Posts Tagged ‘Maintenance’

In the Grip of the Storm…

In: Technology

By: Steve Stanfill on Feb 02, 2011 at 3:34 pm

The last 48 hours have been interesting in much of the US.  Since most of WOW!’s operations are located in the midwest, we’ve had a particularly exciting time with the difficult weather conditions sustaining the service and needs of our customers.  The good news is that the situation is no where near as bad as it could have been.  The ice and wind “double punch” could certainly have damaged more plant than it did.  Most outages our customers have experienced have been due to local power outages rather than permanent damage to the plant.  At this point, even taking into account the power problems, the vast majority of our customers have full services in the 5 metro areas that we service.  The Columbus OH area and the Chicago IL area were particularly hard hit with ice and/or snow, so as of this writing our dedicated crews are still out restoring services to quite a few customers in those areas.

Given the ferocity of the storm, WOW! personnel prepared as much as possible ahead of time, including some of our Network Operations Center (NOC) and engineering personnel bringing camping gear in anticipation of a long night in our Chicago office to monitor systems and alert crews and engineers to problem spots in the network.  Our call center in Colorado Springs had additional staff scheduled to handle increased volume of storm related calls and troubles, as well as additional tier 3 support personnel to triage problems and supplement the skeleton NOC  crew in Naperville.   Our engineering teams in all regions have tools in place so that, when necessary, engineering support can be given to other teams from home at all hours of the day and night.  By planning ahead, work can proceed with minimal disruption and minimal worry for WOW! personnel safety as we support customers in these extraordinary weather events.

Of course, freezing rain can cause permanent damage to the plant, which then requires our crews to rebuild pieces from scratch.  While there are isolated areas that will require extensive repairs, we hope and expect that, as power is restored to homes, that for most,  WOW! services will be there ready and waiting.

Thanks to the many dedicated workers and support staff who have helped tame the effects of this fierce storm on our customers, and thanks to those customers who have been patient and understanding as crews work to restore service.

Until next time….

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Maintenance, Did you know….?

In: Customer Experience & Support

By: Bill Wright on Oct 13, 2010 at 4:15 pm

The majority of scheduled maintenance work is performed between 1am and 5am local time. This timeframe is used because it impacts the least amount of customers that have WOW! service. Preventive maintenanace work is also performed at night Monday through Thursday. This time is used due to the low usage of Internet and Voice. Video has low usage during these hours but our VideoOnDemand product tends to have a higher usage. Because of this, we schedule maintenance for VideoOnDemand at 5am local time. Whenever maintenance is performed that will affect a large group of customers or a community for more the 15 minutes, we will deliver bulletins to the affected WOW! customers  via computers within 48 hours of the scheduled work. We will also post this information on the Network Status page of the Customer Portal.

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To Power off….or not?

In: Technology

By: Steve Stanfill on Oct 06, 2010 at 8:06 am

Power management of electronic equipment grows increasingly complex in today’s world.  Certainly, consumers are concerned about energy costs, and there is increasing concern from a public policy standpoint over carbon-based energy production and its potential impact on the environment.

Regardless of the reason, it is a fact that electronic equipment generally is quite energy efficient these days, but some is better than others.  There are a number of design criteria for an engineer to consider:

1)  What is the overall wattage consumption when fully on versus a potential sleep mode?

2)  Does sleep mode, if applicable, have other benefits vs. turning the equipment completely off?

3)  What is the convenience factor associated with effective power management if any?

4)  What are the power management factors that contribute to product longevity?

Why the concentration on “sleep mode”?  The fact is that most electronic equipment doesn’t really like an initial power surge coursing through its semiconductors like some unbridled testosterone rush.  Most of us are aware of sleep modes on computers (particularly laptops), and perhaps displays, but in fact most electronic equipment is designed this way these days, including televisions (both CRT and flat panel), sound equipment, DVR’s, and logic processors of all kinds, whether they are in refrigerators, microwaves, hard drives, phones, etc.  Soft power switches are the norm now rather than the exception.

