Is This Thing On?

Some New Yorkers are pushing through a fifth day of slow, almost unusable speeds on their TimeWarner / Roadrunner Internet connections. And when they can get though to Twitter or community-focused sites like Yelp! and the Brooklynian forum, they’re complaining.

So while their customers are dealing with pages that start to load but never finish (or that never load at all), TimeWarner — like many companies — is using a Social Media Outreach Team to monitor the internet for customer complaints and issues. Gripe about bad service or a bad product online these days and, more often than not, you’ll get a message on Twitter or an email from a company rep saying “I’m sorry that you’re unhappy…can I help?”.

While looking around on Twitter for anyone else mentioning internet trouble in New York City, I found TimeWarner’s Main Customer Service Twitter account. Social Media Team Manager Philip Blum and representative Brien H responded immediately to my report. They sent me messages on Twitter and by email right away and expedited a technician’s visit to my apartment. They also facilitated two different calls with a Tier 3 Tech to run tests that seemed to confirm what I already suspected: It is a problem with their network.

I know that TimeWarner Cable has a reputation for bad customer service but, if the people I dealt with are any indication, the company is making strides in the right direction. The tech who came to my apartment, the Tier 3 Network Guy, the representative who called me with updates, and Phil and Brien — each of them seemed like smart, engaged people who really wanted me to get my problem fixed. In a time where customer service cutbacks are rampant, this level of personal responsiveness deserves to be recognized and complimented!

But five days later, my internet is still broken…. and I think that this shines a light on an interesting phenomenon.

Corporate social media outreach is great, but without fixing the institutional issues with their service — bad equipment, understaffed technical teams, etc. — it’s just like the buttons at New York City crosswalks: They’re just placebos. Buttons that aren’t connected to anything — that are in place so that we can push them and feel like we have some influence on things.

TimeWarner has developed a sensitive “social nervous system” that can quickly detect when there’s a serious, wide-spread problem: It’s a shame that it’s going to waste by not helping the company actually improve it’s response.

What To Do If You’re Affected By The TimeWarner Internet Slowdown

So let’s get practical: What can you do to make things better in the meantime?

1. Try Using A Virtual Private Network.

   When I saw that TimeWarner’s routing was screwed up, I tried connecting to the internet through a VPN (“Virtual Private Network”). Tellingly, I wasn’t able to connect to the company’s server here in the US but **WAS** able to reach the European server. Sending my traffic overseas seems to have dodged whatever faulty TimeWarner switch or router is causing the problem and, since then, I’ve been able to browse with no lost connection or “timeouts” (albeit at much slower speeds than normal).

   So, if you have access to your company’s VPN — or a VPN service like Hotspot Shield, Strong VPN, or VyprVPN (which is the service I am using)¹ — try it and see if that gets your internet back into semi-usable shape.

   It’s a little slow (and all of my Google results are being returned in Dutch!), but look at it this way: You’ve finally got something in common with dissidents who need to use the Internet in countries all over the world — you know, people with real problems and not just a bad connection!

2. Complain to Public Agencies That License These Guys.

   Here are links to the NYC City Complaint Form for Bad Cable Service and the New York State Public Service Commission Complaint Form. Use them!

3. Reach Out For Help… Politely!

   Don’t think that putting a #FAIL tag after your complaint makes you a hero — it makes you semi-anonymous, snarky jerk. Don’t tell a company that you wish “they would die in a fire”². If you feel your frustration building, I’d suggest reading this post by Derek Sivers before you fire up your flame-thrower.

   After all, technology is only dehumanizing when people stop using it humanely. Let’s use it to solve problems — not to make people feel bad about themselves or to insult the dignity of people doing difficult jobs.

Do You Have An Update? Anything To Add? Leave A Comment!

1. See Paul Stamatiou’s excellent review and walk-through of VyprVPN here.
2. Seriously, I saw this while looking for information

Adrian Mueller's Assistant Ellis Celebrating This Year's PDN 30 Award

The selectees of PDN’s “30 New and Emerging Photographers to Watch in 2010″ were announced today — and I was overjoyed to learn that Adrian Mueller was on this list.

“Overjoyed” isn’t an exaggeration. Anyone who knows Adrian and his work is thrilled for the guy!

Originally from Switzerland, Adrian and I met about the time he first arrived here in New York about 10 years ago. Since then, I’ve seen him build up both his photography business (Fabrik Studios U.S.A.) and his technical skills as a commercial photographer, year after year.

Click Here To See Images From The PDN 30 Gallery

So, if that maxim of every “overnight success” taking at least a decade is true, then it has been a fortuitous coincidence for me that I’ve been able to watch someone actually achieve it from the start.

A Tale Of Two Cities

New York City has always attracted talented, creative people from all over the world and, selfishly, getting to meet some of them is part of why I love living here.

But New York City may also be the “self-promoting capital of the universe” ¹ and a quiet, continuing dedication to your craft doesn’t always attract attention.

It isn’t flashy.

Neither is growing the trusted relationships central to any professional achievement — especially as a photographer in such a competitive market. But I think that it’s exactly that level of personal integrity and commitment to excellence that separates an artist from an artisan.

Let’s be frank: There aren’t many people out there who care as much about the quality of their work as the quality of their paycheck, so it’s all the more reason to celebrate loudly when one of these people breaks through to a larger audience.

More Good News

As impressive as it is, the PDN announcement is only the latest indication that all the hard work is paying off: These days, Adrian is working with some pretty big fish in the advertising ocean.  His images are at the center of ad campaigns by companies like HP, T-Mobile, Martha Stewart, Kraft, Chase, and Bodum — and he recently collaborated with famous raw food proponent and chef Matthew Kenney on his soon-to-be-released cookbook Everyday Raw Desserts.

Seriously — If you’re an Art Director and you have a chance to work with this guy, you should.²

Congratulations to Adrian, his wife Takako, and the whole Fabrik Studios team for this wonderful, well-deserved accolade.

1. Although I can see your point if you wanted to vote for Los Angeles…
2. If you don’t, you should hit yourself in the head with a ball-peen hammer until you see the error of your ways.

Video links originally found at Save vs. Death