Posts filed under 'Business'
Got up early this morning to ensure a spot near the front of the line of my local Rogers dealer for the iPhone 3G launch. I was a man on a mission. That mission, was to secure a black 16GB iPhone 3G for myself, and a white one for my wife. Things got off to a bit of a rough start, as it was raining, a bit cold and otherwise miserable. Dropped my wife off at work and got to the Rogers dealer by around 7:30am. The upside of the crappy weather is that it was apparent when I got there that nobody really wanted to stand in the rain. So I was the first person there.
I had staked out the establishment the evening before to confirm they had received their iPhone 3G shipment. My earlier recon mission was a success, arriving just in time to catch them moving several nondescript boxes from the trunk of a car into the store. Further interrogation revealed they had received 25-30 8GB units, and 5-10 16GB units. This was all I needed to know.
So I was fairly well prepared this morning. I had an umbrella, windbreaker and a little folding camping tri-pod seat (I don’t want to call it a stool, because of the obvious homonym which is just begging to have a joke made of it). There I waited patiently for the store’s 10am opening. In the pouring rain. After about 30 minutes of waiting, one other soul pulled up and got in line behind me, but then got discouraged after 20 minutes of soakage and left. At maybe 8:45am, another guy showed up, immediately followed by a third who had been waiting in his car for probably the last half-hour, but decided that being warm and dry was more important than being first or second. I guess he drew the line at being 3rd.
Luckily, we didn’t have to wait that much longer as three employees showed up at around 9:20am, and agreed to let us wait inside after I asked really nicely (desperately). Rather than keep us waiting until opening time (10am), they got started at 9:30, which was a smart move, considering that by this time there were now probably 8-10 people waiting behind me, and things were not going to go smoothly, as you’ll soon see…
So they brought out the two 16GB iPhones I asked for, got the account transfer completed for both mine and the missus’ mobile numbers while I carefully opened the boxes and inspected the iPhones for any obvious visual defects. While they were attempting to ‘unbrick’ the white iPhone by connecting it to their PC running iTunes, I was miffed to see that my black unit had a small hairline crack leading from the headphone connector on the top. Memories of my experience buying the first iPhone in Buffalo came back to haunt me as I asked them to go and grab a replacement unit for me before they allocate the last one to someone else. It turned out they only had around five 16GB units in total. Everyone in line behind me was waiting for the 16GB model. Some poor schmuck just lost his chance of walking out with what he was hoping for…
They were still having no luck unbricking using iTunes on either of the two PCs in the store. They told me they were pretty sure I could do it myself at home, so I packed up the wife’s iPhone and told them I’d do that. I just had to wait while they transferred the account activation over from the iPhone with the crack in it to the replacement. This is where my luck got worse. Rogers dealer activation website was now inaccessible under what surely was an insurmountable load of requests to activate new iPhones.
They retried several times, and then said, “no problem, we’ll just call it in.” BZZZZZZT, sorry, try again. Now, the Rogers dealer activation phone line, which they had no problems getting through to minutes earlier was returning a busy signal. But not just any busy signal, that fast busy signal that tells you that not only is the Rogers PBX system sitting in a corner in the fetal position sucking it’s thumb, but the Bell telephone circuit which feeds it is lying next to it unconcious and drooling. Sigh.
So the result was, I had to leave my iPhone in the store so they could try activating it again later. I took my wife’s with me so that I could attempt to unbrick it in iTunes myself at work. The whole process thus far took around an hour and twenty minutes. In that time, only one other person had walked out of the store with activated iPhones, the guy who was behind me in line. Had my first iPhone not had a crack, I would have been the first. I really felt for the 15-20 people who were now waiting in the store to get one, and getting impatient. The store had resorted to filling out manual activation forms and telling customers to come back to pick up their iPhones later.
To unbrick, or not to unbrick, that is the question
As soon as I was able to do so, I connected my wife’s white iPhone into my MacBook Pro and launched iTunes to see if I could ‘unbrick’ it. It showed it was trying to connect to the iTunes Store, but after a minute or two, failed with the following error:
“We could not complete your iTunes Store request. An unknown error occured (-4).”
I found reports of others having the same error, so figured I’d keep trying, as someone had reported success after about 15 attempts. After probably 10 attempts, it was partially successful, having unbricked the iPhone, but not completing the registration process in iTunes, so it wasn’t allowing me to sync the device with iTunes. I was OK with that, since I didn’t want to sync it with my Mac anyway. I just wanted to get the iPhone functioning.
