updated 1/27/2010
At first, I didn’t think to use Twitter when I saw my client’s website wasn’t loading. I saw the DNS problem at 6pm CST on 1/22/2009 but thought it was a blip and would get fixed quickly. Today though when I got a call from my client, I took action. He said not only was his site down but so was his email. Eek!
How To Use Twitter for Technical Support, Outages and Downtime To Keep Your Customers Informed
Company: Network Solutions
Problem: DNS problems are preventing websites around the world from loading
Response Time using Social Networking: Good, within 1 hour of twitter chat they replied on Twitter and on their blog
Quality Rating using Social Networking (1-5): 2
Twitter ID: Network Solutions @netsolcares
Blog: Network Solutions
Suggestions: Encourage existing customers to join Twitter and visit blog. Be proactive and Twitter status updates ever 2 hours until resolved. Put social networking icons on website near phone number. Add it to the phone script to raise awareness. Focus on providing information and status updates instead of always trying to upsell hosting products.
Update 2 – Monday CST 1/26/2009 - Got an email from Network Solutions telling me “my domain” was now resolving
Update 1 – 9:35pm CST 1/23/2009 - Shashi has just Tweeted from @netsolcares that the Network Solutions DNS problem is resolved
I contacted Network Solutions at 12 noon CST 1/23/2009. I explained that I had seen problems yesterday with the DNS and validated the problem was occurring again using OpenDNS’ cache check tool. I wanted to know if they had an ETA to resolve this problem. Dave at Network Solutions said no but that he could bump the domain for priority callback. That’s when I knew it was serious.
All of a sudden, I decided to check the twittersphere and here are the Twitter search results for Network Solutions. Ah ha! I tweeted that I was having a problem as well AND posted a link that others might find helpful. It was a post I wrote for 2 clients comparing domain name registrars for price, service and value: GoDaddy, Network Solutions, Register.com and melbourneit.com.
A bit later @netsolcares posted with a status update to Twitter and I captured it.
I called my client back and told him there was nothing I could do; this was as big as the internet itself. The ironic thing was I had just got the OK from him on Thursday to move his domains from Network Solutions to GoDaddy. I’d already sent him the article how Network Solutions charges outrageous prices for domain names.
He understood that this was out of my hands and that the company in charge of his domain name was the only one who could fix this (aka Network Solutions). We began talking about email alternatives like Google Apps. (update: Problem acknowledged this on the Network Solutions blog).
Network Solutions Under Large Scale DDoS Attack, Millions of Websites Potentially Unreachable
DEVELOPING STORY Network Solutions is having problems with “all” its name servers, according to their tech support and a recent post on North American Network Operators’ Group (NANOG) mailing list indicates that it has been under very large-scale UDP/53 DDoS attack for the last 48 hour period. As a result, domain names hosted with Network Solutions’ Worldnic have been affected.
During the stream (I use ustream.tv), I talked about what people could do, how the support lines will be flooded for the next few days, how DNS takes time (often days) to resolve and in the meantime, how many business owners will be losing clients because of this. I also talked about how to find a hosting company based on your needs for service, response time and speed rather than unlimited space and bandwidth since that is false advertising.
Also, I talked about how there would be angry folks, scared folks, folks ready to take action and people happy to not have domains with Network Solutions. I told viewers I would be moving my client’s domains tomorrow. If you are upset with Network Solutions and want to switch, here are 5 things to look for in a good domain registrar. I also found an interesting timeline on the Wikipedia Page for Network Solutions
1979 – Network Solutions started as a technology consulting company1991- Network Solutions gave out names in .com, .org, .mil, .gov, .edu and .net for free, with free IP address blocks
1992, Network Solutions was the sole bidder on a grant from the National Science Foundation to further develop the domain name registration service for the Internet
1993 – Network Solutions was granted an exclusive contract by the National Science Foundation (NSF)
1995 – National Science Foundation gave Network Solutions authority to charge for domain name registrations
1998 - ICANN is formed to oversee, manage and allocate domains, ip’s and protocols
1999 – Fee for registration had been reduced to wholesale rate of $6 per year to registered resellers
So why the heck are people paying Network Solutions $35 per year per domain?
Because they don’t know they can pay closer to $7 for the same domain at GoDaddy.
In the past, it was hard to determine if a problem was local network, caused by a vendor update, due to a problem with the internet connection, hardware or what but now with Twitter, you can hop on and basically input a few keywords and get real time updates from other users of the product or service.
I want to hear from you!
- How did your day with Network Solutions go?
- Did your clients call you?
- Were you able to explain what was going on?
- Did they blame you?
- Are you mad at Network Solutions?
- Do you plan to keep your domain name with them or leave?
I did get an email this morning from Network Solutions to let me know the domain for my client was now resolving:
From Network Solutions Support <siebelcustserv@networksolutions.com>
To: support@adennetworks.com
Date: Mon, Jan 26, 2009 at 5:25 AM
Subject: NetworkSolutions: Your service request 1-382739781Dear Adria Richards,The issue you reported to Network Solutions on 1/23/2009 01:26:14 PM and assigned Service Request 1-382739781 has been completed and closed.
Currently your mail domain is resolving normally. However, if you continue to have issues accessing your webmail, please contact Network Solutions technical support and reference this service request number.
We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused and thank you for your patience.
We hope this update has been helpful. However, if you have any additional questions, or feel that the issue has not been completely addressed, please do not hesitate to email our Technical Support Department at technicalsupport@networksolutions.com or call us at 1-866-391-HELP (1-866-391-4357). If calling from outside the U.S. or Canada, please call 570.708.8788
Sincerely,
JASON040
Network Solutions Technical Support
