Tech Support: Roll the Web Cams, not the Trucks

In every conversation like this someone like you comes along and tries to impress people by mentioning $100,000 systems.  So again, if we do one that small I’ll remember your advice.

Nice try with “so other contractors can troubleshoot my work”.  It’s a tool, just like IP encoders, just like remote power management, just like temperature sensors, just like network monitors.

As for my “shoddy work”, do you really want to go there?

youre not impressing anyone, youre looking like the a**hole, calling people idiots and then putting down $100,000 jobs as “small”.

i didn’t mention $100,000 to be impressive, i mentioned it to make the point that systems are expensive, and when they are expensive, a guy is there to service them - not ask the homeowner to dig around in a rack with a handheld wireless webcam.

i personally don’t care how many jobs you have done, or how good they are. if a client told me his previous guy put in a webcam for him to troubleshoot system problems, i would belly laugh right along with them.

There are enough good business models to go around. I know who John is, and he’s very reputable. In fact, I really respect his biz practices. I’m sure Dan is a fine integrator as well. Heck, maybe you two work at the same company and don’t know it?!

I do apologize for my earlier use of the word idiots which I’d appreciate if a mod would remove.  Sometimes my emotion gets the better of me when I see the attitudes of some in this industry.

So let me say one final time.  A webcam can be a very useful tool for supporting a system, just as a telephone, an IP encoder, remote access, a local PC, and system monitoring can be.

Here is an example of a well designed system with a web cam (not one of mine but I like these guys).
http://wiki.cytexone.com/display/pubdocs/CytexOne+Commercial+Project

let me clarify my position, as it has taken a left turn: the webcam has it’s place. given the scope of the problem, it may fix it quickly and hassle-free. in a different scenario, it may complicate things. i explore on the phone first, and if necessary, i roll to the customer. i have found my clients in Chicago to expect everything to be done for them, just like their maids and nannies do, and want no part in troubleshooting anything themselves, and would rather pay for the visit.

We document/tag/film/photograph every square inch of our installations so that we can talk a client thru something over the phone. I personally have used webcams to troubleshoot systems and even to do silly things like help my girlfriend find something in the garage when im out of town.

This is a great article and you chose the perfect title. Lets pretend your the best installer in the world and you have taken every precautionary measure.. then lets pretend that the system goes down 5 minutes before the wedding starts or the game is about to come on or date night is about to begin…

A webcam and your cell phone is the difference between a pissed off client and you being the jerk who sold them a bunch of junk and you being the freaking tech guru hero.

All the guys here talking about neat wiring and well engineered racks and remote monitoring must have never heard of the cable guy. Good luck trying to use software when the cable guy disconnects the feed to your distributed boxes just because his work ticket only shows an issue with the gazebo TV. This has happened to me with Cable and DirecTV. It wasnt until we rolled a truck monday morning (call was saturday night) that we found out all we needed to do was reconnect the wire that the moron aka cable guy unplugged.

Making sure that the network security is in place to protect the client and the system is imperative and a concern with commercial and high end residential installs. Access to the system raises privacy concerns so be prepared to think through how you are going to address that with your client and what record of entry will be in place to safeguard your client.

The camera linked earlier in the thread combines the benefit of a 100% feedback based system with a quality camera on a wire. Well designed and thought out with redundancy in the event of a failure.