I went back and picked up my black iPhone 3G from the store mid-afternoon, figuring that the store should have worked out it’s technical issues and/or the servers and customer service lines should be less stressed by then. When I got there, they had already taken care of activation with Rogers but explained that they still couldn’t unbrick via iTunes and that it was an issue with the iTunes Store being overloaded. Not a problem I told them, since I was successful in unbricking the first iPhone myself, I figured I’d get mine working with a bit of perseverance.
Coincidentally, as I was walking in the store, I ran into the guy who had been second in line this morning, who hadn’t been able to unbrick his two iPhone 3Gs. I recounted my experience and suggested he just keep trying and it should eventually work. He didn’t seem too happy, but at the same time was relieved and thankful for the information.
After getting back with my own iPhone, I had a bit more luck getting it unbricked than for my wife’s. It still took close to 10 attempts to finally get through (getting the same -4 error message as the first one got), but when it did eventually work, it let me get through the full activation/registration process. Once complete, I selected my syncing options, and was finally syncing all my contacts, calendars, mail accounts, music, photos, podcasts, videos and applications. It took a while, as expected (I sync’d about 8GB of content), but otherwise had no issues. Mission accomplished.
I couldn’t help but wonder to myself and out loud in the store, why on earth did the stores insist or bother trying to unbrick the iPhones in-store if customers could do it themselves at home? This would have reduced the wait times for customers waiting in line, and gotten customers home a lot quicker, even if they couldn’t use their iPhone right away. I guess if the process had worked as planned (and the iTunes Store hadn’t buckled under the load), it would have only been about a 2 minute process, and customers would be able to start using their iPhones immediately. I’m guessing this was one of the complaints that Apple had received from the previous iPhone launch, but it’s a good example of how the best intentioned procedure can end up backfiring if not implemented or planned properly.
The takeaway for Rogers and Apple
While we might cut Apple a bit of slack considering how large a product launch this was (it launched today in 21 countries) and even Rogers (they’ve probably never had to deal with a product that was in such high demand on day one), it’s a perfect example of why a lot of companies choose to do staggered product launches. Apple compounded the problem by not only releasing the iPhone and iPod touch firmware 2.0 the same day, but also launching the App Store the day before. So on top of the hundreds of thousands of new iPhones being sold and activated today, you had possibly millions of original iPhone and iPod touch owners hitting the iTunes Store’s servers as well to get the latest firmware and download the new mobile apps.
The official Canadian iPhone launch was a complete fiasco by any measure, and both Rogers and Apple have squandered a huge customer loyalty/satisfaction opportunity. Instead of blowing away customer’s expectations, they have pissed a lot of customers off. Most of those customers will most likely get over it, and once they have their iPhone in-hand will probably forget all about it or say it was all worth it because the iPhone itself will greatly exceed their expectations. The only thing that probably helped limit the amount of unhappy customers is the fact that the iPhone 3G was in relatively limited supply. I hope for both Rogers and Apple’s sake that these issues get ironed out tout de suite!
July 11th, 2008
WOOT! Rogers has just announced a special ‘limited time’ promotional 6GB data plan for anyone purchasing an iPhone 3G on any voice rate plan on a 3 year contract for only $30 extra per month! From the press release:
Effective July 11, and as a limited time promotional offer for customers
who activate by August 31 on a three year contract, a data-only offering of
6GB of data for $30 per month is being made available that can be added to any
in-market voice plan. For example, with 6GB of data, iPhone 3G users can visit
35,952 web pages, or send and receive 157,286 emails, or watch 6,292 minutes
of YouTube videos each and every month.(xx)
Fido has announced the same promotional offer. I’m sure some will complain that it’s still not unlimited, but I really defy anyone to realistically use more than 6GB of data on an iPhone in a month. This my friends is the plan that is going to move a LOT of iPhones. My only complaint is that it just got a lot harder to get your hands on an iPhone 3G this Friday.
Now the questions that’s nagging at the back of my mind is, is this an example of Rogers reacting to the will of the people and/or pressure from Apple Inc., or was this just the final step in a very well planned marketing/promotion plan? I mean, think about all the free publicity Rogers has gotten, and consider the fact that they have spent next to nothing to promote the release of this market-changing device. I’m beginning to think we’ve all fallen for a brilliant viral marketing campaign. If this is the case, hats off to Rogers, well played sir, very well played indeed! If not, then hats off anyway for showing that you do care what your customers think.
