New Feature in iBurst (iBurst Browser Hijacking & more)

[Xenophon]

1) Stop the throttled service. It's pretty much unique to iBurst to provide uncapped access. Then if you reach your cap, we cut you off like the other operators do and you must first top up. (Someone I suspect this will go down like a lead zeppelin . But it will resolve the problem.)

It keeps amazing me the customer service Iburst offers. Is it just me, or does this look almost like a threat or blackmail?

ie, stop complaining or.....

Personally I thing the throttled service is the only incentive keeping people with Iburst at the moment. It sure as hell ain't the service.

 

[Zodiak]

I agree with everyone, Jannie let me tell you a fact = you stop throttled service and I will stop paying my fees as that would be a breach of the 2 year contract which I (and most others) signed up for. I joined under these terms and that would be illegal as far as I am aware but go ahead if you want to lose 60% of your client base who are aware of what they buy. Your soft cap is the only thing that differentiates you from your competitors right now as almost every other company out there has better priced packages and quicker connections. Still waiting for the price decrease announcements or package changes.....

 

[kaaskop]

I agree with everyone, Jannie let me tell you a fact = you stop throttled service and I will stop paying my fees as that would be a breach of the 2 year contract which I (and most others) signed up for. I joined under these terms and that would be illegal as far as I am aware but go ahead if you want to lose 60% of your client base who are aware of what they buy. Your soft cap is the only thing that differentiates you from your competitors right now as almost every other company out there has better priced packages and quicker connections. Still waiting for the price decrease announcements or package changes.....

Zigzactly!

 

[UnderDog]

I’ve been an Iburst user for over 4 years, and I can only say that Iburst really falling apart. I can only ask myself whether all these network problems we’ve experienced last month were due to upgrades? These upgrades?? 100 click throttle reminders? Iburst??? You disappoint, you honestly believe that by far the majority of users aren’t aware when they are capped? And the 10% of the total idiots that don’t realize they’ve been throttled only need to be told once… as soon as they’ve reached their limit, a simple email will do… end of story! All that hard work doing upgrades and this is the best “new feature” you have to offer? And then you have the nerve to bring it out as if it is a good thing. I can see it now, headline “user highly relieved that sudden browsing slow down due to throttling and not network problems” wow, what a relieve, thank you Iburst! The market is changing and if you guys don’t think of something soon, you can kiss my….
Oh, and another thing!!! Bill me on the 2009-09-16 for 2009-10, and tell me that it was just a mistake… Oops, I pressed the wrong button and all you offer me is a sorry (after my call being dropped once after 15 mins of waiting plus another 15 mins of waiting before getting through to your billing department call cost a fortune and all I get is a sorry, I’m honored! And to think I once actually advised Iburst to users.

 

[Gozzy]

I am in the process of getting iBurst, just waiting for a buddy of mine to give me his modem, which he promised me

I have had a test unit at home from work, was working absolutely flawlessly.

It was a helluva lot better than Neotel! *bleeergh*

 

[kilobits]

I am in the process of getting iBurst, just waiting for a buddy of mine to give me his modem, which he promised me

I have had a test unit at home from work, was working absolutely flawlessly.

It was a helluva lot better than Neotel! *bleeergh*

Words of advice...
DO NOT sign a contract with IBurst... go month to month.
DO NOT go through IBurst directly, go through Tradepage or the like (trust me on this)... http://www.tradepage.co.za/iburst.asp
Make sure you DISABLE PPU on your account.

Trust me... you will thank me later.

 

[Madhawk]

Words of advice...
DO NOT sign a contract with IBurst... go month to month.

+1000

 

[kaaskop]

Words of advice...
DO NOT sign a contract with IBurst... go month to month.
DO NOT go through IBurst directly, go through Tradepage or the like (trust me on this)... http://www.tradepage.co.za/iburst.asp
Make sure you DISABLE PPU on your account.

Trust me... you will thank me later.

Very good advice. Signed with Altech and i never had any billing issues thats all over the forum.

 

[UnderDog]

I am in the process of getting iBurst, just waiting for a buddy of mine to give me his modem, which he promised me

I have had a test unit at home from work, was working absolutely flawlessly.

It was a helluva lot better than Neotel! *bleeergh*

And dont make use of any debt orders!

 

[PeterCH]

It keeps amazing me the customer service Iburst offers. Is it just me, or does this look almost like a threat or blackmail?

ie, stop complaining or.....

