By Peter Cochrane, 29 April 2009 08:00
COMMENT
Compiled at my hotel in Newbury, UK, and dispatched to silicon.com via wi-fi from my home three weeks later
So there I was on a weekend stopover in a hotel. It is a Friday morning and I have a clutch of urgent emails I need to send. So I log onto the hotel LAN to find I can receive email but I cannot send. Hmm, time for my second strike capability - a 3G dongle.
Unfortunately the application and driver crash on first attempt. I reboot my machine but to no avail. OK, Newbury town centre is a short hop away. I get into the car, and 10 minutes later I'm in a coffee shop in the high street. I access the local wi-fi service and attempt to log on. No joy! There is obviously some network or server fault that has me locked into an endless loop of log on and drop out!
So I'm off to a second coffee shop. No luck - the same problem rears its head. My analysis: I am being confounded by a common mode network failure very ably complemented by an uncommon mode failure!
To be precise: a common network/server/ISP failure has taken out a clutch of wi-fi services in the town over the same period my hotel service is having difficulty. Also I have had some software mangle.
What are the chances all of these could happen at the same time? Very slim! But they have, and could again in future.
Not to be beaten I drive back to my hotel and download a new version of the app, reload and - bingo - I'm online again via the 3G network at around 5Mbps. This only took about 10 minutes. My important emails are sent out straight away and I'm able to clear all my backed up work.
The moral of this experience is: You can never have enough alternatives! I have to admit that until this day I was confident that I had enough of everything but now I'm not so sure. I think I'll get another 3G dongle from a second supplier, for starters.
Comments
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1. Richard
Reminds me of working for a comms supplier before the days of mobile phones etc.; needing to receive an important fax from a distant installation site:
The town's BT exchange was down: No problem, we also had C&W lines... but, I quickly discovered that these C&W lines actually also went via the broken BT exchange.
My resourceful colleague finally discovered a working direct fax line and sent the fax.
Several days later this fax, clearly marked as "urgent," finally arrived in the internal mail: Scrawled across the top in pencil, and not signed was:
"Received on Director's private fax line: Do not ever use this number again."
I wonder why this UK company went bust?
2. Ron Livesey
Happened to me on at least 4 occasions, completely agree the more connectivity options the better.
3. Simon Allen
Instructive. Ordinary users don't stand a chance.
With the week to week problems of running a small number of PCs on the most simplistic network possible - but with steadily growing demands and expectations - I am increasingly reliant on my high level tech support. Fortunately, for me, this is free.
I am never surprised when folks just go out and buy a brand new PC to 'fix' the problems that have developed.
4. David Gaskill
I hesitate to offer suggestions to such an illustrious guru as Peter Cochrane but I wonder if he has tried smtp.com? There is a small annual subscription but I have never found a circumstance where, if I can receive email, I can't send using this service.
David Gaskill
5. David Winder
Very illumination experience, particularly in view of you considerable time inside BT.
A few questions?
Do you think that the comms companies have the ability to get these things working soon enough to be relied on by the average person.
If not 1. does the average person decide to use other technologies meanwhile?
If not 2. do we need a customer facing comms support organisation to help the average person get over their problems? A bit like the AA when cars were very unreliable.
6. Peter Cochrane
Simon = One way or another we all have to become extraordinary! Fortunately the technology is getting simpler and new generations brought up on a tech diet from day one do seem more capable. I thank the day I put a lot of effort into getting networked!
7. Peter Cochrane
Ron = Look out for my next blog to see tha extent to which I am going in my office let alone on the road! Peter
8. Peter Cochrane
Richard = I still come across idiot managers like this - they deserve to go under - what a stupid attitude. Peter