Comment On Seasonal Slowness

He's actually doing pretty well by my experience. Where I grew up pushing data over phone wires became hard every time it rained. As this was a desert this wasn't very often. Getting the problems solved was impossible.

Mark, likes him some commas, doesn't, he?

this comment will be poste....

TRWTF is that David could transfer a 40 MB file over a 500 KB/s line in less than a minute.

I'm not surprised. For years, when my house still had copper-wire phone service, we would hear a "hum" on the the line after a good hardy rain. Several calls to Verizon, but they were convinced that the problem was my home wiring.

Eventually, when the cross-talk with neighbors started happening, they finally agreed to send out a technician. The technician showed up, shrugged, and said, "We can't find the problem. There's nothing we can do."

We switched to Vonage the next day.

The amazing WTF is that he managed it at 500 kilobits per second.

ahhhhh the wonders of line problems...

last time my line was down, my DSL was very spotty and I had no dialtone (strange combination eh?) after a bad electrical storm. Verizon took quite some time to fix it, but our below-advertised DSL bandwidth was back to approximately advertised speeds after they did. If FIOS was available in my area I'd switch instantly, it is so much better and more reliable. As it is, I am considering canceling their service entirely.

EDIT: Yeah, what, the hell, is with the commas? And the random words misused and clumsy sentence structure? If you guys want me to grammar-nazi your writing before you post it, I'll be more than happy to, as it'll keep the comments from all being from pedantic idiots who can't agree on what sentence structure it SHOULD be. Instead, they will be pedantic about something else, like the actual story at hand, or each other's writing.

The article states "500kb/s"

kb can mean anything, because it's certainly not "kilobits" (Kb) or "Kilobytes" (KB).

I Suggest KinkyBurgers

Let me get this straight. It was a known issue (at least on the other end) that this was a problem but no one documented it in any way?

I can see no formal documentation but this is the kind of thing that gets passed down. "So Bob, when it gets really foggy out or it rains really hard there will be some issues with connectivity. We know about it but right now there's nothing we can do."

I call shenanigans.

MrsPost:

I call shenanigans.

Yes?

shenanigans:

MrsPost:

I call shenanigans.

Yes?

He's just calling you because it's raining where he is and he wants to test his connection speed.

The real WTF is David S. going to work at 2am to diagnose a connection issue BEFORE calling the ISP.

Flash back to where this comment would be first.

GoatCheez:

The real WTF is David S. going to work at 2am to diagnose a connection issue BEFORE calling the ISP.

the applications responsible for shuffling data between the servers were well written and while the hardware on either end wasn't exactly bleeding or even cutting edge, it was mature enough that all of the kinks were worked out

so what was the first thing he did to look for the problem?

He reviewed the code

Now that's a WTF

No wtf here.

Two stories:

(1) I work for an outfit where many customers all over the US send each other faxes through our system (right, that's WTF, but not the point of the story). We're coming up on a season where we'll get TONS of complaints about slow faxes. "It worked yesterday, but today I had to send it three times." When we ask them how warm it is today, they'll say "45 degrees" (F). When we ask them how warm it was yesterday, they'll say "very cold."

(2) My house has broadband installed by Comcast f/k/a ATTBI f/k/a MediaOne. We had the same problem. Good internet and VOIP when it was below freezing, no service when it was above freezing. I called the cable guy and watched him disconnect the coax from the lightning arrestor. It was a warm day. A whole bunch of water poured out of the coax connector.

I guess ice doesn't ground out signals as well as liquid water.

At my place of business we had a similar situation. We have several T1 point-to-point connecting the stores for the Point of Sale software. One store constantly was dropping off in the middle of the night, and I soon figured out it was only nights when it was raining - this was going to be a huge problem because winter was coming and it was going to rain almost every day.

AT&T was the provider of said T1 point-to-point lines, and despite me telling them it only goes down when it rains, they always told me that "it's fine now" - so I'd watch the weather, and nights before it would rain, I would open a support ticket and then, of course, it would go down and then they'd "work on it" for about 5 hours after dawn, then finally claim everything is OK.

Finally one day it rained all night, the next day, the next evening, and into the next day. They simply couldn't figure it out, even though I repeatedly told them what the problem was. They sent some AT&T fellow and he confirmed that there was a tear in one of the lines and water was getting into it and it'd only take a short time to fix.

It was fixed, until two months later when a construction team cut all of the lines for the entire street.

