YOU KNOW, I SAW “THE ROAD WARRIOR” TWICE, AND YOU PROBABLY DON’T WANT TO PISS THESE GUYS OFF [Author: wirehead]
More news on the Australian server front. Tyrant writes to the Aussie mailing list:
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Perhaps someone on the list can help us find an ISP that does not charge by the byte transferred within Australia? Is this some kind of government regulatory issue? It effectively makes UO more than 3x more expensive to run in Australia than in any other country we operate in. Currently we are examining options for a server that is outside of Australia due to this setback.
As I noted in a previous message, our Network Operations manager was disappointed when he visited Australia to meet with ISP’s as they were not forthcoming with the business and network information in the weeks prior to the visit, and even during the visit. Now the more we know, the less an Australian based server looks financially viable.
We will have a server accessible to Australian consumers that has a better connection than the USA or Korea, but it may not be located in Australia unless we get some new information and options pretty quickly. This might also set back our December 1st target date, but we certainly hope not. We have the equipment ready to go, just need someplace to send it.
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Needless to say, this did not set well with the folks down under. The ISP Tyrant refers to is Telstra, Australia’s semi-official dominant telecom company. Here’s what a somewhat understandable engineer had to say in response:
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Well, this is one pissed off Miasma here !!! Not only have OSI made a comment that they are considering not placing the server in Australia because we are “too dear”, but they have also ignored the INCREDIBLY CHEAP requests of many ISPs and from ACTUAL ENGINEERS that do the damn installation of the hardware that connects to the internet! The only reason we would be “too dear” would be if OSI didn’t do their research and went through the, for example, Telstra Business Centre. Now for those of you that don’t know, ANY service offered by the Business Centre has to be the most EXPENSIVE telecommunications service in the world ! Fact! BUT, there is a reason!! The cost incurred by going through the business centre of ANY of our Telecommunications/Internet Connection Service providers (and NO THEY ARE NOT ISPs LIKE ONENET ETC !!! STOP USING THAT WORD OUT OF CONTEXT!!!) is extremely expensive due to the fact they do everything for you. EG:, “Umm I cant connect to a website in Afghanistan…” **calls Telstra Business Centre and explains problem**… they then immediately find out why and tell you or fix it! Basically they do EVERYTHING FOR YOU !! So you pay for it which is fair enough.
The problem is that nobody has thought of talking to the little people like myself, the actual Telecommunitcation Engineers that are contracted by Optus and Telstra, etc. No they have taken the arrogant approach of “I KNOW ALL THEREFORE WHY SHOULD I SPEAK TO THE LITTLE PEOPLE!!!” and made a half-assed assumption that our telecommunications industry is too expensive! My arse !!! I spent about 2 days speaking to companies like Telstra, local ISPs, super huge metworking guru friends etc and what did I find out? That OSI made a half-hearted attempt!!!
The fact is that if you want to run your own ISP, and don’t have a friken clue, then use the Business Centre, makes your life easier! BUT, if you know what you are doing as far as networking and all things to do with the internet, the who cares if you are a multi million dollar company, get the best friken price from someone that says they know what they are doing! Same as our Defence Force does, best service from the LOWEST bidder, and they are a tad larger and have more money than EA/OSI ever will !
I am severely annoyed (if you couldn’t guess) that nothing was done to prepare for the server in my opinion (which I won’t delete so don’t ask!!!). They didn’t do the research which my humble overworked self got after 2 days and a bit of driving about to find out! Now if I can do it then why the hell can’t a super large multi-million dollar company like OSI do it!?!?! Simple answer, the “I Know All” attitude! Well OSI WAKE UP !!!!!!!!! You don’t know everything which is obvious after my little run around a few weeks ago! Don’t be so bloody arrogant to think you know everything and get off your $%^$ing high horse and ASK !!! I have done soooo much to promote this damn shard, not to mention all the other people that helped to get the effort off the ground, worn the expense myself and now I see a comment like, “Nope too expensive, sorry”, well in my OPINION, thats the biggest cop out I have ever heard! Do the research! Don’t assume to know everything cause you don’t! You send a guy here to find a place WITHOUT checking it out first, then you expect everything to fall into your lap just because “YOU’RE OSI !!”
I have spent around $800 on this only to see incompetence at the highest levels!!! If you don’t start making a SERIOUS ATTEMPT at getting us this shard then I’ll do my best to get people to quit! Who wants to deal with a “I know more than YOU do, so I won’t ask for help and I don’t really care for your opinion” company.
There are 3 weeks to resolve this problem and I will continue helping and pushing whereever I can to get us this shard, maybe there is some chance of making up for lost ground! As far as this News Update being wipe, **cares not for YOUR opinion**. If I burn bridges then so be it. The fact is that SOMEBODY needs a wake up call and this is it. I full expect some serious arse kissing to come from the OneList 200 odd email group, but that is also a half-assed effort, in my opinion! So I personally don’t care. There had better be some kind of contact soon to even make me want to keep this site going! I don’t get paid for it OR sufficient feedback so once again **cares not**!!!
If this post disappears it because I had a change of heart and not because of somebody telling me to remove it btw. I have been working 4 12 hour shifts and I am quite tired. I may regret posting this onto the site but at this point in time I can’t see any reason why I shouldn’t. They don’t respect the effort of the people that support the effort so why should I support them further. Time to put the foot down on top of the one that wants to keep walking over us!
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So if you work for an Australian ISP and you can offer a flat rate for a T3 and a 24/7 NOC, you may want to contact the nice folks at OSI before mean dudes with mohawks show up and steal all of our gasoline.