July 9th, 2008
Rogers announced their new voice & data rates this past weekend, and boy did it create quite the stir, first on the internet, and then getting coverage in mainstream newspaper and television news. So what’s the big deal? Essentially, that Rogers voice/data rate plans are some of the least competitive rates available in the industrialized world, and despite monthly plans ranging as high as $115/month for the top-end plan, that still doesn’t get you unlimited data. Unlike many other iPhone carriers, Rogers simply doesn’t offer unlimited data for the iPhone, period.
Rogers and Fido (owned by Rogers) essentially have identical service plans, which can be seen here and here respectively. While the lack of an unlimited data plan on the surface might seem like a major issue, it’s important to put things in perspective. Since no one can theoretically USE unlimited data in any given month, having an unlimited plan is really just a way to make people feel at ease that they will NEVER incur any data usage charges. One can argue that the same thing is accomplished by simply having a plan that has a high enough data cap that you’d never have to worry about hitting it.
Unfortunately, Rogers data plans don’t even come close to satisfying this, but not all is doom and gloom. With the entry-level data package’s 400MB per month of included data, you could check email, weather and stocks several times per day and do a bit of web surfing once a week or so and be fine. Just avoid using YouTube, the iTunes Store or AppStore until you have a WiFi connection. For those of you willing to dish out $115 to get the 2GB plan however, things don’t fare much better though. Sure, you can do the above activities 5x more than those on the $60/400MB plan, and even enjoy a bit of daily YouTube or iTunes downloads while on the go, don’t expect to be able to watch YouTube videos every day to pass your 30 minute train ride to and from work, because you’ll use up that 2GB of data real fast.
OK, so our data plans suck compared to the US, who get unlimited data for $30/month. So while we have a bit of breathing room to enjoy the features of the iPhone, we’re still stuck keeping an eye on our usage if we want to avoid expensive overage charges. If it were any other cell phone, we wouldn’t mind so much, but the iPhone is such an internet-rich device, and so fun and useful, that it really is a shame that we don’t have plans that let us truly use and enjoy the device.
So what else is there to complain about? Well, the lack of call display and a decent amount of included sent SMS text messages (only 75 on the $60 plan), which requires you to spend an extra $15 or more on an “iPhone value pack”. SMS texting is another one of the iPhone’s strengths, with it’s IM-like interface. Once again, Rogers iPhone plan stifles a great iPhone feature, rather than encouraging it’s use. The lack of call display is frankly a joke in this day and age. I’m surprised they aren’t charging us extra for “touch tone” service too.
Then there’s the matter of the unlimited evenings and weekends included with every plan. Rogers defines “evenings” as after 9pm. Me thinks they’re stretching the definition of evening pretty far. To have your evenings start at a more reasonable 6pm is going to cost you an extra $20/month for an iPhone Value Pack that includes call display and 10,000 sent text messages. Gee, thanks!
One positive to the Rogers and Fido plans is the inclusion of unlimited WiFi access at any Rogers or Fido WiFi hotspot. For those living in urban areas where these hotspots are readily available, this will be a major benefit, but will be hit and miss depending on the individual. Most people will likely not make any use of this feature whatsoever though, which means it adds very little value to the average user.
These plans frankly weren’t a big surprise to me. Rogers is in a very different market situation here in Canada than say AT&T south of the border. AT&T was in a floundering position and desperate to increase it’s market share, with other providers competing on the exact same GSM technology. Here in Canada, Rogers is the only GSM provider, and is already in a dominant position. They have zero competition for the iPhone, period. Bell and Telus’ networks are just not compatible with the iPhone’s GSM standard. The situation isn’t going to get any better until either Bell or Telus convert their network to GSM, or Apple releases a version of the iPhone that’s compatible with the CDMA/EVDO technology that Bell and Telus use.
If there’s any upside to Rogers iPhone data plans however, it has to be that they’re a major improvement over any previous data plans Rogers has offered before. When I first covered using an unlocked iPhone in Canada back in September of last year, we were paying $10 for 10MB per month, on top of your voice plan, and 3¢ per KB thereafter! To put that in perspective, it would have cost nearly $12,000 to use 400MB of data on that plan, which could lead to some nasty surprises for anyone not savvy enough to watch their usage.
Rogers overage charges are now a much more affordable 50¢ per MB for the first 60 MB, 3¢ per MB thereafter. Meaning that an overage of 100MB that used to cost $3072 would now only cost $31.20. It’s hard not to argue this isn’t a huge leap in the right direction. If there’s anything to be positive about with the introduction of the iPhone to Canada, this has got to be it.
