What better way to spend one of my days off than troubleshooting network issues?! For some weird reason, I’ve started having difficulties with streaming video, namely YouTube and now Netflix is acting up too. I’d start downloading/streaming a video, it would load about halfway, then just stop playing. I’d have to pause then restart the video, or scrub all the way to the end before going back to the middle of the movie to hopefully have it play through. This happened once before, then the issue magically resolved itself, and it’s now back again.
I’m curious, is anyone else experiencing issues like this? Doesn’t seem to have any bearing whether I’m connected via Ethernet or Wireless, I run both an 802.11b/g and 802.11n networks (separate, actually two different devices entirely), iPhones, iPads, all Macs in the house (hehe I’ve been waiting a long time to say that), but still I’m getting wonky behavior on the network.
I’m in the middle of a fresh backup of 600+ GB of data from my MacBook to my Time Capsule, but once that finishes I might try taking my Airport Extreme out of the equation to see if that resolves the issue.
It seems that tech support, I’m afraid, is always open…
It really is amazing just how much we’ve come to rely on all of our technology. I know, personally, I can’t be without my iPhone, it’s my lifeblood. But in general, we all can’t live without our computers, the internet, etc. My full-time job has me fixing people’s computer problems, and resolving their concerns, and it’s pretty obvious that no matter what I do, vacation or not, I can never escape it. It’s become such a regular part of my day-to-day life, just like breathing and taking a shower. I was having difficulties this morning trying to download the iPhone 3.1.3 software update. So, I went through the motions, updated my router’s firmware, reset my cable modem, thankfully that all seemed to fix the problem, hence my writing this blog while my phone is updating.
Tech support, undoubtedly,is never closed, it’s always open for business, 24/7/365. I’m referring to “tech support” in the conceptual sense, the “act of supporting technology”,not necessarily the actual physical call centers waiting to take your call, and read their pre-scripted responses to your questions, ie “I’m sorry that you are having difficulty with _insert problem here_ . If you would permit me to provide you with amazing customer service, _insert name of customer here_, I would like to see that it is properly resolved quickly” blah blah blah. We’ve all been there. I’m thankful that I don’t provide my service that way. (Ever notice the little “conversational” scripted things they have, which when delivered don’t sound conversational at all? For example, right in the middle of your call the rep could blurt out, “How is the weather? Is it nice? It is nice here.” Yeah, I don’t buy that for a second… but it’s funny anyways.) I digress.
The concept of technical support reminds me of the whole “why aren’t there more non-gasoline-powered cars on the roads these days” thing. Withoiut going off on too much of a tangent, big oil companies don’t want to go out of business because cars wouldn’t need their product anymore, therefore cars are continually manufactured to require gasoline. Is it possible that technology is manufactured to still need support? Ooh. I don’t know.
Building on that, I ask this: How much technical support was around when home-based computers were in their infancy, ie Apple iiC’s, Macintosh Classics, Performa’s, Quadras, IBM 286′s, 386′s, etc. Operating Systems were far simpler and less feature-ridden, so they had less things to break. I remember computers were made so toughly, you could practically throw one down a flight of stairs then turn it on and play your favorite game moments later. Not so much is the case today.
Time to get my day started here, software’s updated, and the wheels of progress appear to still be turning. I’m going to put my cape away and change into my regular clothes, Supergeek is done for now.
