ALLSTREAM

I normally worked from 3:30 P.M to Midnight (although I worked on all 3 shifts).  I received calls from end-users, end-users network people, internal customers, field technicians (both internal and external).  I created tickets, worked on them till resolution or until my shift was over for the day.  I also followed up with Telco if problem(s) was outside my company's network and reported trouble(s) to them.  I co-operatively trouble-shot with field techs both internal and external to find resolution to circuit issues.  I followed up with customers to provide updates on the progress or resolution of their circuit issues.  I re-routed calls to the right departments.  I picked left over tickets from previous shifts and worked on them or sometimes, a field tech would call in and the ticket handler had gone for the day and I would work with them to fix the problem(s).
.I used to be so afraid to speak to people over the phone.  I have been able to overcome that fear and now speak confidently with customers over the phone.  I have learnt to listen while the customer is speaking and also not to take customer criticism personal and also to understand customers frustration and to empathize with them.
I managed my time according to the priority and severity of the issue while still trying to stay within or under the MTTR contract with all customers.
The hardest part of the job was when a ticket (s) was not properly updated with the right or accurate info to help quicken the trouble-shooting of the ticket.  It happened that sometimes you had to call the customer back in order to update the ticket properly.  This was time wasting and sometimes annoyed some customers though others were happy to help out and even provided additional info.  I had the most amazing co-workers.  We were like a family.  I still keep in touch with my immediate co-workers.  
The most enjoyable part of my job was when my customer was happy and satisfied after the issue had been resolved.  You felt you had accomplished something.  The customer gained your confidence and asked to speak to/with you whenever they had a problem.

Allstream is the result of over 100 years of ever evolving and merging telecommunications history in Canada. From CN to CNCP to Unitel, Metronet, AT&T Canada, Allstream and MTS/Allstream. The company has absorbed many times and been successful many times as well.

Allstream was deemed narrowly profitable due to shrinking and non-existent margins on several of it's legacy platforms which kept successful strides into new realms of telecom from building substantial capital. Allstream has one of the largest backbone systems in Canada yet continues to shrink it's workforce each year.

As the leadership continues with a "purge" mentality, the work load for the remaining employees has grown exponentially as a stance of an imminent company sell off grows. People have adopted a "work while you can" attitude and are trying to keep the company functioning as the company continually reduces headcount to see how little it will take to keep things running.

There is a lot of potential in the company to be a strong national carrier.  But over recent years there is a feeling of acceptance about the inevitable decline and overhaul of the company. Rumors abound about being sold to other providers largely for it's telecom backbone. 

The nature of a publicly traded company means any such information cannot legally be substantiated so employees are left to make deductions based on what is happening around them. What is happening is people are leaving for other companies, others are being walked out, and still others are being encouraged to leave due to potential pension reductions.

Spent 50% of my day with clients and end-clients to ensure timely delivery of circuits, installation, tests and turn-up of routers, and other 50% maintaining the project plan, register of clients & Field Ops Technicians required equipment (routers, exfo test quits, cabling, etc. Maintenance of implementation plan in accordance to client’s daily project conference calls updates. Provide effective support of projects including communication (both internally and externally) and execution & coordination of project activities. Track project progression through maintenance of critical daily, weekly and monthly reports. Organize technician’s tasks during business hours to avoid overtime fees to stay within budgets. Ensure technicians deliver expected service and product on time to avoid company penalties. Obtaining and maintaining project details associated with the various provisioning stages of the project to ensure timely delivery of the numerous milestones to meet customer schedules & commitments.  Documenting, tracking, and maintaining project document repository and SharePoint; maintenance of processes, project plan/schedule, deliverables, business cases, change, risks & issues and charts & graphs.

Zayo has grown very quickly (mainly via acquisitions) but is used to running as a startup.  Allstream on the other hand has become smaller through being acquired multiple times and has a much smaller group of employees trying to handle both the number of in-place systems and the tight security around them, which inevitably makes simple tasks take far longer.  

Until a balance is struck, there's a sometimes frustrating disconnect between those at Zayo setting the tasks and those at Allstream trying to maintain security and other organizational structures that impede accomplishing those tasks quickly enough to satisfy the people at Zayo, who are more used to a "fail fast, fix fast" approach.

Allstream is a great company to work for.  It really is a combination of experienced staff who are very generous with their knowledge and a fair management team who were very easy to work with.  I will always consider my time at Allstream one of the best job and life experiences I've ever had. 

Management = Fair and reasonable with their expectations

Co-workers = Hard working and highly skilled  

Hardest part of the job = Often jobs were expedited to meet the customer requirements with an understaffed workforce, but we always managed to meet those deadlines. 

Most enjoyable part of the job = Due to the nature of the job, we were exposed to the newest technologies to work on.  This required us to work with engineers and platform managers and at the end of the job we've acquired a new skill which is always great to have.

I worked at Metronet/AT&T Canada/Allstream offices in downtown Toronto. The offices were the typical uninspired grey walled cubicles or bullpens (4 people to an area). The job was less hands-on technical and more reading documentation, creating presentations and trying to sell ideas to management and the operations and production teams. In a way it was an internal technical advocate/evangelist role. Management was around but little interaction other than weekly status meetings. The co-workers in the technical roles basically kept to themselves, but dependent on the group. Some groups had weekly lunches together at local restaurants. The hardest part of the job was finding out that the work you had done for last couple of months was rejected. Granted this was back in 1999-2003, so hopefully they instituted a more Lean/Agile approach to work.

Extremely busy days answering customers' requests from different departments of Allstream and creating tickets for the customers. When its a little calmer, invoicing the work order and sending them to the customers.

The possibility of working from home most of the week is very much appreciated from all employees.

The constant changes and turnaround in Managements' decisions makes the job environment stressful.

Constant cut over the years. Teams of all departments have been reduced to minimum, increasing considerably the work load, more responsibilities and functions, hence more stress. The increase responsibilities doesn't come with a raise in salary, resulting in great frustrations across the board.

Usually the day emails and voice mails and then project discussion and then various updates to sponsors and team members. There were always new technology to learn and plus as a team we would share the information about current technology troubleshoot in different ways. The management was very good and helpful to achieve goal in a timely manner. The environment is very friendly and adaptable. The only difficult part there was to get the approval from the senior management. once the senior management approves then implementation was the most enjoyable as it gives the sense of achievement.

I enjoyed working at Allstream, it is a Typical work place, with a typical work day, a really enjoyed my co-workers, the only way to describe my co-workers is Team Work, they are always willing to assist when necessary.
To be honest, there was never a hard part to my job, I enjoyed every aspect of my job, the good and the bad, I would not change anything.
I believe, that you must enjoy your job in order to be productive, and happy on a daily basis.

A typical day at work is to review the day before work orders via email and via program OTS.  Ensure all updates and changes are done.

What I have learned is time management is a must.

Co-workers - work well as a team

The hardest part of the job is ensuring all your orders are complete and if your someone's backup while they are away on vacation.

The most enjoyable part of my job is all my complete orders and help my co-workers with their orders - All working to achieve that one gold - Our Customers

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