Things that WBS still need to implement before April 2005 iBurst launch...

ic

ic

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A few minutes back I was going to create this thread only to debate whether WBS should provide us with a secure online Username/Password changer form (like what Telkom have had to provide for ADSL users). Then I remembered that there are a few other things that WBS need to deliver before launch in April 2005.
  1. Telkom ADSL helpdesk people can see a customer's username & password in the clear on their monitors. It is fact (if you do not believe it you can debate it in the ADSL section). Some ADSL MyADSLrs have reported that their account gets hijacked and their capped bandwidth used by hijackers, the only logical/viable suspects being Telkom employees.

    In contrast with ADSL, WBS' iBurst uses proprietary hardware, that similar to a cell phone has a hardware ID, the h/w ID is called a UTID.

    My understanding (after the recent WBS db change) is that WBS authenticate iBurst connections using UTID+username+password, which are all linked to a single account (presumably).

    Therefore, it may or may not be possible to do the same hijacking of our capped 3Gig bandwidth on iBurst, due to the UTID (presumably) being used together with username & password for authentication. Perhaps a test is in order to verify that.

    The question I have is this: if WBS only allow that one piece of hardware (UTID) to connect under your account, then why do we even need a username & password? Is it merely redundancy, or is there a real risk of bandwidth hijacking? You could say: in case the UT was stolen, I say let the thief use the bandwidth, while you report the UT stolen & WBS report the thief's location to the police...

    I am guessing the answer will dictate whether we need an SSL secured online form for changing username & password on our iBurst accounts.
  2. Bandwidth Usage Tracker that shows in detail, daily upload & download stats, preferably separated into local & international, and preferably with no more than a 30 minute update delay.
  3. eMail: the pre-launch contracts include email accounts (POP3) that are supposed to be implemented sometime before the actual launch in April.
  4. A service interruption/degradation notification system- something like the SAIX severity 1 thing (or what it should be). You should be able to receive notifications via email, as well as view them online.
  5. What have I left out?
 
For a broadband virgin like me...
I dont think u left anything out, lets hope this get to WBS ASAP.
 
Nay, not yet.

PS: aborg did you experience the deranged traffic light / disco effect starting ~23:44?
 
The iBurst can see your password as well. When I called the call centre last week to resolve an XP 'username/password' error, the guy who was assisting me told me what my password was.
 
Our guys have been looking for the derranged traffic light, and cannot find the source of this. IC, please call me if you come across this during the day - I hope I'll have the radio guys available to monitor it during the time it occurs.
 
Hi Anakin, the problem is it happens sporadically, less frequently of late, but I will definitely call you when it happens during the day. I am convinced that it is some non-WBS radio interference.
 
WBS needs to implement a marketing/product manager with a brain before this product goes anywhere.
 
In case WBS have 4gotten: Will it be before the cap is inflicted on iBursters?

anakin said:
Soon...
Click to expand...
Does WBS intend to have points 2 & 3 on the list (POP3 accounts & online usage tracker stats) in place before [thread=16843]the cap is implemented[/thread]?
 
A service interruption/degradation notification system- something like the SAIX severity 1 thing (or what it should be). You should be able to receive notifications via email, as well as view them online

Hhhm I think I would prefer an SMS because how i'm going to read email/webpage if there is no iburst connection. ?

Anakin :
Maybe WBS should talk to Pierre from Stouf about an SMS gateway
 
ghostim said:
...how i'm going to read email/webpage if there is no iburst connection. ?...
Click to expand...
True if you cannot connect, you won't be able to get email or get to a WBS bulletin board (doesn't exist yet), but [post=153637]consider this problem scenario...[/post]

I agree that smsz would be a nice to have - in case of a network outage / planned downtime, but would you be prepared to pay extra for sms notifications? I would not want to pay extra!- if you use both ABSA's IB & FNB's IB you will know what I'm getting at.

I suspect that if an outage lasted a few hours, you would be calling the Wookies anyway.

Perhaps WBS can consider a limited trial sms notification system, and then survey us later to find out if it is really worth it.

The bottom line is - there have been plenty of Burst-i problems, that despite incredible odds, one was still able to browse to iBurst.co.za, only to find 0 notices about the problem or when it would be fixed.
 