July 3rd, 2008
[Update 1] Given the difficulty I had securing a PLAYSTATION 3 on launch weekend back in 2006, I got in the habit of pre-ordering popular PS3 games from Futureshop.ca months in advance as a security precaution in case they were in short supply come launch day.
So far this hasn’t really been worth it, because there hasn’t been a single game released that I wasn’t able to simply walk into a local store on launch day and pick up off the shelf. The PS3 just doesn’t have enough of an install base yet to make it an issue, I figured. But for must have games, I sitll pre-ordered them just in case.
Now me being the impatient impulse buyer I am, I usually don’t wait for my pre-order to arrive via Canada Post, since that would mean waiting an extra 2-3 days before getting it. What I do is go pick up the game on launch day and then cancel my order online or by calling Futureshop.ca’s top secret toll-free customer service phone number. If it’s already shipped, it only costs me $1.99 for the shipping since I just return the unopened package for a refund (they don’t refund shipping charges, obviously).
I figured if any game was going to deviate from the status quo, it would be Grand Theft Auto IV. Since it was supposed to come late last year, I had pre-ordered it back on August 19, 2007. Today is the official launch day, but many stores opened at midnight to accommodate the crowds of GTA fans that were anxious for their ‘fix’. So being the game junkie I am, I headed over to a local Future Shop at around 11pm to stand in line. When I got there, there must have been 50-60 people in line. By the time midnight rolled around, there may have been 200-300 or more people in line. It was chilly (and I didn’t listen to my wife and wear a warmer jacket), but I had no problems picking up a copy of GTA IV. I don’t think anyone had a problem, it looked like the store had plenty of copies of both the XBox 360 and PS3 version to go around. One fellow line-goer said that Best Buy across the street had received 1200 copies of the game. I suspect this Future Shop probably got a similarly crazy amount, given that Best Buy owns Future Shop.
So yes I played the game for about 3 hours before getting to bed, and yes it’s as amazing as everyone says it is. Since this isn’t a review of the game (there are plenty of those at that link I just posted 19 words ago), I won’t bother going into any more detail about the game. Just go out and buy it, it’s as near perfect a game as has ever been made, blah, blah, blah. Back to my story.
This morning I check my Futureshop.ca GTA IV order status and expect to see that my order has already shipped, since I had forgotten to call them last night to cancel. To my surprise, instead of it saying “shipped” or “in process”, it lists the status as “out of stock”. So I check the product page at the online store, as seen in the image to the right (click to enlarge), to see what the store stock status is like. The four stores closest to me are all showing the game in-stock, but the online store is again showing out of stock. Now it doesn’t really matter since I have the game already, but this really struck a chord with me.
So to cut a long story short (is that even possible at this point?, I’m not sure…) So, to sum up, I pre-ordered my copy of GTA IV from Futureshop.ca more than 8 months ago, and I’m still not guaranteed a copy of the game from the initial shipment of inventory gets at least ships on launch day, yet anyone can just stroll into any Future Shop retail store on today and pick a copy up off the shelf. I pose the question to you, my readers (and more importantly to Future Shop): What is the point of pre-ordering your game in advance? Don’t answer that, it rhetorical. There obviously is no point. Future Shop’s online video game pre-orders are a scam. Or in other words, total B.S.
I have since cancelled my Metal Gear Solid IV pre-order from Futureshop.ca, and won’t be pre-ordering any future games from them. Since Best Buy owns Future Shop, and their online stores are likely one and the same, I’m extending this boycott to bestbuy.ca as well. From now on, if I want to pre-order a game, I’ll stick with EBGames, since they seem to take pre-orders pretty seriously. But I’ll likely just take my chances on launch day going forward, since the video game software industry really does seem to have mastered the art of maximizing launch day sales by ensuring they stuff the channel with sufficient inventory. Now if only the game hardware companies could do the same, people wouldn’t still be having a hard time finding a Wii.
Update 1 - 4/30/2008, 11:25 am: Well looks like my assumption about EBGames taking their pre-orders seriously was incorrect.
According to Kotaku, EBGames U.S. upper management gave instructions to their stores to provide copies of GTA IV to walk-in customers at the expense of customers who had pre-ordered the game. Not sure if this policy applied in Canada or not, but it’s a pretty safe bet it did.
