 December 2008, 5:12 PM (4 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Tin (User):

Like the article says, for non-urgent issues it's fine. It'll let you gauge whether your call about a forgotten email password is going to be answered in 1 or 15 minutes.

04 December 2008, 10:59 AM (4 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend

The Big Baboo (New user):

Too right Jeff.If I have to call them because I have an internet problem,no way would i be able to look at anything on that graph. Then again why would I want to coz it makes absolutely no sense to me. :)

24 December 2008, 10:00 AM (4 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Uncle Bob (New user):

Quoting Jeff:
It's pretty useless I think - when you want support its usually because there is a problem with the internet connection, in which case the graph isn't available (probably) ...

On the rare times when I've had an outage, I've plugged in the old dial up modem and gone to the advisories page to see what's up. So this customer service page would still be handy with the free 10 hours dial up.

24 December 2008, 2:18 PM (4 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend

beersalot (New user):

And as jeff said its all good till you have a problem, then there call centre is cr@p.I was with them and it was good till they got too expensive for what you got.they can have there pretty little graphs but it dont mean a thing tel$tra has graphs oh thats right there different to tel$tra there just missing the fanboys cause no one likes them

03 December 2008, 5:41 PM (4 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Tin (User):

1) Punctuation and grammar make people seem more intelligent and believable. Try it one day.
2) As I previously said, if you aren't calling for a total outage then it's helpful. I would hold off calling for mail server issues (for example) if the graph says they are busy.
3) Telstra generally don't admit to faults if they can help it. I wouldn't believe any graphs or data they publish publicly for that reason.

24 December 2008, 11:55 AM (4 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend

Raindog (New user):

I wouldn't bother expecting any sense of fair play, from these refugees of the great Internode Leach purge of 06-07", Tin.
It appears a few still have old scores to settle and they have no real gripe about Internode's level of service at all.

24 December 2008, 12:44 PM (4 years ago)report abuse Send to a friend

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Internode: your call is more important to us

Dread waiting in ‘telephone queue hell’? Internode’s real-time Flash display of its sales and support phone queues sets a new standard for ISPs to follow

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Uncle Bob (New user):

Bradley Anm (New user):

Dan Warne (Regular user):

nutter (New user):

agami (New user):

Bradley Anm (New user):

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Raindog (New user):

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MiCCAS (New user):

beersalot (New user):

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adsl2exchanges (New user):

Jonathan (New user):

Tin (User):

beersalot (New user):

Raindog (New user):

CBR1100XX (New user):

Raindog (New user):

Jeff (New user):

Tin (User):

The Big Baboo (New user):

Uncle Bob (New user):

beersalot (New user):

Tin (User):

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