Werner

Having worn a pacemaker for 11 years, I can concur that the electrodes
are not 100% reliable. I have had one which became "leaky": the
resistance between the inner and the sheath was down to 200 ohms.
However, the pacemaker itself monitors the resistance and the signal
compensates for it, so there is no danger to the patient. At the worst,
it will go into "alarm" mode and the pacemaker will work at a constant
rate (usually set at 40-50 bpm) which does not endanger the life of the
patient but makes life a little unpleasant for him, so he sees to it
prestissimo.

The manufacture of electrodes/cables is very difficult. They have to be
very flexible, physiologically inert, thin enough not to upset the
action of the valves they pass through, not subject to organic deposits
accumulating and reliable. The cables have a silicone insulation, so
that they are not exactly impervious. One of mine is still the original
one from January 1991 and is still behaving itself, even though it is
connected to a second pacemaker. The other, leaky, one lasted three
years after the fault was initially diagnosed and was changed at the
same time as the pacemaker, three years ago.

Cable reliability is therefore not quite as catastrophic as it sounds.

Brian

Earl Moon wrote:
>
> Ok folks,
>
> I think it's obvious to some who care, and I hope some do, I tend to go a
> little off the deep end with this quality thing. I abhor poor quality
> anything. Used to be, maybe still is, an auto parts lifetime warranty sucked
> because you had to take the alternator, or whatever, back every month, if
> fortunate, and get another. Though the replacement part was "free," just the
> replacement effort alone, for me, was worth more than the damn part. Well, I
> got sick and tired of it and changed the whole industry single handed.
> Believe that? I doubt it.
>
> With nothing happening on this site I'm reaching deep to stir the pot this
> time while being bored out of my mind here in Michigan. Hell, it ain't even
> snowing but the temps about nothing. Well, you're probably getting as tired
> of my rants as I am writing them, but consider the following:
>
> SEATTLE (AP) - Hundreds of people who bought Microsoft's hot new Xbox gaming
> console over the holidays received defective systems, and some said they had
> to wait weeks and endure shoddy customer service before their systems were
> fixed.
>
> While analysts say the number of flawed consoles is probably too small to
> spell serious production troubles, they caution that the long repair times
> may harm the software giant in its first major foray into hardware.
>
> John Kreis bought an Xbox the day it came out. But the 31-year-old Chicago
> man's $300 system stopped working almost immediately. Kreis said it took a
> month of aggravation with Xbox customer service before he got a replacement.
>
> ``The whole thing that was so frustrating (was) just the fact that still to
> this day I'm waiting for a call back just to explain to me what happened,''
> he said.
>
> The Associated Press spoke with about a dozen Xbox users who complained of a
> game system that never worked or worked for a few hours or days before
> freezing up. Most called the customer service response poor.
>
> ``I'm taking my Christmas decorations down and (my son) hasn't gotten to
> play with his Christmas toys yet,'' Debbie Mason, of Uniontown, Pa., said
> Thursday.
>
> She had just been told in her ninth call to customer service that, despite
> an earlier promise that the system would be sent back that day, it turned
> out to be broken again.
>
> Microsoft sales and marketing director John O'Rourke said fewer than 1
> percent of the Microsoft units - 10,000 units in this case - have proven
> faulty. Analysts say that's in line with the industry standard, and
> competitor Nintendo reported a comparable rate for its new GameCube.
>
> But analyst Rob Enderle of Giga Information Systems warned that a company's
> response to those customers who do have problems often is more important
> than how many units actually break.
>
> ``If 200 people have a really bad experience and they're vocal, then the
> impression is the product's bad,'' he said.
>
> During the Christmas season, Enderle added, any return that takes more than
> a week is ``a horribly long time.''
>
> For Microsoft, which shipped about 1.5 million Xboxes over the holidays, the
> stakes are high. With the highly regarded Xbox, the company is battling
> Nintendo and Sony in a hyper-competitive game console market.
>
> Microsoft already has been plagued with rumors of problems at its Mexican
> production plant after it delayed its U.S. launch date by a week - to Nov.
> 15 - and pushed back its Japan launch as well.
>
> The company has denied any major problems.
>
> Plenty of people who bought defective Xboxes got decent customer service.
> Marc Patri, 49, said in an e-mail that his Xbox was repaired and returned
> within five days - which O'Rourke called the time it should take a unit to
> get repaired.
>
> Microsoft uses outside companies, including San Antonio, Texas-based
> Harte-Hanks Inc. and Sykes Enterprises in Tampa, Fla., to handle its Xbox
> customer service. Xbox repairs are handled by Solectron Corp. of Milpitas,
> Calif.
>
> A spokesman for Harte-Hanks declined to comment. The other companies did not
> respond to calls seeking comment.
>
> Microsoft has seen no pattern of specific problems, said O'Rourke, and heard
> of no major delays with repairs.
>
> Kreis said it took nearly two weeks before he even received an empty box to
> send his faulty Xbox back for repair.
>
> And he got conflicting answers: At one point, customer service couldn't find
> his records. Another representative told him he would get a new unit rather
> than have his old one repaired. Another agent told him they never send new
> units out.
>
> Still later, someone called him and asked him how he was enjoying his new
> Xbox - which he'd never received.
>
> Finally, on Dec. 10, the repaired Xbox came back.
>
> ``I'll be loyal for a while,'' said Kreis. ``But I'm hoping I never have to
> call support again, that's for sure.''
>
> Any reactions? I mean, is 1% acceptable or what about the rest of the BS
> these people put on us, or are we to blame for wanting untested stuff before
> its time? What about the SUV tire thing? Does any of this really matter?
>
> MoonMan
>
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