I don't like being a grammar nazi but, when it impedes my comprehension of the denouement, I die a little inside. Please learn to use the comma correctly.

Did I succumb to Muphry's Law?

shenanigans:

MrsPost:

I call shenanigans.

Yes?

You sir are my hero for the day.

(And I'm sorry to dispel the myth that there are no females on the interwebz. The 'Mrs' is true. I'm ~gasp~ female.)

MrsPost:

shenanigans:

MrsPost:

I call shenanigans.

Yes?

You sir are my hero for the day.

(And I'm sorry to dispel the myth that there are no females on the interwebz. The 'Mrs' is true. I'm ~gasp~ female.)

Hey guys, it's the only female on the Internet. Let's make sure to hound her with messages about her job, location, and phone number.

I don't believe you. Pics or it didn't happen.

kastein:

ahhhhh the wonders of line problems...

last time my line was down, my DSL was very spotty and I had no dialtone (strange combination eh?) after a bad electrical storm. Verizon took quite some time to fix it, but our below-advertised DSL bandwidth was back to approximately advertised speeds after they did. If FIOS was available in my area I'd switch instantly, it is so much better and more reliable. As it is, I am considering canceling their service entirely.

EDIT: Yeah, what, the hell, is with the commas? And the random words misused and clumsy sentence structure? If you guys want me to grammar-nazi your writing before you post it, I'll be more than happy to, as it'll keep the comments from all being from pedantic idiots who can't agree on what sentence structure it SHOULD be. Instead, they will be pedantic about something else, like the actual story at hand, or each other's writing.

As a grammar Nazi, you might want to learn what a comma-splice is.

kastein:

If you guys want me to grammar-nazi your writing before you post it...

Wow, I didn't even know it was a verb! Shouldn't that be "grammar-nazi-ize"? Or, "grammar-nazify"?

In Russia, we've always joked that our phone lines have ropes instead of wires. When you could not connect it's because the ropes dried out.

Dr. Z:

The article states "500kb/s"

kb can mean anything, because it's certainly not "kilobits" (Kb) or "Kilobytes" (KB).

I Suggest KinkyBurgers

Wikipedia:

The abbreviation kb (for kilobit) should not be confused with the abbreviation of the term kilobyte (abbreviated to kB or KB, with an upper case B).

Pwned...

MrsPost:

(And I'm sorry to dispel the myth that there are no females on the interwebz. The 'Mrs' is true. I'm ~gasp~ female.)

Karen? Is that you?

campkev:

As a grammar Nazi, you might want to learn what a comma-splice is.

Is a comma splice as bad as the splice in the leased line?

Anyone who receives broadband over an aging copper wire network (that's most of the UK) will know all too well the effects of localised environmental changes. Too hot = crap connection, too cold = crap connection, spot of rain = crap connection. Still better than our resident cable monopolists, though.

MrsPost:

(And I'm sorry to dispel the myth that there are no females on the interwebz. The 'Mrs' is true. I'm ~gasp~ female.)

Yeah, I'm a female too. You read it right here on the internet so it must be true.

gurhall:

I don't like being a grammar nazi but, when it impedes my comprehension of the denouement, I die a little inside. Please learn to use the comma correctly.

Did I succumb to Muphry's Law?

Yes, there should be either a semicolon or a period before "but".

And to quote a previous poster... "It's Murphy's law, you idiot!!!!111" (j/k, icyww)

Ollie Jones:

No wtf here.

No WTF besides the fact that wires and stuff should be insulated from moisture?

MrsPost:

(And I'm sorry to dispel the myth that there are no females on the interwebz. The 'Mrs' is true. I'm ~gasp~ female.)

I don't believe you. Pics or it's not true.

This is all too common to be classified as a WTF.

A real WTF would have been an amateur radio station, a hobo sleeping on the phone lines or something else unexpected.

Another skeptic:

MrsPost:

(And I'm sorry to dispel the myth that there are no females on the interwebz. The 'Mrs' is true. I'm ~gasp~ female.)

I don't believe you. Pics or it's not true.

If I don't see tits, I call bullshit.

gurhall:

I don't like being a grammar nazi but, when it impedes my comprehension of the denouement, I die a little inside. Please learn to use the comma correctly.

Did I succumb to Muphry's Law?

Yes. There should be a comma before "but". The comma after "but" is allowed in this case (since another clause is beginning), but is frequently omitted in modern usage.

