When Trainers Sabotage The Network: A Tech Support Tale of Infernal WiFi
If you’ve ever worked in IT support, you know there are days when your faith in humanity’s grasp of technology is sorely tested. But nothing quite prepares you for the moment when the very person responsible for training others in network best practices turns out to be the architect of their own network misery. Welcome to the “Infernal WiFi” saga from Reddit’s r/TalesFromTechSupport—a story that’s equal parts baffling and sidesplitting, with a Reddit comment section that’s pure gold.
A Masterclass in Self-Inflicted Network Woes
The story begins with a supervisor—someone who, just to reiterate, trains other staff—complaining about slow and spotty network speeds. The culprit? A tech support puzzle worthy of the ages: The user had disconnected the ethernet cable from their dock (for reasons unknown), manually disconnected from the company’s secure internal WiFi every single day, hopped onto the public WiFi (because, in their mind, it was “faster”), and then used a VPN to tunnel back into the internal network.
In short, they gave themselves an “80% handicap on their network speed,” according to u/dog2k, the original poster (OP). The cherry on top? The dock and the laptop both had power supplies plugged in—because one can never have too much electricity, right?
“Been There, Done That, Considered Murder”
The Reddit community did not disappoint. The top comment from u/TimesUglyStepchild summed up the collective IT exasperation: “Been there, done that, considered murder. Rinse... repeat, every fecking day.” The image of tech support professionals everywhere collectively losing their minds was palpable.
Another commenter, u/Gandhi_of_War, nailed the tragic irony: “Try as we might, we have yet to find a way to take the user out of the trainer.” And if you think these stories are rare, u/1Steelghost1 offered up a doozy from their own consulting days—WiFi access points hidden in supply closets behind metal cabinets (“They looked bad and wanted to hide them from view”), only for everyone to marvel at improved speeds when the APs were moved to the ceiling.
It’s clear: Whether it’s hiding hardware or sabotaging WiFi connections, user creativity knows no bounds—especially when it comes to making things worse.
Why Do Users Do This? (And How Can IT Survive?)
So what motivates someone—especially a trainer—to make their work life so much harder? As u/robbak theorized, it’s often a twisted sort of logic: “They insist on connecting the VPN before working (because VPN means secure), the VPN doesn’t work from inside the internal network (because why), so they unplug it and connect to multiple networks until they find one that allows them to connect to the VPN.”
It’s a classic case of the PEBKAC (Problem Exists Between Keyboard and Chair), a term OP was quick to confirm, alongside the ever-popular “id10t error.” There’s a certain dark humor in watching someone manually disconnect from the internal WiFi every day only to VPN back in—effectively running circles around themselves at the expense of productivity and bandwidth.
Of course, IT can fight back. As u/Kell_Naranek pointed out, blocking VPN connections from the public or guest WiFi is a straightforward fix (“Problem solved, or at least limited”). But, as others like u/robbak warned, this just sends users scrambling for workarounds—like tethering to their phones, or, as u/ask_compu joked, setting up a “long range wifi bridge” to bring their home network to the office. For every lock, a determined user will try to find a new key.
The Power Supply Paradox, and Other Tech Mysteries
Not to be outdone by networking shenanigans, a side discussion erupted over the wisdom (or folly) of plugging in both the dock and the laptop’s power supply. OP reassured the crowd: “Nothing specifically bad with having a powered dock and powered laptop.” Some laptops won’t charge from multiple sources, but unless you’re running a vlog studio from your workstation, you’re probably safe.
But perhaps the best summation of the entire saga came from u/CapitalD7086: “There is an interface problem in between the keyboard and the chair.” When even the trainers are making rookie mistakes, it’s a reminder that no amount of onboarding or policy can account for human ingenuity—or stubbornness.
Conclusion: Share Your “Infernal WiFi” Tales
If this Reddit saga has you laughing (or weeping in recognition), you’re not alone. The r/TalesFromTechSupport thread is a veritable therapy group for anyone who’s ever banged their head against a helpdesk ticket. Have you witnessed similar feats of network self-sabotage? Do you have a story to top the “VPN-on-public-WiFi-back-to-internal-network” maneuver? Drop your tales in the comments—because in the world of tech support, misery really does love company. And who knows? Your story might be the next viral hit.
After all, as OP admitted, the only thing more entertaining than watching users struggle is sharing those struggles with the world.
Original Reddit Post: internal wifi