Absolutely shameful.
April 29th, 2008
[Update 2] We’ve known for a while now that major ISPs in Canada have been utilizing traffic shaping technology to throttle the transfer speeds of certain types of traffic. Rogers Hi-Speed and Bell Sympatico customers who use Bittorrent to transfer files know all too well. It’s for this reason that some consumers have been switching to smaller independent ISPs like TekSavvy. While it isn’t the main reason, I’d be lying if I told you it didn’t play a role in my decision to switch providers.
Well, if Bell is allowed to get away with it, looks like the honeymoon may be over. News broke yesterday in major news outlets, technology blogs and internet forums that Bell Canada has been traffic shaping the wholesale internet connections they provide to competing DSL ISPs who rely on Bell’s infrastructure to provide their service. That’s right, Bell is dictating their competitor’s terms of service. The worst part about it is Bell failed to notify any of their wholesale ISP customers that they were going to do it.
While some will say Bell has a right to manage their network to ensure all their customers enjoy good performance, it’s hard to see how this doesn’t run afoul of anti-competition laws. Bell sells a lot more than just internet service after all. They’re probably best knows as a telephone service provider, but are also the major satellite TV provider in Canada. When Bell started throttling traffic for their own Sympatico customers, it was already crossing the line since the services that were getting throttled, VoIP and P2P file-sharing are both upcoming competitors to traditional telephone and cable/satellite TV service.
By applying their traffic shaping to competing DSL provider’s wholesale lines however, Bell has stepped so far over that anti-competitive line that it’s not even a line anymore, it’s a tiny spec way off on the horizon. A deregulated DSL marketplace is supposed to promote healthy competition. One of the ways companies compete is by offering better service. But rather than compete fair and square, Bell is abusing their monopoly on the DSL backbone to force their competitors to reduce their quality of service to the same low level as Bell’s. So consumers are left with no choices if they want to deal with an ISP that doesn’t utilize traffic shaping, since the only other alternatives for most are the local Cable monopoly providers, most of which also throttle their customer’s connections.
If this is allowed to continue unchecked, how long before we see YouTube or iTunes downloads get speed throttled? With more and more of the world’s communication and media traveling over the internet, the internet monopolists will have more and more power to dictate how we use our internet connections. As a telecommunications and media competitor, Bell cannot be trusted to be impartial in choosing what protocols and services to apply traffic shaping to.
So what can we do about this? Get the word out. Stop doing business with Bell and let them know why. Write a letter to your local MP, the CTRC and the Competition Bureau of Canada, and let them know you think what Bell is doing is unacceptible, and that network neutrality is not only very important to you, but that you consider it essential to promoting open competition, innovation and free speech on the internet as well as Canada’s competitiveness in the global information economy.
Update 1 - 4/1/2008, 12:35 pm: There’s a petition up as well as related news articles at
neutrality.ca. If you support net neutrality, take a moment to
head on over and add your name to the growing list. They also have some
banner images in various sizes, perfect for promoting the cause and spreading the word to others via your forum signature, blog or in online comments:
Update 2 - 4/14/2008, 11:15 am: For those of you who would like to add your voice to the effort to get Bell to stop throttling their competitor’s internet traffic, a poster on DSLReports named “CanadianISP” has
posted simple and quick 4-step instructions that you can follow to notify the CRTC that you support CAIP’s (Canadian Association of Internet Providers) complaint against Bell’s throttling of third party ISP traffic. The whole process will take you at most 60 seconds of your time, so if you’re at all concerned with the direction Canadian internet access is going, I urge you to take the time to do it. To make it even easier, here are the instructions from the DSLReports topic:
If you would like to support CAIP in their efforts please file submissions with the Commission over the next week to show your support for the request for interim relief. These submissions don’t have to be very complicated.
All that you need to do is:
- Click on the following link:
http://support.crtc.gc.ca/crtcsubmissionmu/forms/Telecom.aspx?lang=e
- Select “Part VII / PN” from the list.
- Insert the CRTC file number (# 8622-C51-200805153) into the “Subject” Line.
- Insert the following suggested text into the “Description / Comments / Questions” box:
“I am writing to express my support for the application that CAIP has filed with the CRTC regarding Bell Canada’s throttling practices. I believe that these practices contravene Bell Canada’s duties as a common carrier and that the Commission should direct Bell to immediately cease and desist from throttling the traffic of independent ISPs.”
As someone once said, if you don’t do your part to try and stop this, then you forfeit your right to complain about it, ever.