Last edited:
Notice board / email is fine for planned downtime, but the unplanned ones are the problem. We plan to use iburst for VPN/support to the main serverroom and the DR site.
 
ghostim said:
Notice board / email is fine for planned downtime, but the unplanned ones are the problem. We plan to use iburst for VPN/support to the main serverroom and the DR site.
Click to expand...
I was planning to use iBurst for hosting 3 micro-size businesses sites & mail server, but I have decided that ADSL is required for hosting, iBurst is somewhat dodgy right now on uploading (also a problem back in November), just open all the iBurst testing URLs in FF tabs & compare the upload speeds on the graphs- there are quite a few with highly variable upload speeds, and IMO, when the stuttering/unresponsiveness thing is happening, the upload speed == 0.
 
I think SMS notification is a great idea. This would save the wookies a lot of unnecessary calls, well assuming the SMS contains info on when the problem will be fixed.
 
All about the benjamins...uhhh I mean SMS Notifications...

Perdition said:
I think SMS notification is a great idea. This would save the wookies a lot of unnecessary calls, well assuming the SMS contains info on when the problem will be fixed.
Click to expand...
I agree 100% that sms service restoration notification is something that WBS should try in the not too distant future. However I do foresee some analysis & design issues (which also apply to notifications via email) e.g.:
  • Do you send an sms to everyone on iBurst when only a few basestations are problematic?

    I think the answer is clearly no!
    .
  • Do you 1st try to determine which users will be affected according to the basestations that have a problem & only sms those users?

    Perhaps that's easier with UTD customers, altho assuming that people with UTDs only use them in 1 place is flawed.

    BUT- WBS' db already seems to tell them which basestations you regularly connect to.

    Should be eZpZ to extract all the cellery#s where UserIDs/UTIDs regularly connect via the specific problematic BSz...
    .
  • What about people on the move with a UTC?

    Do you want WBS to track your movements & notify you when you might be travelling towards a BS that is down for maintenance, or a cluster of BSz that are down due to a flood or Sh1ttyPowa?
    .
  • What sort of threshold/waiting-time should be imposed b4 notifications are sent?

    Just-in-case the problem sorts itself out...
    .
  • If everyone relies heavily on sms notifications for service restoration estimates:

    Are people going to sit about waiting for a
    You are experiencing technical problem A|B|C|...Z.
    We estimate that service will be partially|fully restored by hh:mm    ​
    sms that after 1hr or more never arrives.

    So you call the Wookies, only to be told that the plasma screen shows no problems at all...now you've just wasted 1hr when someone could've been out to hand pump all the rain water out of the BS(z)...
Maybe that sort of thing is easy to do with WBS' new database & the Kyocera EMS server, if so why don't WBS have a simple bulletin board or send email notifications of planned downtime (yet)?

Would it not take longer to implement realtime sms & email notifications for unplanned downtime vs a really simple Bulletin Board (i.e. 512bytes of html) & email notifications sent out for planned downtime?

It would be lekker to re-establish contact with Skeeve & find out what nifty things are being done in iBurst.co.au land - so we can replicate the good stuff.
 
I think sms notification for broad outage i.e. international/national link failure or more than a few towers down and e-mail notification for planned downtime should suffice. I don't think it needs to get overly complex.
 
Perdition said:
I think sms notification for broad outage i.e. international/national link failure or more than a few towers down and e-mail notification for planned downtime should suffice. I don't think it needs to get overly complex.
Click to expand...
Ok, assuming that sending an sms can cost as little as R0.15, and there are 15000 iBurst customers to notify everytime there is a broad outage, that amounts to R2250.00 per broad outage. Fine if there are only a few broad outages per month, if not we have to start paying WBS extra for sms notifications.
 
I'm happy to pay 15c for a notification if it saves me paying Telkom 60c to find out the same info from the wookies ;)

Actually to simplify matters they could just set up a web page where you choose which notifications you wish to receive i.e. you're able to select which towers you wish to receive notifications for. This way they don't need to track users and it also allows people who are using iBurst for business to monitor many locations. It seems fairly win-win to me, WBS make extra revenue from sms's and take strain off their wookies and users win because they don't have to pay Telkom 60c to call the wookies each time a tower goes down.
 
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