Jewish World Review Sept. 26, 2003 / 29 Elul 5763
By Mark Kellner
http://www.NewsAndOpinion.com |
The arrival last Thursday of Hurricane Isabel brought with it massive
rains and winds, destruction for hundreds of old trees, flooding in Old
Town Alexandria and Annapolis, and more than a few lessons and
surprises for computer users.
INFORMATION ACCESSED: The greatest positive, without doubt, was the
massive amount of advance information that was available as the storm
headed towards land an into the lives of millions. Unlike any other
major storm of its kind in recent years, there was an abundance of
warning and pre-storm data that many people could use to prepare for
the worst, or whatever else came.
This is the Internet -- and, yes, your tax dollars -- at work in a
superb way. The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration
(NOAA) is to be commended for making so much data available; Internet
providers such as AOL and even Web pundit Matt Drudge deserve kudos for
funneling down that data to millions of end users.
And when everything is over and we all have our various access services
back in place, I wouldn't be surprised to find more than a few
home-made Web pages documenting the effect of Isabel in many ways large
and small. In my suburban Maryland neighborhood, there was more than
one "ancient" tree felled by the mighty winds, and it would be nice to
see some before-and-after Web sites recording that.
COMPUTERS OK IN STORM: Despite the ups and downs of electricity during
the first hours of the hurricane -- there were frequent momentary
"hiccups" in electrical power, causing resets and restarts -- both main
systems at "On Computers Central" were fine. As things began to heat
up, I did do the smart thing and shut the computers down. But,
thankfully, there were no surges or other surprises to knock things
around.
Based on this rather unscientific experiment using machines that aren't
the newest of the new (but neither were they the oldest), it seems
today's computers can better handle such vagaries. Still, it's always a
wise idea to have a surge protector, at least, and perhaps an
uninterruptible power supply if you really want to play things safe.
DIALUP STILL A DARLING: With electrical power and phone service working
soon after the worst of Isabel, a dialup connection -- in my case to
AOL -- was a true lifeline. This is another "standby" that a cable
Internet user, and perhaps users of any broadband Internet service,
should investigate. You can by prepaid, dialup Internet service without
too much hassle, and it's a useful item if you must keep computing when
things get hairy.
BROADBAND BOMBS: It'll sound like small potatoes to those readers still
without electricity, or with a new "skylight" courtesy of a neighbor's
tree, but it still rankles. On Sunday evening, four days after the
hurricane hit, my broadband Internet service, not to mention my cable
TV, were still on the blink.
Getting information from Comcast Cable was an exercise in frustration.
Recorded phone messages assured customers of "round the clock" repair
efforts, yet by 8:30 a.m. Sunday, the firm had approximately 130,000
Montgomery County customers without service? And when did that choice
bit of information become known? In my case, ten hours later, after
calling and speaking with a supervisor, helpfully located in Brockport,
New York, just north of Syracuse.
It took 12 minutes of back-and-forth on the telephone for the
supervisor to admit that, well, not having a way to reach technicians
in the field for more current information was far from good "customer
service." Our cable Internet connection returned sometime in the wee
small hours of Monday morning, just in time for a work week.
Even more amazing, to this observer at least, is the amount of Comcast
cable plant that is above ground in Mongomery County, where so much
home construction has taken place within the past 13 years. As
franchise agreements come up for renewal and renegotiation, it would be
a good idea for county officials to insist on buried cables and better
preparedness for storms and the like -- especially with the advance
notice we all had.
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JWR contributor Mark Kellner has reported on technology for industry newspapers and magazines since 1983, and has been the computer columnist for The Washington Times since 1991.Comment by clicking here.
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