A traceroute takes a few seconds. 99% of the time I call it's mainly to tell them to please track down the problem (outside of my home... only once over the years was it my modem) and fix it. To have to wade through 20 minutes of prelims, when a 20 second command could make it obviously unnecessary, that's just dumb.
The fact that you thought I was suggesting skipping the basics is bewildering.
I deal with the same issue on Verizon. I found that using LiveChat, the support there seemed to be more tech. focused. If I start by sending a screen shot of my traceroute, I usually can get what I need within a few minutes.
The fact that you thought I was suggesting skipping the basics is bewildering.