DocAndersen
The three kids all say I am a soft touch when it comes to dogs. Look at the picture shared with this post, of my daughter’s dog, Fran. Wouldn’t you melt as well? Yesterday I got a chance to use my 5g MiFi in downtown DC. I was only in the National Mall area for an hour (lunch), but in that hour I downloaded three movies that I had in my iTunes account that I hadn’t downloaded on purpose. Even doing the remote, going to iTunes and only using 5g, it took 23 minutes to download three movies. That includes the time it took me to figure out where movies were in the new iTunes and then to click on the next movie when the first and then the second one was done.
The evolution of connection is a topic I have covered many times. Today I thought I would wander a little differently. Many of you don’t have or use smartphones. Every time I ask, I get “I only use my cell phones for calls.” As I have long said it is critical that you, as the consumer, get what you need from a device. If you don’t need something, don’t get the device. Having a phone wherever you are, that can be very important. What drives me doesn’t drive you. I also know that many people get really frustrated with technology. A friend of mine works for a power company. His job is to manage the switch network (that is the network where all the switches exist). The number one thing that the helpdesk he runs gets for calls, “my power is down.” Now I am not saying that the frustration people feel isn’t valid, and it is valid. But no one ever calls back to say “my power is up.”
We expect the power to be on. We expect a dial tone for our landline (if we still have one). We expect our computers to boot. All of these things operate at a high SLA (Service Level Agreement) that we expect. I started in the network world where we didn’t offer today’s Service Level Agreements. The most we could offer with the computers of the early 1990s was 99%. Today many companies expect 99.95% uptime for their solutions. But, we as consumers (I am guilty of this) expect 100% uptime for our internet connection, our landline, and the lights. Next time in a bad storm when the lights go out, reach for a flashlight and think about the poor repairperson out in that storm to get your power back on!
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Question of
Are there jobs you wouldn’t want to have to do?
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Yes
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No
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Question of
Have you ever seen a power company person out in a horrible storm?
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Yes
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No
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Question of
Do you ever wonder if your phone has a dailtone?
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Yes
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No
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Question of
Have you lost internet, power or phone service in the last 3 months?
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Yes
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No
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Well, we have problem with our internet service provider. Always. I told the guy that really it does not bother me if he cannot provide internet 24/7 for as long as he does not charge full too. Am I being mean? I do not think so ?
i don’t think you are, quality of service is critical.
I currently have no problems with the internet, telephone services or electricity. A few years ago, however, we had a lot of problems with electricity. Many times we were without electricity.
I suspect you probably have an older infrastructure – hard to keep operational!
Well, we have had frequent power outages in the past but none lately . the power company gets so many calls you get a piped voice over the phone telling you where the known power outages are.
One time some years back we did not get power for 4 days, so the fridge was off as the freezer and I recall being in a supermarket where they had no power either, then the power came on.
“Hallelujah!” was said by all of those in the supermarket.
I am grateful my phone on my landline is connected..
Thanks Pam, it really makes a difference!
I know quite a few people who work on electro or telephone lines … they really work in extreme weather … I won’t forget them when it was freezing and the trees broke nearly half of the el. wiring and telephone cables..it worked at minus 15 degrees and with hurricane wind
It is a very hard job. Without them we get no power, no internet, no tv and the world is different.
It really is so … very hard work in impossible weather conditions …. I really admire them
so do I. in the us they are part of what is called the first responder’s community. People that run towards disasters.
That’s right … I’ve always respected them … when we’re warm or asleep, they have a hard time
plus we always expect that service to be working
And as soon as it gets … we just are
i have a really good friend who was a Lineperson for the phone company for 20 years. He got hit by lightning about two years ago, and can’t work now. He was paralyzed for nearly a year, can walk now but he used to run 5 miles a day. Now he walked 2 miles.
But this is not sad? dear friend
It is very sad, he cannot run anymore, and he walks slowly I feel bad for him. He had run in 21 different Marathons.
How could you not be affected by those eyes? 😀
Our utility workers are out in storms and on holidays. They remind me of the front line in a battle. I give them props for going out there every day to keep our power on and our internet working.
It is a tough job on a good day during a storm the job is nigh impossible.
I’m guilty of it too with millions of others. We complain when the network is misbehaving not remembering we couldn’t be enjoying this delicacy. We should be grateful for the far the technology has made our lives easier and the tasks it affords us with ease.
Without a smartphone, I’m not sure how I will survive. It acts as my support teacher and writer’s companion. I use it about 98% of the time.
reliable is the thing people want. But we do forget the complexity of the pieces needed for that reliability!
Yes this photo made me melt. I would not say no to this adorable face.
I see power workers out in the storms and always say they do not get paid enough for what they do. Kind of like policemen and firemen.
First responders globally do not make enough money.
Thanks Carol!!!!