Personally I thing the throttled service is the only incentive keeping people with Iburst at the moment. It sure as hell ain't the service.

I agree. It does sound a bit like blackmail or a threat. I am seriously looking at ADSL these days - in the past I always said that for in-bundle rates iBurst was competitive but now with the average price of ADSL top ups at R50/GB iBurst is becoming very expensive. The 64kbit service is also a bonus because one can't always BUY A BOOSTER. Sometimes the option is disabled. You can still access your email and so basic things but if they can this service it would mean I'd have to use dial up and that's cumbersome and expensive too (Telkom).

 

[UnderDog]

With all due respect, Keeper, you're only getting this page when you are in a state where all data you download is FREE.

Not R29/GB, but R0/GB, i.e. pasella, free, nada, zero, zip.

With all due respect jannie, it’s a service you provide for paying customers. With that attitude its no wonder iBurst is having financial difficulties . You just thinking about how the company can increase income and not thinking of the customer’s needs wants. Your throttling service is not the lolly pop you get after a visit to the doctor... It’s a service that sets you apart, paid for and delivered.
I find the whole sarcasm thing a little distasteful and unprofessional.

 

[Gekco]

I find the whole sarcasm thing a little distasteful and unprofessional.

+1

 

[Gekco]

iBurst Browser Hijacking & more.

Browser Hijacking:

Browser hijacking is the modification of a web browser's settings by malware. The term "hijacking" is used as the changes are performed without the user's permission. Some browser hijacking can be easily reversed, while other instances may be difficult to reverse.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_hijacking

Browser hijacking is a type of online fraud. Scammers use malicious software to take control of your computer's Internet browser and change how and what it displays when you're surfing the Web.

http://www.microsoft.com/protect/terms/hijacking.aspx

One of the biggest factors in mitigating the risk of browser hijacking is our behavior as we browse the net. We should avoid suspicious and dangerous web sites.

http://www.brighthub.com/computing/smb-security/articles/28473.aspx

the thing that jannie needs to understand is that nag screens are not going to get users to buy boosters, but cheaper topup's - like what Afrihost did.

as for letting the users know they are capped?
send an e-mail, that's all that is needed. every 100 clicks is just a bit much if you ask me...

So how excatly were these "Nag Sreens" implemented?- Technically that is?

Browser Hijacking via visiting the iBurst web site?
Software downloaded into the users OS without their Knowledge?
Monitoring the number of HTTP requests via the iBurst network and then sending back something the user did not request?

The *software* dev team seems to have a lot of time on their hands...
Are they in a 'dilemma' too?

EDIT: Remember SONY and their software they installed on user's PC's without their knowledge? And it going to the top of DIGG?

Sony's infamous rootkit based DRM software has been at the center of much attention for the last few week. That are facing a class action lawsuit. In the face of serious consumer backlash they recently decided to withdraw their copy-protected cd's which compromises the security of users. Now it appears Sony is headed for more troubled waters on multiple fronts.

http://blog.taragana.com/index.php/archive/sony-drm-rootkit-violates-open-source-license/

It's over. The last major label to hold out on selling DRM-free MP3s, Sony BMG, is "finalizing plans" to sell music not locked down with DRM. It'll be available sometime in the first quarter, apparently in time to get in on Amazon and Pepsi's 1 billion song giveaway

http://digg.com/tech_news/DRM_Officially_Dead_Last_Major_Label_Sony_Plans_to_Drop_DRM

Consider the following:
IBoss is taking ALL priority at iBurst at the moment.
Implementation started at 14-17 August.
ETA was 17/18 August.
Sotware Devs must be having very little sleep as iBoss is now well beyond the 17th August deadline.
Some *Devs* have had time to implement the 'Prepaid offer' with crazy pricing in the meantime. (Could that time not have been used to fix iBoss? Unless this order came from the CEO or one of his lackeys...)
Some *Devs* have had time to implement the 'Nag screens' in the meantime. (Could that time not have been used to fix iBoss? Unless this order came from the CEO or one of his lackeys...)

 

[BillyBoy]

We cant buy a bandwidth booster even if we wanted to !

The new nag screen is setup at time when iBurst know that they have major issues, namely - for the last about 7 weeks during the 'iboss upgrade' it is often impossible to:
a) Login (website down contact call centre type messages)
b) Login with a non iburst.co.za username (all Service Providers and their customers) - error 'please enter your iburst username' which has still not been resolved
c) Get sensible and regular emailed usage reports
d) Get sensible usage reports (if you get a 10 minute window when we can in fact login)

Jannie - first ensure systems are working smoothly BEFORE implementing a new 'feature' which customers dont like in the first place.

