Generalizing
General Discussion, to be honest it is items that do not fit very well into other categories.
RoadRunner sure could use an open business model.
1Within the last two months I have been having incredibly poor connection when it comes to speeds and packet loss. I understand from time to time this will happen. I called about a month ago to RoadRunner, and they sent a tech out to the house only to see that the equipment was perfect. It was ok (at the time as it was off-peak hours) but when I got home later that night, there it was dropping connection like a son of a gun.
I was patient, I called and noted the problem, and I said if it would continue for another week I would call them back. I didn’t call them back in a week, I called about a week ago from this posting. I had to explain the issue again to tech support, and as always they always think it’s never their problem (I guess based on statistics it isn’t, it’s some computer newbie who didn’t know their computer had to be on). I had a 30 minute call to them, to finally have a level 3 technician tell me that they are upgrading the equipment in the area and that it was going to take about 25 more days to complete (as they had to lay fiber, make room in the equipment racks, etc) and I fully understand that it is a multi step process and it takes time to complete.
What I do not appreciate is that you have to talk to a Level 3 Technician from RoadRunner support before you get answers. Back in the day when roadrunner started (yes I had it that very year…) we had a nice page we could click on right from rr.com that would show network status. At the time it was a static page that someone updated… Regardless, they would tell you of known overloaded areas and down areas, and properly working areas. Now we have to contact support, talk to someone who makes it think it’s our fault and we shouldn’t live, to sit on hold to get transferred to level 3 support for them to say there is a known problem.
I am demanding that RoadRunner and all other ISPs become more open with their network status’. If only they understood that customers LIKED transparency and like to see if there are problems. We all know nothing will ever work perfect, but it’s nice to know someone is addressing it.
Hell, why not have an email system, if you can put your zipcode to an email list in a database, if they know what zipcodes are affected by something email us. It seems like such an easy thing to do, yet they want to think they things never go wrong.
I will have to wait 17 more days from day until they have it scheduled to be up and running with an expanded connection. On that day I will call demanding either a credit of some sort for the annoyance of not even having throughput in ‘peak’ times to watch a STANDARD DEF 360p YouTube videos.
Server Restructure Almost Complete
0I have spent the past few days and most of the weekend converting the servers running at our Texas Server over to our new more powerful Phoenix server. PWC-Gaming’s game servers are now running from Phoenix, AZ. Powered by Codero hosting, so far I have really liked their service. We moved from a basic dual core Intel with 2GB ram, to a Core i3 (Dual Core with Hyperthreading) with 4GB. Our bandwidth has increased too… That’s always nice.
We have new servers too with this move as we have more ram to run them. Before the move we had UT, and that’s it. Now we have UT(2004), Trackmania, Monday Night Combat, and Minecraft. If you want a list of new server addresses the details are right here.
Our minecraft server is amazing, I spent a lot of time loading out custom modifications, and you can totally view our map by going to this page (updates once a week, as generating this takes 2+ hours at full CPU utilization).
My Take on the Wisconsin Budget Bill
0I have heard so much around the news and from my friends (which in their profession this bill directly targets), and I think I have personally made enough opinions of it to make my decision.
SCOTT WALKER:
Originally I thought this candidate, even though I did not vote for him, still had a lot of fresh ideas and would potentionally bring around some great changes. In his first week or two, I heard on the news of things that have changed. I thought this was nice that we finally had someone that was taking charge, I didn’t even think twice that someone taking charge could have a back fire, and oh boy did it backfire. This governor who is listening ‘to the people’ of a certain group. It seems in this case that he’s thinking that people who believe public workers should not have all the benefits seem to be giving him confidence to make changes to benefits along with removing their ability to bargain for anything. His decision seems incredibly abrupt and has the feeling of a dictatorship, not the benevolent’ish likings we expect from our governor. Maybe he should join the Democrats on their vacation and talk to them about what is going on. He needs to listen to both sides, without a predetermined opinion of the outcome. I do believe he lacks this ability.
