[CLUG] DSL stuff

[adam beecher]

> I gather that if Eircom had enforced contention on their resold RADSL
> product properly, the issue would never have arisen in the first place.
> Anyway, the TOS change results in a *reduced* contention ratio for heavy
> users; it's not customary to have to notify customers of an improvement in
> service. I gather that there was throttling (as distinct from contention
> reassignment) for a brief period, but that this was only an interim
> measure to cope with users downloading up to 20 gigabytes a week! which is
> clearly not sustainable at 48:1 contention on a 512kbit pipe.
>
My complaint has nothing to do with Eircom or the users Christian. If the
service isn't being delivered by Eircom to Netsource properly, it's up to
Netsource to sort it out, either directly with Eircom or via the regulatory
system with ComReg. Likewise, the users did nothing wrong in downloading as
much as they could, Netsource have gone out of their way to make no caps a
distinct selling point of the product. Netsource's inability to develop a
workable TOS and network is exactly that: Netsource's inability. Users
shouldn't be blamed for using the product as it was advertised.

> Even with the domain name requirement (the idea of which is to target
> business rather than residential users - likewise the quoting of prices ex
> vat) it's still good value; and for your money, you effectively get a
> 30Gbyte cap, compared to 8 or 4 for comparably priced offerings from other
> providers). I concede Netsource could make this requirement somewhat
> clearer, but I certainly wouldn't go so far as to say they're not
> admitting it. They're also far from the first to bundle domain registry
> with other services - I had a Homenet dialup account once upon a time;
> eunet (now Esat) bought them out, and wrote to me saying something along
> the lines that they no longer wanted my business as a residential
> customer, unless I also wished to buy a domain name from them.
>
The quoting of prices ex-VAT I have no problem with, I was just trying to
demonstrate the difference between the quoted figure and the actual price. I
don't deny that other services bundle domain names either, but I think
you'll find that most products out there go the other way, i.e. domain names
are sold at cost or a loss to encourage other services.

The issue I have in this particular case is that it's a deliberate attempt
to obfuscate the real price of the product. You know as well as I do that
domain names don't cost ?10 a month to operate; you know as well as I do
that they're just using the domain name to bump the price up to create a
reasonable margin. I don't begrudge them making money, I begrudge them using
deliberately misleading marketing to do so.

If Netsource can deliver a good product - and I've never questioned that -
let it stand on it's own merits. Bullshit just annoys me.

> I'll also concede that the whole no-cap affair has been a PR disaster for
> Netsource, but what other provider gives you a static IP and 30G cap for
> 50something euros a month plus vat? Sounds like a good deal to me.
>
It is a good deal, but I don't rest my business decisions on good deals
alone. If a business operates in a questionable manner, there is a better
than average chance that they will do so again. I don't wish to deal with
companies that refuse to interact with their customers. If I email the CTO
of UTV I get an answer, if I email anybody from Netsource it's quite likely
I won't. When my connection goes down, I want an answer.

> You're entitled to your opinion of course, but I'd rather give my money to
> someone who bothers to peer at Inex, which UTV don't, last I heard.
>
I can't answer this because I honestly don't know who UTV links back to the
Internet with. Their ISP and CPS traffic is carried by Energis in the
Republic and it appears that their DSL traffic is carried by Eircom and
EsatBT, but I don't know about their links the other side. I'm talking to
their CTO about capping and throttling at the moment though, I can ask if
you like. Remember: I'll get an answer. ;)

adam