March 26th, 2008
[Update 1] We Canadians put up with a lot of abuse from our telecom/internet providers. As if high prices and poor customer service weren’t enough to endure, we’ve also put up with data transfer caps on supposedly “unlimited” internet connections and now our supposedly high-speed internet connections are only high speed for some types of data, but not others. To quote an early 90’s infomercial marketing slogan, stop the insanity!
Our government, via the CRTC, have been trying their best to inject some competition into the Canadian telecom market for a few years now, but phone number portability and competition in the DSL and home phone markets will only make a difference if customers actually start switching. It’s understandable that the majority of Canadians are reluctant to switch from one of the major providers to a relative newcomer, but really, what have you got to lose besides maybe a little inconvenience?
Up till now I was content to pay a premium for my Sympatico high-speed DSL internet service from Bell for the peace of mind of knowing I was dealing with a large incumbent that had the resources and experience to give me a reliable connection. I switched to Bell from Rogers when Rogers threatened to cancel my service because I was exceeding their monthly data transfer allowance. Bell’s Sympatico service had no such limits.
But recently, Bell Sympatico implemented traffic shaping to limit the speeds of P2P filesharing transfers during peak hours to a maximum of 30KB/s. I was resigned to live with that, provided it didn’t get any worse.
As someone who hosts their own webserver, I’ve always wanted a static IP address, but because I only run it as a hobby, I couldn’t justify the $100/month it would cost me to get a business internet account, which is usually the only way to get a static IP from Bell or Rogers. To make matters worse, business accounts are usually even more limited on data transfers than consumer accounts. So I’ve been resigned to using dynamic DNS solutions to keep my artofgeek.com domain name properly pointed to my server at home.
Last weekend, I was seeking advice about email server configuration on the ehmac.ca forums and user John Clay was kind enough to respond recommending I switch ISPs to one that doesn’t block mail traffic and offers a static IP. He then mentioned that TekSavvy, a local Ontario DSL ISP offers static IPs for just $4 extra per month.
That sounded too good to be true, but I was definitely intrigued. A quick visit to the TekSavvy Solutions website later, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that I could get the same speed of DSL service with unlimited bandwidth AND a static IP address for $4 LESS per month than what I was paying Bell. The icing on the cake was that TekSavvy does not shape traffic or block any ports AND, you can use any standard DSL modem to get your connection.
So let me sum up:
- Same speed as my existing Sympatico service.
- Unlimited bandwidth usage.
- Static IP address for hosting my server.
- No port blocking of any kind.
- No traffic shaping or speed limiting (hurray for Bittorrent!).
- Can supply your own modem.
- $4 less per month than what Bell is charging me.
That’s $43.95/month. Wow. Game over. I’m sold. So I called Bell today to cancel my service, followed by a call to TekSavvy to subscribe to their DSL High Speed Internet Unlimited residential service.
Now to be fair, you still have to buy a DSL modem, which TekSavvy charges $100 for, plus $10 for shipping. But here’s where TekSavvy’s open modem policy comes in. A 5 minute Google search, and I found speedtouch.ca that sells the exact same modem TekSavvy was going to sell me (the Thomson SpeedTouch 516) for $50 + $12 for shipping. Bell was charging me a perpetual $2/month to lease my modem, and you have no choice but to buy or lease their modem. So as long as my new DSL modem lasts more than 2.5 years, it’ll pay for itself, and I’ll save an additional $2 per month after that.
So that’s it. With just a bit of hesitation, I took the plunge. My service is scheduled to switch over from Sympatico to TekSavvy on March 18, 2008. There will be a bit of downtime during the switch, but hopefully not more than 6-12 hours. Afterwhich the Art Of Geek website should be even more reliable than it’s ever been. The most common cause for the site being inaccessible has been the dynamic IP changing every time my modem or router had to be rebooted. This will no longer be an issue. To top it all off, I will be free to run my own email server if I want to, and I can look forward to getting my bittorrent files downloaded in record time again. Needless to say, I’m really stoked about the switch.
So if you’re curious about how the switch goes, check back here after March 18. I’ll be sure to update the Art Of Geek blog on how it goes.
Update 1 - 2/21/2008, 1:10 pm: My
Thomson SpeedTouch 516 (link to pdf) DSL modem just arrived from speedtouch.ca. I’m all excited to get it set up, unfortunately, I have to wait another 26 days for my service to get cut over…
February 19th, 2008
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