So we have been doing more commercial jobs. Conf rooms etc. I’ve been running into a lot of network issues. So the gear I provide works as intended on my store network. Like barco,Mersive, QSC mpm stuff. Digital signage etc. all pretty basic dhcp stuff. But when installed into clients network it no longer works properly various network issues above my pay grade lol. It turns into always a battle between clients IT people and us the sound people. And sometimes the IT person is not a true it person just the guy who set up network. Most of my larger corporations, who have true IT professionals working for them. This is never an issue because they know how to deal with it and they figure it out. But on the smaller business side, it always turns into a battle so my question is how do you deal with that because their network isn’t really my problem but they always try to make it my problem. Thanks for any advice.

Exactly as you stated, it’s their problem. As long as you state in your proposal that network is handled by others, that should cover you.

I work in the same realm and can understand the frustration. A lot of times the clients wireless network is a different VLAN compared to their wired network, with no routing allowed in between.

We’ve stopped using any wireless streamers specifically because of this. A wire is always better and less hassle.

I can hear it now, after telling them that someone else owns the network- "Well, can't you just...?"

Yes and once you say yes…you own it.

We call those ID10T issues, and we don't get involved in anything other than running wires and connecting boxes.

That's all that bigger companies with real IT people want us doing anyway.

The smaller outfits have a designated IT person that is more of a network enthusiast, and usually holds another position in the company. Get's interesting if they're also an AV enthusiast...

I did a crestron system at a hotel spa a few years ago. At the end their IT guy was nowhere to be found. I was on the wired network so I was fine there but they wanted to use the iOS app to control the system…which requires wi-fi. So I put in a “temporary” router. A year later they email for support and I realize they are still using the temporary router…and they still have our iPad lol.

I would say that being extremely specific in language and in your contract about what is/isn't covered will help with these situations.

I found it interesting that Access Networks wouldn't do one of our small commercial jobs unless that company had a 24 hour IT guy on site. This helped put into perspective for me what a nightmare these jobs can be and that we need to bill and specify properly what is/isn't covered in our contract and installation warranty.

Thanks for all the help sounds like its all about communication which we thought was pretty good but its been getting hectic for the installers on this subject they wanna help the client but you know how that goes