Jesus, what have I been up to this last week?
I watched The Interpreter (B+ for the by-the-numbers story), had four days of computer repair madness compounded by webdesign insanity, installed Windows XP Professional x64 Edition on my laptop, only to realise that there are yet no drivers available on hardware manufacturers' websites or Windows Update, since they are all busy porting them to 64-bit.
The reason I opted to reinstall windoze in the first place was because the new Azureus 2.3.0.0 fucked up my downloads (and possibly my wireless router) and now both Azureus and Shareaza disconnect me from the internet after about five minutes of operation. And speaking of my internet connection, Telus finally sent me a letter last week saying I exceeded their 20 GB per month limit by about 1200% (260 GB), so now I have to save money to pay them for the fucking router and switch to the 3webXS package.
3web (Broadbard Reports profile and Canadian ISP profile) promise service over existing Shaw cable lines (and cable modem!) at 7 Mbps (compared to Telus's meagre 2.5 MBps and Shaw's 5 MBps [now 7 Mbps]) and a purportedly "unlimited" download limit.
I got tired of all the lies and corporatespeak of ISPs, so (after I e-mailed them and they clearly stated that "there is no download/upload limit"), I called their customer service department and they said it's 100 GB/month. Then, I called their tech support department and they said it's 50 GB/month but also that, since they piggy-back on Shaw's cable lines, it's Shaw that actually decides the limits! This is clearly misrepresentation of service and false advertising, so I filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau, wrote a call for complaint submissions on Broadband Reports and wrote an e-mail to 3web's corporate HQ:
Click here to read the letter.
I am writing to you because I am highly dissatisfied with the unfair practices of your company's advertising for the 3webXS: High Speed 'Platinum' (Cable) package (https://highspeed.3web.com/english/HighSpeedSignup/ platinum_cable_west.html) in Vancouver; your website clearly states that "there is no download limit" on the aforementioned page; your automated telephone line states that you provide "premium unlimited Internet access," and so does all your other advertising.
First, I contacted a service representative via e-mail, who clearly stated that "there is no download/upload limit"; I have then contacted a customer service representative named "Monty" and asked him whether there truly was no download limit; he said that the limit was 100 GB per month. Still, I contacted a technical support representative named "Dan" who stated that the limit was 50 GB per month after explaining to me that that number is absolutely arbitrary and meaningless and contradictory with Monty's estimate, because, in effect 3webXS has no stated policy on download limits, since you are a third-party provider piggy-backing on Shaw Cablesystems Company's cable lines and all questions of download and upload speeds and monthly download and upload limits are decided by Shaw Corporation!
There is no statement of any of this information in your PR materials, for the obvious reason that these facts mean that 3web imposes download limits dictated by Shaw Cablesystems but claims not to do so to have better PR. Moreover, by failing to define a download limit, your company has implied that it reserves to change it at any time, or curb any customer at any amount of downloaded data, as it sees fit! None of this information is readily available to the public; moreover, this stance seeks to misinform and cause damage to the end-users truly seeking "unlimited internet access" (at an average 300 GB per month, as permitted by the equipment).
I ask that the 3web company immediately formulate a clearly-stated download limit policy that will be readily available next to the description of internet access packages and in other pertaining materials. Failure to do so would indicate a lack of goodwill on the part of the 3web company towards its customers. I intend to sign up for the aforementioned Internet package and, if and when my download limit will be curbed, I shall do anything in my power to force 3web to revise its policies, including a full report to the Better Business Bureau, the ISP association and similar agencies; I may initiate legal action of an appropriate magnitude against 3web, as the situation may require.
Above all things, I wish to resolve this issue in an amiable manner. Please revise your statements regarding download limits to reflect reality.
Thank you for your time,
Michael G. KhmelnitskyClick here to close the letter.
After all this, I don't know whether I should switch to 3web anymore, - just look at the crap people are taking from 3web, Shaw seems like heaven in comparison - and I can't stay with Telus. I'm like a fucking rat in a maze here. I might as well start my own ISP by now.
At least I learned this nifty text-hiding JavaScript trick (that I stole from the BBB's website, heh). Well, while the wheels are turning on that, I gotta clean my room before entropy sets in any further. Oh, and my summer semester begins on Monday.
P.S. My BBB complaint was transferred to the Calgary branch and is now awaiting reply from 3web.
Good job.
Fuck the system.
I'm on telus notice #3.
If i can't maintain around 100 gigs, i'm going to switch back to shaw.
We both know that we need around 300 GB monthly. My calculations show that if you download every second of every hour of every day for thirty days at 7 Mbps, you will download 791 GB a month (on Shaw), and all we want is half that; providing it shouldn't really be a problem; they're hassling us out of principle, throttling P2P ports and portscanning our machines.
And what are you going to do with Shaw? Sure, the Xtreme-I gives you 7 Mbps (instead of 5 Mbps, as before), but it's still has the 50 GB/month limit and they are less lenient than Telus. My file with Shaw must be pages long by now. I just don't know what to do.
well, better 50 gigs at 7mbps and no blocked ports..