There are several good reasons for designs of this type:

Longevity–electronic circuitry that is “always on”, even at a significantly reduced power level, has been shown to last longer and retain its operating characteristics more consistently over the life of the device when compared with designs that use a “hard power” approach.

Convenience–in many designs, the time interval from “sleep” to “full on” is much less than from “off” to “on”–most of us have experienced that with our computers, but it really applies to other devices as well.

Less Energy Usage–wouldn’t any device with a hard power switch save energy in the long run?  Not necessarily.  Most devices which carry the coveted Energy Star® rating are usually soft switch designs, integrating intelligent power management that doesn’t depend on our “remembering to turn it on or off”.

A couple of general recommendations:

If you are using a power strip as an on/off switch for televisions, computers, cable modems, EMTA, sound equipment, DVR, etc., DON’T–All of that careful circuit saving power engineering is bypassed when you use this “sledgehammer on a thumbtack” approach.  And while I agree this is relatively convenient, it just generally isn’t the best thing for your equipment or your power bill.  Don’t “power down hard” (power strip, pulling the plug, etc.) any electronic equipment unless other circumstances force the issue.  (An intense lightning storm raging outside IS a good reason).

That said, if your computer locks up for example, many times the only way to “get it back” is with a hard reboot/hard power reset.  Most circuitry with built in logic is the same way, whether in a DVR or a clock radio.  If there is a need to “reset” that logic, because of soft power engineering, many times pushing the power button will be inadequate for this task, and the “plug must be pulled”.  Again, use this option with caution, but be aware that this will reset most electronic logic that has lost its way for whatever reason.  If you find yourself doing this all the time with the same component, service is probably going to be required on the device.

May the road rise up to meet you, and your logic devices never stray from their design criteria!

Until next time….

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Water

In: Technology

By: Steve Stanfill on Sep 22, 2010 at 8:58 am

Several years ago, I bought my wife a MacBook Pro for her personal use.  After “sharing” computers with me and the heavy college/HS student population of our household at that point, it was time for her own machine–one that someone had to ask her permission to use instead of the other way around.  Probably several years too late, but that’s another discussion…

About two months after the purchase, I came home from work to find the computer open and sitting up on the kitchen table on its end, as though it were a book on display atop a library shelf.  An odd position.  Scratched my head a bit, but didn’t worry too much about it until she returned from her errands and walked through the door.  I could tell from her face that something wasn’t right.  It had been a no good, very bad day…

She tearfully told me that in the process of her work that morning, she had spilled a glass of water at the table, some of which had splashed onto the keyboard of the MacBook.  She was unsure how much, but it was enough to freeze the machine and make the screen go dark.  She had disconnected the power supply, shook what she could out of the Mac, and left it on its end to “drain and dry”.  Since it had been several hours, we ventured to try and restart the machine.  Nope…it was now a very expensive brushed aluminum brick.

I called Apple and told them the situation, complete with the disclosure on the potential water entry.  They suggested I send it back to them in a prepaid box they would send me, and told me that if the repair was determined to be water damage, they would let me know the charges before repairs were made.  I steeled myself for that phone call.  Instead of hearing from them, precisely two days after we had sent the machine to Apple, it was back on our doorstep fully repaired and functional.  Apple had replaced the logic board at no charge to the Stanfill family.  Parenthetically, Apple has always received more than its share of my discretionary income precisely because of its more-than-helpful attitude towards me as a customer.

The outcome could have been much different.  Apple had no legal obligation under the terms of its warranty to fix the computer at no charge.  Many of us have had experiences with water and electronic devices which did not end nearly so well.

Here’s the thing…Water is a conductor of electricity (pure water is a very poor conductor, but in today’s world, most water contains ions of sodium or other elements that make it much more conductive than it is naturally), and putting water in contact with electronic circuitry will cause carefully engineered circuit paths to be redirected to places they should not go.  Even worse are other water based drinks that have intentional “impurities” introduced to the mix–coffee, tea, soft drinks, etc.  These drinks are highly conductive and even worse, leave a residue on electronic parts that can remain conductive even after the moisture is gone.

