Lead the first two minutes of an “internet is broken” call.

Instruction: Give the words you would use to establish the problem and summarize it back. Stay with intake and scope; do not jump to commands, resets, or a diagnosis.

Context:

You are an authorized Tier 1 technician, and caller verification is already complete. The caller says, “The internet is broken.” In this role-play, their answers are: a company Windows 11 laptop on office Wi-Fi; the expense website goes blank after sign-in; it last worked yesterday and failed today at 10:05; a public news page opens; nearby coworkers have not been asked; expenses are due at noon; they have not tried a fix. Ask questions that reveal these facts without making the caller follow a technical checklist.

Updated

Example Answer

I'd begin, “I can help you work out what's failing. What were you trying to do when it stopped working, and what do you see now?” I'd let them describe the expense page, then ask, “Is there an error message, or does the page stay blank after you sign in?”

I'd continue, “When did it last work, and roughly when did this happen today? Are you using your company laptop in the office or somewhere else? Is it connected by Wi-Fi or a cable?” After those answers, I'd ask whether other pages they already use are opening, whether they know of anyone nearby with the same problem, and when the expense task needs to be finished. I'd also ask what they've already tried, so we don't repeat an unsuccessful step.

I'd summarize, “Your expense page goes blank after sign-in on your office laptop. It worked yesterday, and the first failure today was at 10:05. Another website opens, so we haven't established that all internet access is down. We don't yet know whether others are affected, and your deadline is noon. Have I understood correctly?” I'd record that scope and check the service notices before choosing the next investigation with them.

What the interviewer is assessing

Essential: Establishes task, symptom, timing, device/location, scope, deadline, and prior attempts.

Stronger: Clearly labels coworker impact as unknown and uses a concise read-back.

Red flags: Declaring a network outage, blaming Wi-Fi, or starting with a reset.

Follow-up

Does a working news page rule out every network problem?

Example response: “No. It narrows the report, but the expense service could use a different connection path. I would keep the cause open.”

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