Weak Update; More Later; Telecom Hell Continues
December 21st, 2010Update: After Being Down for Three Days…
It came back up a few hours after I posted this. Thanks, Telecom. Love ya. Really. *wink*
—End Update—
I’ve been driving around the wopwops, documenting another Telecom XT outage in this area. This time, I borrowed another XT user’s sim card to try, in addition to my own. Part of Telecom’s MO in hiding their outages is getting users to believe that it’s their fault and that nobody else is having the problem.
Surprise, surprise, XT (data) is down again, inland from Taipa. No doubt about it. Start up a ping -t in Cable Bay and everything is fine. Go over the Taipa bridge, turn left onto Oruru road and that’s it. The curtain falls: Request timed out, request timed out, request timed out…. and it doesn’t come back heading west. Five bars reception, line of sight to towers, doesn’t matter. Connects fine. No throughput.
Telecom New Zealand's Bullshit Generator
You’re busted Telecom. Post the outage on your site, you crooks. (not holding breath)
Then I dropped in to look at a printer that’s giving my inlaws’ trouble… Anyway, you’ve heard enough Christmas joy out of me already, so I’ll spare you the details.
The roosters are crowing and I’m going to go to sleep now.
Updates later.
Well I’ve just been looking at mobile broadband prices in a vain attempt to remain in the 21st century over the Christmas break. In a word: screw that. Still way too expensive to consider, unless I want to give up eating, drinking and saving for retirement.
Kevin: Get a big stick, mount a 24dBi wifi antenna on the end and wave it around until you get a decent signal from someone’s DSL router. Then go find them with a box of beer (make it good beer) and an offer to pay their internet connection if they let you use it.
It’s impossible to hit anyone with DSL from where we are. It’s not the distance, which is about 4 or 5km in a straight line, it’s the terrain. I can’t even see places with DSL access from here. So, line-of-sight antics are out. I have line-of-site access to hills and valleys, and that satellite that I used for a number of years, which was a rip off and didn’t work in heavy rain.
when the internet first came to Auckland commercially in 1994, friends running a web design business wanted to get away from dialup without leasing a T1. some other guys said, “why not set up microwave relays!?” this is waaaay before WiFi.
anyway, just a thought. probably not feasible in your neck of the wopwops.
(and Telecom are scum)
@tochigi
Re: microwave:
“line-of-sight antics are out”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microwave_transmission
Even if it was physically doable, which it isn’t, there are high costs associated with the gear, regulatory hurdles, blah blah.
I discussed a buildout with rurallink.co.nz, which would have required my neighbor getting in on the act, because her property has line of sight to Maungataniwha. There’s not enough interest here, and distribution to individual users would be another serious issue. There would be no line of site even to the repeater we’d have to build for people around here.
It’s nooooooooooot easy.
yeah, sorry, i realise you mentioned the terrain issues when you switched from satellite. so the only thing left is for 2degrees to do a rollout. yeah, i know, it’s not going to happen. bugger.
I almost drove off the road with joy as this was announced:
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSL3E6N61MU20101206
The first two contracts for ultra-fast broadband in New Zealand’s main urban areas have been awarded to electricity lines companies, the government said on Tuesday.
Communications minister Steven Joyce said Northpower Ltd and a subsidiary of WEL Networks Ltd would rollout ultra-fast broadband in the North Island cities of Hamilton, Tauranga, Whangarei, New Plymouth and Wanganui.
—
I mean, it wasn’t Telecom. Woo hoo!
But what happens on the Ship of Fools when the Captain throws us a crust and we get all happy?
I told Bex later that it probably means that Auk, Wltg, Chch and damn near everywhere else will be built by… you know who.
And then we lost cabin pressure:
Telecom selected as top bidder in 25 of 33 regions
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSL3E6NC07320101212
*Insert head explosion scene from Scanners here*
I was discussing this with another Cryptogon reader in NZ and she suggested that I should email Nicky Hager. I did.
Nicky Hager
worth a try.
he’s the only one who has a proven long record of standing up to Them (NZ Branch).