I was recently looking on the Internet to see what I could find for maps of fiber optic cable routes in the US. I wanted to find something like the maps on An Atlas of Cyberspace, but I wanted more detailed, vector format, nation-wide data files I could use to make my own maps.

I couldn’t find much–at least not detailed, not vector, and the data was never free. But come to find out, you can buy this high-quality, detailed data. It’s very expensive, but it seems there are (otherwise) no obstacles in terms of getting it. That is, you don’t need to be a government or telecom company to look at it. The prospects also look unfortunately bleak for using an FOIA request to get it from public records which might contain the data.

One commercial data provider kindly gives you a sample map from their product to see the level of detail they provide. The area of focus for the sample? Washington DC. How handy. And I thought this stuff was hard to get because of the “terrorism risk”? Just another way corporate control over what-should-be-public-information makes private companies tons of money… sigh.

Well, I answered my own question: Apple *does not* learn. The update: Apple sent out my machine for repair to address the screen issue and to repair some cosmetic damage for free, in exchange for my time and trouble with the machine thus far.

Today, I tracked the status of my repair with Apple’s repair status page, and noticed my machine was delivered at ~10 AM to the Apple Store. I went there at ~1:30 PM, and asked if I could pick it up. The person at the Apple store said they hadn’t unpacked it yet, and that they would call me when it’s ready. “Probably today, maybe tomorrow”. I told them it had to be today.

I went home, and just as I was walking up the stairs, I get a call. The machine is ready. I could have waited in the store if I had known they would be that quick, but I dutifully went back to pick it up–I want my computer back!

When I finally got it back, (to my horror) I found they replaced the logic board. For the second time. No joke. And, to top it off, they didn’t repair any of the cosmetic damage, as John and I agreed. WTF Apple?

Apple has now agreed to give me a new machine. But seriously, did it have to be this painful? What’s going on at Apple? Will they learn from *this* experience? Maybe the price of the new laptop will open their ears… I doubt it.

This past holiday, I’ve been computer-less: my (first generation) MacBook Pro has been in for repair at Apple, making this repair #5 for the machine. My experience this time around started at the “genius bar”, and that experience left much to be desired. After being passed around a few times, the staff finally took in my machine only to call me two days later asking if they could send it out for repair. This delay, along with the holiday, created a situation where my machine was out of my hands for about a full week. But that’s not all…

When I finally received the machine back, I found that only the “logic board” was replaced–even though my screen (or its cabling) was the defective component. I thought they knew what they were doing, and proceeded to use the machine hoping never to see the screen problem crop up again. Well, sure enough–it came back. Exactly as before.

I took the machine back to the Apple Store, and they said the same thing the first two “geniuses” did: it was probably a display cabling issue. “Why wasn’t the display cable replaced, then?” I asked. They couldn’t be sure; the repairs are done in Texas at the “depot”.

My machine has been anything but reliable, with multiple independent components failing. Obviously, the machine (and the plant it was made in) has quality problems–especially with ribbon cables. I asked what they could do for me to ensure this was one of the last times I showed up here for repairs. They told me, until my machine kept coming in for the same issue, nothing; I’d be sent out for repair this time (free of charge, “of course”), but no new machine for me. The “genius” even had the audacity to tell me, “this type of thing is to be expected with first generation products”. Gee, thanks. I didn’t know the “geniuses” served as gatekeepers for Apple repair service. I thought they were my advocate? I did pay for AppleCare, right?

I balked, and asked to speak to John, the manager at Apple Store Shadyside. He was really understanding, and listened to me politely, and then agreed to fix some cosmetic damage on my machine free of charge (a $500 value) in exchange for my time and trouble. By now I’ve literally gotten a new machine piece by piece, but why Apple couldn’t just cut their losses, and please me as a customer the first time, by replacing the defective machine, I’m not sure.

I think the real mark of a good organization, however, is to find out if they “learn”. Standards that indicate a “learning organization” come in many forms: the Capability Maturity Model (CMM) from CMU, ISO’s 9000 series standards and others. Essentially I want to know, if somebody comes in with the same issue as me, will Apple take what they found out from my machine and apply it to that case?

If somebody comes in with a machine that turns off randomly, will they check the battery cable instead of making the customer come back multiple times for diagnosis (as they did with me)? Will Apple change their store policies to ensure machines don’t stay in the store for two days to be “rediagnosed”, only to eventually be sent out for a non-relevant repair? Is it typical for Apple to replace non-relevant parts? Are these repairs even tracked?

I’m not sure if Apple has any internal knowledge sharing system or analysis procedures, but if there are any Apple techs reading this, please chime in with some answers. Is Apple a “learning organization?”

Just an FYI: in light of the recent Monster.com leak of customer information, I wanted to delete my user profile. You can’t do this yourself from the website, but if you E-mail siteabuse@monster.com, they will delete it for you. I found this on another blog, but lost the link. Anyway, just wanted to confirm that it does work!

It what seems like a good omen, the world keeps giving me new ways to explain to people why they should care about infrastructure. Today, the addition is a broken Pittsburgh water main. The ~20″ main broke around noon, and sent water running down the street in such quantities that on-lookers said it looked like a river. Video of the water can be seen at a page on KDKA’s website. My favorite shot is when the stairs literally look like a waterfall. That’s a *lot* of water!

After work, I headed over to the scene to see what was going on. There were roughly six or so bystanders that looked like they weren’t there to work–there were also dozens of construction workers, supervisors, reporters, engineers, PWSA people, PEMA/Department of Homeland Security(!) and police. As you can see in the photos below, it made for a pretty “populated” intersection.

One of my favorite exchanges I witnessed was one of the bystanders telling the PWSA guys “thanks”. The guys said “they needed that”, and thanked the bystander back. Maybe another worker “thanks” project, vis-a-viz “The New York Sanitation Department Project” is in order?