PUBLIC WORKERS:
I have heard so many things about how Public Workers don’t make that much, and that is true when you look at the amount of some of the public workers vs what you end up getting, it is not that much. The only up side at this point is the benefits. There are SEVERAL public workers though that shouldn’t be getting what they are getting, and they still get the benefits that others are getting. This is pathetic. At the companies I work for, they made the change right when I started from a Group Health Insurance plan to a HSA based one where they give so much in credit per month.
Does that cover it? No. There is A LOT more involved, but as a business oriented person I understand this rise in healthcare. I also understand the concept of a sick day. I get 3 Sick Days a year… Not over 60 as I hear many school systems have and I wouldn’t be surprised if that extends to other fields within the public sector. I do understand being in the school does put you around many other people, and depending on the year there can be a lot of illness, but you have to look at this realistically, 14 days TOPS! The rest is unpaid. In the real world we have the options called ALFAC, if we are out of work for extended days we can PAY for PLANS that HELP COVER US.
I think what is trying to be done is a step in the right direction BUT it is being done too quick, too aggressive and with no input. I do support adjusting the rights, and hell in a perfect world I’d love to get rid of unions, read on for my opinion on unions.
UNIONS:
I do not like unions, I guess it would all come down to if businesses and industries were honest with their workers we wouldn’t really need unions. We need unions to breathe down the necks of the business to make sure the workers are being treated with veneration (Respect). I do feel that sometimes like the Lobbyists, they can get out of hand with demands.
OVERALL:
I think this bill is bringing up a great issue that needs to be addressed. I think it needs to be modified in a way that we can make more of Wisconsin Families happy, in no way will this or any bill be perfect, but if these protests get us some results, then it was worth it. I think this Governor really needs to re-think how he conducts his business because he is making himself out to be a one-opinion, one-mind, it’s my party’s way or the highway. Our government shouldn’t be a war like Bluejays VS Rockets (local high school team reference, actually good too because they represent blue and red colors heh), they need to own up and listen to people. If only we had a Voting phone line… Vote by a mix of SSN and your last years confirmation id of your taxes. Then we know all tax payers get their opinion. We could do this online or on phone.
I wish the people protesting great luck, and I hope we get some answers and I hope they wake up down there that you cannot form powerful bill without listening to the people it will affect. How about we cut some of the computer funding for schools. Every three years to replace computers is NOT relevant anymore. We have computers to the speed where they will operate fine. Remember back during the boom we had to do this, but I can use my first pentium 4 1.8GHZ and it still runs fine and quick. Do you know how much $$$ that would save? Also switching from Microsoft products to Open Office would save tens of thousands per year.
There are so many good ideas, yet nobody with this knowledge can make changes.
Seedboxing, is it the future?
0It’s a weird thing to think about, and to some this term may be incredibly new and confusing. Seedbox is a glorified term for a dedicated server or shared server with the only purpose of torrenting. Because you are not doing it on your computer directly you are not making your Internet Service Provider mad, and you’re able to provide a high speed of upload for seeding the files back. This is important for those people who have access to private tracker websites where, in most cases, must maintain a minimum ratio. Some websites offer even higher privileges for those who seed even more than they download (a 100%+ seed ratio).
I am not sure about others, but I have really noticed that the Seedbox market has really started to boom and to be honest, there is money in it. I spent my time looking at reviews on the various companies out there today offering Seedboxes. Each company fit into three categories,
- All claims were true, reliable service.
- Claims were true, but some items were not mentioned clearly and would turn some people away.
- Unreliable and Very Poor Support (if any support)
I must say that most companies fit in the center category. While I would like to maintain unbiased towards any individual place, I just suggest those out there who are looking for various hosts to take a few things into account. Read the reviews, take your time too. Make sure it isn’t published by the company, (I know this sounds very lame, but honestly I found some during my searching process). Ask your friends or ask on bulletin boards for the various websites about torrenting, most of the time you will get a great honest opinion.
Most importantly there is one item to take into mind, and this is for any service. “If it is too good to be true, it probably is.”