Well, I just know I'll get disconnected each week. I'll take my chances with Telus for now; 3web seems like a shitty provider.
don't get me wrong, as soon as i (emperically) determine telus' patience (the amount i can safely download) i'll make the final decision. If the amount is roughly in the same ballpark as telus i'm switching back.
to summarize:
telus' advantages:
1. inredible lack of caring as to the amount of data you push
shaw's advantages:
1. fast
2. no port blocking.
So the choice is obvious. As soon as telus starts being serious about kicking people off, I'm switching back (to shaw).
Well, that's the general idea, yeah, but isn't it 100 GB and then a letter, etc., with Telus, at the moment? Also, which ports (other than 80) do they block?
Like I said, Shaw is not an answer for me anymore; they keep tabs on me by my last name; they still have my violations on file, from 2001 when I lived downtown! Moreover, they recently started to keep tabs by my first name, too; I got my dad to try to register under his own name and they just bring up the same damn file! I need someone to infiltrate Shaw Cablesystems and wipe my slate clean. Hell, I'l give them Morpheus for 300 GB/month, heh. ;)
Anyways, what we should really do is find a small but dedicated group of like-minded leechers and start our own damn ISP...with blackjack, and hookers...in fact, forget about the ISP. Hah, I love quoting Bender.
No, but seriously, how much can it cost to get one of those ISP-size routers and some sort of OC-3 backbone, or whatever is popular to use for this at the moment. If you do this, and start charging people money for Internet services, you'll be able to pay for the costs of your own high-speed Internet from the money you'd make from providing Internet access to others.
Once you figure out how much you need to make a month to cover your own costs, you cut off access to new subscribers by raising the prices to be completely ridiculous (because the CRTC requires every ISP to provide services to whoever wants to purchase services, but if we say it's a million dollars a month, then no one would sign up and we would remain uncompetitive).
The sole purpose of this ISP would be to generate enough revenue to keep you, I, and like five other guys in leecher's paradise. I swear to god, if I weren't such a lazy asshole, I'd do this; you never know, maybe soon people would go crazy to get an account with our ISP, it'd be like Gmail, they'd pay thousands of dollars to have something no one else has, hehe.
The irony of the entire affair would be our motto: "Migmite Telecom: Unlimited bandwidth...but not for you!"
ISP discussions of this sort are an absolute turn-on: Following the Mike - Dmitri exhange I count my blessings that I do not understand a quarter what they are talking about -- and keep my sanity in return (well, sort of, anyway). Ignorance can be bliss!
Heh; and how!
Hi,
I found your website while doing a search on google regarding my downloading problems. I have been having no luck downloading mp3s using WinMX or Limewire and was wondering if you could help me get back on track. I do not download tons and tons of songs or movies 24/7/365.
When i attept to download a song off of WinMX, I just get eratic connections and a low downloading speed(dont know the technical terms). I use Shaw as my ISP.
Any help would be appreciated!
Well, my friend, I think it's about time you've learned the magic of BitTorrent, Shareaza and Kazaa Lite (of any variety, though K++ is recommended, if you can find it ;).
In short, the time of WinMX and Limewire has passed. The first does not sustain enough users, the second is a piece of shit. Whether you download hundreds of GBs a month or not, the methods of getting to goods have changed radically.
Shareaza, properly set up to work with your firewall or router, will fetch most single files, many of them rare MP3s and videos, but the waiting time is outrageous, if you are indeed looking for rare files.
Kazaa Lite will provide a similar approach, though I use Shareaza as a trawler net, queueing all the files it finds and then weeding out the dead ones in a day, and Kazaa as a precision fishing rod, where I use precise search terms to zero in on the file I want to find.
Finally, there is the hit-and-run magic and splendour of BitTorrent. I say hit-and-run because BitTorrent is designed to work with aggregation, so the more popular a file is, the faster you can download it (sometimes within minutes!), but most releases on BT nowadays (catalogued by websites like ISOHunt and The Pirate Bay come in larger release packages, so finding small, single files with BT is unlikely.
You must use these three clients to balance out your needs for large, rare or packaged (i.e. song albums, etc.) files. Make sure all the proper ports are open and not conflicting with each other, and that your upload speeds are set up so that a) the programs do not interfere with each other (I sometimes use my laptop as a dedicated download machine); b) the programs don't slow down your machine to a grinding halt (Shareaza, Kazaa and BitTorrent [I recommend Azureus as a client for large files and BitTornado as a client for smaller files], in that order, load down your processor pretty fast and; c) the upload speeds in each programs are set high enough to ensure good proportional download but also low enough...to ensure good proportional download. ;)
That's it; go, and may the spirit of w4r3z d00dz past be with you.
Thanks for the help but when i got Kazaa lite, it wont connect....
Oh the frustrations....
Any ideas?
hi i have shaw and it only goes up to 54 kb/s is it supposed to or is it supposed to go to 5mb/s if so im switching to 3web because i think shaw is ripping me off
BC_dude: Use Azureus.
Gursidak: Canadian broadband sucks, period. I'll be getting a 50Mbps line here in Japan soon. ;)