#7 Blog about technology

When it works smoothly and quickly technology can seem amazing and indispensable. How quickly this can fade when things start to go wrong.

After months of careful consideration followed by an impulsive 'I want it now and I want it now!' moment, I finally bought myself a computer. The set-up was all going smoothly until I tried to connect to our home wireless network. The computer could detect and, with some assistance from the IT helpdesk, connect to our wireless network but was unable to connect to the internet. With every failed attempt my frustration was building and boiling.

I think that while this is fresh in my mind I will have more empathy for customers experiencing IT problems. In my case, the technical support offered while experiencing technological frustration did make a difference to my experience of the problem. The computer company helpdesk spent about half an hour on the phone with me trying various different methods to solve the problem and got me about half way there before referring me to our internet service provider. Our internet service provider prefaced their couple of suggestions with the statement 'we don't actually provide support for wireless' (but they're happy to sell it to you) and referred me to the modem company, whose recorded message asked me to call during business hours. Although the first person didn't solve the problem, at least they attempted to and didn't immediately claim that it wasn't their area or problem. I'll try to keep that in mind when someone complains about the speed of our internet (or something else that we don't really have control over but influences their experience using our service). I think that's enough frustrated ranting for one day.