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Bugs in Technology Bugging Us
Today's reality check is that as awesome as the Internet and
voice technologies are, bugs arise daily. In my last column, my
typo would have prevented you, had you tried, from directly accessing
the UCLA Internet Report. Thanks to Project Brainstorm's Susan
Kelley, I learned about my error. However, as I prepared a correction,
I found that major search engines such as Google, Yahoo and Alta
Vista provided links to the report which did not work. We assume
the server was momentarily down. The correct link is www.ccp.ucla.edu.
Still today, we took some time to confirm (we believe) that a
client's proxy server, which is not within our control, is not
allowing people inside the organization to see one of the organization's
Website. Proxy servers can do that intentionally or unintentionally.
Either way, it takes time to identify and resolve the exact problem.
Still today, we wrestled with a DNS issue regarding a Website
we built and launched over a year ago. The Web hosting service
our client is using at first insisted there was no problem, and
then insisted it was our problem. After three emails from our
side detailing the issue, and one phone call, we finally got an
actual person calling back to apologize. The problem was indeed
with one of their servers and how it was assigning IP addresses.
Still today, our network DSL connection was temporarily down,
but only for my laptop, which is plugged into our office network
through a port replicator. I had to try four different toll free
numbers for Qwest to reach an actual person. After a 20 minute
wait on the fourth toll free number, the technician explained
that the only way she could trouble shoot my laptop problem with
the DSL connection would be for me to remove the Cisco router
from our hub and plug it directly into the laptop. As this would
have rendered the entire office without Internet access, instead
I asked this Qwest tech support to speculate on what might be
wrong. She declined, saying tech support had received no training
in networking issues and that Qwest only supplied tech support
for individual PCs. By this time, my laptop magically was once
again able to access the Internet through our network, so I hung
up.
Still today, I got an email from AT&T telling me they would quit
billing and dunning me for a phone number that does not belong
to our company. Three months ago we received a long distance phone
bill from AT&T with our company name attached, but indicating
a phone number which does not belong to NetOutcomes. I called
AT&T, but none of the automated features said "Press 489 if the
phone number for which you are being billed is not yours." Pressing
0 in an attempt to reach a real live person, instead I got a recording
that said "invalid entry."
The second month AT&T billed us, I wrote a note on the invoice
and mailed it. This month, in studying a third invoice, I found
a Website address listed. On the site, after pretending to have
an account with AT&T by entering the account info recorded for
NetOutcomes, I was able to complete an email form which empowered
me to explain that the phone number in question wasn't ours. Today
AT&T's anonymous email back said, basically, "okay, so we won't
bill you."
Still today, I got a phone call for a reporter from a publication
whose parent company competes with us. He said he was working
on a story which involved a person who was running a failing business
that, the owner hoped, Internet or other marketing might rescue.
After some discussion, I told the reporter that the business in
question didn't seem viable to me, and so the Internet wasn't
going to rescue it, and that didn't seem like much of a story.
The reporter, who is actually an affable, bright and admirable
person, wasn't particularly happy with me. But then he never has
been.
At last I headed home, but since the once-state-of-the-art driver's
side door handle on my car just broke, I had to get into the car
via a tricky reach from the back door and open the driver's side
door without catching my arm in the back door maneuver.
What we know about technology is that often things don't work
right. Or they do, and then someone loads new software, makes
a data entry error, or uses a bent stylus on a computer card,
and the technology fails. We just have to live in the midst of
almighty imperfection, and keep on clicking. That's what my door
did all the way home.
This article first appeared as a column written
by Dave Tedlock, NetOutcomes' president, for Inside Tucson
Business and/or the New Mexico Business Weekly.
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