At the risk of displaying a Profound Mastery of the Obvious (PMO), here are a couple of rules to keep your gear running well:

1)  Don’t eat or drink in close proximity to your computer or other electronic gear.  Do not think that “it will never happen to me”.

2)  Don’t use your set top box or DVR as a support for a houseplant. Duh.

3)  When moving digital cameras, computers, ipods, etc. from a cool dry environment to a warm humid environment, allow them to remain in their case until temperature is normalized within.  Condensation from moisture in the air is as bad as dumping water inside the device.  Jumping outside with your digital camera from an air conditioned space into an Evansville summer day is not a good idea.

and, finally with tongue squarely in cheek,

4)  Don’t allow pets to “nest” on electronic gear.  A couple of years ago, a customer came in for a set top box replacement.  No problem.  Two weeks later she was in again.  The WOW! service rep quizzically asked if there was any reason she knew of why the set top boxes would be failing, whereupon the customer responded that her cat had a habit of peeing into the top (vented portion) of the box.  Apparently didn’t like the programming.  True story.

Until next time….

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Heat

In: Technology

By: Steve Stanfill on Sep 15, 2010 at 8:44 am

It’s been a hot, dry summer in Evansville.  We’ve had more than our share of heat this summer–more days hitting the 100 degree mark than any summer in recent memory.  It’s been warm in many areas of the country–hard on livestock, crops, and people.  When forced to be outside in midday, tempers are short, patience is thin, and things just don’t work very well.  Folks are much happier huddled in their air conditioned offices or homes, hunkered down watching the latest programming from their WOW! video services.

Just as heat is hard on people, heat is the enemy of electronic equipment of almost every kind.  Most electronic gear can handle internal temperatures of 150°F or so, but much beyond that can begin to cause problems.  To maintain internal temperatures at or below operating norm, ambient temperatures for most consumer electronic gear need to be maintained at less than 85°F.  Some gear is designed specifically to operate at higher temperatures than this, but in most situations electronics are most comfortable at room temperature, aka 72°F or below.

From an engineering perspective, the less heat internally the better.  Heat can cause semiconductors (integrated circuit chips, transistors, etc.) specifically to radically change their specifications, altering how they perform and function in unpredictable ways.  If the heat buildup continues to increase, eventually the solid state components will enter “thermal runaway”, an ugly condition that will lead to a self destruction cycle–a veritable puddle of silicon where there used to be functional electronics.  Hard disk drives, too, are sensitive to thermal conditions and can self destruct willfully with all the data on board.

But any cooling technology needs to be balanced with the practical aspects of living with the device.  For example, placing a high speed cooling fan in a set top box might keep the innards cool and everything working smoothly, but would not be appropriate in a home environment because of the noise generated by a fan running at full tilt.  If an iPod is designed to be impervious to perspiration or condensation, it can’t have vent holes in the case to cool off internal components.

If an “active approach” is chosen in design phase, many current manufacturers use temperature sensors to regulate the speed of cooling fan(s) to generate the bare minimum of noise for any given situation.  If a passive approach is chosen, equipment cases are perforated with enough vents to ensure adequate cooling by convection.  Other designs use power saving semiconductors (hence less heat) that require no fan or venting to function.

Whether active or passive, a consumer can thwart the cooling design and cause equipment to malfunction or fail prematurely.  It is really a matter of common sense:

1)  If you see vents on your set top, theatre audio system or DVR, don’t cover them up with magazines or other material, even if the interior decorator insists the device is ugly and needs to be covered up.

2)  If you have equipment with an active cooling fan, and it is spinning like crazy all the time, the cabinet in which it is placed may need to be vented to reduce the temperature to something closer to 72°F.  Check vents for blocking on this equipment as well.  Putting stuff in a closed box of any kind is asking for trouble.

3)  Leaving portable electronics in direct sunlight, or in an auto interior is a bad idea.  If this happens, don’t start up the device until it has returned to room temperature.  Most electronics will tolerate more heat off than on.  Turning on a device before it has cooled down sufficiently risks data corruption and hardware failure.

Next week….Water!

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