And before you call Muphry on me, I am aware that benighted American style manuals call for the period to be placed before the quotation mark. I prefer the British usage.

amischiefr:

Another skeptic:

MrsPost:

(And I'm sorry to dispel the myth that there are no females on the interwebz. The 'Mrs' is true. I'm ~gasp~ female.)

I don't believe you. Pics or it's not true.

If I don't see tits, I call bullshit.

I hope Shenanigans doesn't have to sit next to him in the call center.

I work at a dial-up ISP (yes you read that right -- "work" in the present tense) in Victoria. Victoria, being Canada's warmest city, does very poorly when it does get cold -- whenever the temperature goes below about -3, we start getting all kinds of LOST CARRIER connection drops when it gets back up to 0. After it warms up to +3 or so, everything returns to normal.

Of course, since it "never snows in Victoria" the phone company won't fix it.

(Temperature values in degrees C)

MrsPost:

shenanigans:

MrsPost:

I call shenanigans.

Yes?

You sir are my hero for the day.

(And I'm sorry to dispel the myth that there are no females on the interwebz. The 'Mrs' is true. I'm ~gasp~ female.)

I call shenanigans. There's no women on the interwebs - they have better things to do.
Oh, and I love it when the hardware boyz talk dirty - soooo exciting.

Anonymous:

Anyone who receives broadband over an aging copper wire network (that's most of the UK) will know all too well the effects of localised environmental changes. Too hot = crap connection, too cold = crap connection, spot of rain = crap connection. Still better than our resident cable monopolists, though.

Are your automobiles on the network too? Too hot -- won't start -- too cold -- won't start. Spot of rain -- won't start

Sigh

campkev:

As a grammar Nazi, you might want to learn what a comma-splice is.

like lambs to the slaughter...

leased line...due to be replaced - in another 6 months.

Err, if it's a leased line, then the company providing it has no right to say that. David's company just says "No, you fix it now or we're not carrying on paying for it."

NH:

A real WTF would have been an amateur radio station.

Actually, it's your computer networking that's interfering with our radio reception more often than the other way around. Specifically powerline networking. The noise from some of those things is horrendous. :-@

"and even asked if the cleaning staff had unplugged some network switch to run the vacuum cleaner at night"

Genre Savvy tech
is Genre Savvy.

kastein:

campkev:

As a grammar Nazi, you might want to learn what a comma-splice is.

like lambs to the laughter...

FTFY

David's company just says "No, you fix it now or we're not carrying on paying for it."

Right, and then the other company says, "Very well then, we have determined that we no longer wish to have you as a customer. Please have fun trying to run your business with no data lines between sites, or telephone service of any kind."

amischiefr:

Another skeptic:

MrsPost:

(And I'm sorry to dispel the myth that there are no females on the interwebz. The 'Mrs' is true. I'm ~gasp~ female.)

I don't believe you. Pics or it's not true.

If I don't see tits, I call bullshit.

(.)(.)

Rootbeer:

David's company just says "No, you fix it now or we're not carrying on paying for it."

Right, and then the other company says, "Very well then, we have determined that we no longer wish to have you as a customer. Please have fun trying to run your business with no data lines between sites, or telephone service of any kind."

If only there was some way that two parties could enter into some kind of agreement or 'contract', stipulating the obligations of each party...

m0ffx:

leased line...due to be replaced - in another 6 months.

Err, if it's a leased line, then the company providing it has no right to say that. David's company just says "No, you fix it now or we're not carrying on paying for it."

NH:

A real WTF would have been an amateur radio station.

Actually, it's your computer networking that's interfering with our radio reception more often than the other way around. Specifically powerline networking. The noise from some of those things is horrendous. :-@

oh hey, what's your callsign? (W1KAS here, didn't think there'd be any other hams on this site...)

Best. Comment. Ever.

Reminds me of the old joke: Q: Why can't the British make computers? A: Because they could never figure out how to make them leak oil.

And this one from a bumper sticker in a race engine shop: "Long live Lucas, father of the intermittent windshield wiper"

Crap. Was in response to Bramster's "Are your automobiles on the network too? Too hot -- won't start -- too cold -- won't start. Spot of rain -- won't start" comment. Err...frist post for me...

Code Dependent:

MrsPost:

(And I'm sorry to dispel the myth that there are no females on the interwebz. The 'Mrs' is true. I'm ~gasp~ female.)

Karen? Is that you?

Yup, that's him.

- no. This is me. :)