Wednesday, October 09, 2002

Vint Cerf Talks About Internet Changes [Slashdot] [[ t e c h n o c u l t u r e ]] This Slashdot-led interview of Vint Cerf is one of the reasons I dearly love this medium. Cerf had the brains and the good fortune to make a seminal, bedrock-level contribution(s) to the Internet, and hearing him recount the experience is like hearing Moses talk about the writing of the Old Testament. comment []7:52:03 PM

Want Wi-Fi? Verizon takes it home. The telecommunications provider plans to offer wireless home networking equipment made by Linksys for Wi-Fi fans. [CNET News.com] Good for Verizon! At last, signs of brain cell activity among the telcos. Contrast this with AT&T, who have decided that WiFi is a threat. Anything that furthers broadband wireless is OK by me. BWIA changes the way we use information appliances; you might say it changes the personal workflow. comment []7:43:54 PM

Bad Day For Broadband I'll say it right up front - this is likely to be a rant. I'm in the middle of a small Harmonic Divergence, and it's not fun. First, my Adelphia cable modem service was/is out this morning. We're averaging about one major outage per month, and that's unacceptable for my just-increased $85/month combined data and basic cable service. Next, I try working via dialup using two different local ISPs. I get 40 Kbps max, probably due to my house wiring and/or the crummy modem in my laptop, but I do get connected. The experience is so bad I can't stand it: off to the local Starbucks for a dose of T-Mobile broadband. That brings us to the present, 3 hours into my work day (with little accomplished). I had previously signed up for T-Mobile WLAN access on a pay as you go basis, really expensive at $0.25 per minute. OK for a quick airport email check, but no good for a protracted work/surf session. So I decided to spend $20 and get the 120 minute national prepaid option. That's where I encountered Customer Service. You'd think I could simply logon to T-Mobile, access their site, pay the pay-as-you-go rate just long enough to switch service plans (after all, I signed up online originally). But no-o-o-o-o. There's NO WAY to change plans online. You have to call. So I called, spent 20 minutes on hold (paying as I go), and was told that the lack of an online plan switching option is a security feature. So I griped, but told the CS Representative OK, just change my account. Then he tells me that it will take 24 hours to switch my service plan. 24 HOURS! I was very close to killing the entire transaction at that point, but decided I needed the access and said OK, grudgingly. Bottom line, T-Mobile, WAKE UP! In one session I've gone from a big fan to an irritated user, who will be looking for an alternative (again). There are a lot of lessons here for prospective WISPs, not the least of which is don't model your customer service after the telcos. comment []10:03:26 AM

Ray Ozzie's thoughts on transparent email inboxes make a lot of sense to me. He's right, it does sound strange when you first consider it, but the strongest argument in the piece is that email is already the first place lawyers look during an investigation, so why not state right up front that everything you write on this corporate system is open and searchable. It would sure clean up a lot of the flame and junk I've seen on corporate email. Ray's comments are a little self-serving, because the need for a private collaboration space leads one immediately to Groove, but so what. It's a radical notion, but worth some thought. comment []8:14:29 AM

Broadband service (Adelphia Cable) is out this morning, so I'm using one of my backup dialup services. Everything is in slo-o-o-ow motion. Just checked the closest Starbucks, and they do in fact have a new T-Mobile WLAN up and running. I may move the home office to Starbucks for the day. Working solo definitely teaches you the value of fallback plans. comment []7:59:09 AM

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