I see your point, Gatecrasher, and certainly agree that there should be a checklist. However, the problem is that, speaking out of my own experience, this basic checklist is applied generically. In my case, I explained my problem in great details and warned that the usual MTU etc suggestions would not work. The helpdesk person did not show any flexibility and kept insisting that I go through the checklist - having me on the line for more than 20 min (had to call twice). Having an authentication problem and establishing in the very begining that I am a subscriber for the past 8 months kind of begs for an approach different than restarting the computer, setting MTU and checking the device settings (which is kind of unneeded considering I told him my modem and the WBS network apparently talk but am not being authenticated). In the end I identified the problem myself (they had cancelled my device from their system and left a modem I've never purchased, let alone used, so the serial number of the device in my account was not corresponding to the serial number of my real world device). So the helpdesk person promised to leave a message to someone to fix it the next day (no Internet for me in the night), which they didn't and I had to phone again during office hours in which case it took them 10 min to change the devices.
Bottom line: it looks like they don't have anything beyond the generic checklist and that's the problem (when he ran out of items on his checklist he told me to go with my laptop to Auckland Park for them to take a look!!!). But that's just my experience ...
Bottom line: it looks like they don't have anything beyond the generic checklist and that's the problem (when he ran out of items on his checklist he told me to go with my laptop to Auckland Park for them to take a look!!!). But that's just my experience ...