 

[jannievanzyl]

Zigzactly!

You're ferpectly right....

Note to all, I gave a number of possible solutions and did indicate I personally think the time-based redirect makes the most sense to get a balance between alerting people that they're capped and not annoying those who do know.

I've got another couple of ideas on using the 'free but throttled' service capability, btw.

 

[jannievanzyl]

We cant buy a bandwidth booster even if we wanted to !

The new nag screen is setup at time when iBurst know that they have major issues, namely - for the last about 7 weeks during the 'iboss upgrade' it is often impossible to:
a) Login (website down contact call centre type messages)
b) Login with a non iburst.co.za username (all Service Providers and their customers) - error 'please enter your iburst username' which has still not been resolved
c) Get sensible and regular emailed usage reports
d) Get sensible usage reports (if you get a 10 minute window when we can in fact login)

Jannie - first ensure systems are working smoothly BEFORE implementing a new 'feature' which customers dont like in the first place.

Point taken, the idea was to actually help with load on the call desk and the idea is still valid. But 30 (or 100) clicks was way too agressive. I've asked the guys that we try and change it to one per day as a 'quick fix' and we can then look at an opt-out.

But that will require changes to the very systems we're trying to stabilise, so I'm not too keen right now. (the current method is on a network engine and thus is not 'user-aware', while an opt-out system would need to know who you are and would thus need to integrate into iBOSS.)

Makes sense?

 

[Gekco]

Point taken, the idea was to actually help with load on the call desk and the idea is still valid. But 30 (or 100) clicks was way too agressive. I've asked the guys that we try and change it to one per day as a 'quick fix' and we can then look at an opt-out.

Makes sense?

No.

iBurst Browser Hijacking & more.
Browser Hijacking:

Quote:
Browser hijacking is the modification of a web browser's settings by malware. The term "hijacking" is used as the changes are performed without the user's permission. Some browser hijacking can be easily reversed, while other instances may be difficult to reverse.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_hijacking

Quote:
Browser hijacking is a type of online fraud. Scammers use malicious software to take control of your computer's Internet browser and change how and what it displays when you're surfing the Web.
http://www.microsoft.com/protect/terms/hijacking.aspx

Quote:
One of the biggest factors in mitigating the risk of browser hijacking is our behavior as we browse the net. We should avoid suspicious and dangerous web sites.
http://www.brighthub.com/computing/s...les/28473.aspx

Quote:
Originally Posted by Keeper View Post
the thing that jannie needs to understand is that nag screens are not going to get users to buy boosters, but cheaper topup's - like what Afrihost did.

as for letting the users know they are capped?
send an e-mail, that's all that is needed. every 100 clicks is just a bit much if you ask me...
So how excatly were these "Nag Sreens" implemented?- Technically that is?

Browser Hijacking via visiting the iBurst web site?
Software downloaded into the users OS without their Knowledge?
Monitoring the number of HTTP requests via the iBurst network and then sending back something the user did not request?

The *software* dev team seems to have a lot of time on their hands...
Are they in a 'dilemma' too?

EDIT: Remember SONY and their software they installed on user's PC's without their knowledge? And it going to the top of DIGG?

Quote:
Sony's infamous rootkit based DRM software has been at the center of much attention for the last few week. That are facing a class action lawsuit. In the face of serious consumer backlash they recently decided to withdraw their copy-protected cd's which compromises the security of users. Now it appears Sony is headed for more troubled waters on multiple fronts.
http://blog.taragana.com/index.php/a...ource-license/

Quote:
It's over. The last major label to hold out on selling DRM-free MP3s, Sony BMG, is "finalizing plans" to sell music not locked down with DRM. It'll be available sometime in the first quarter, apparently in time to get in on Amazon and Pepsi's 1 billion song giveaway
http://digg.com/tech_news/DRM_Offici...ns_to_Drop_DRM

Consider the following:
IBoss is taking ALL priority at iBurst at the moment.
Implementation started at 14-17 August.
ETA was 17/18 August.
Sotware Devs must be having very little sleep as iBoss is now well beyond the 17th August deadline.
Some *Devs* have had time to implement the 'Prepaid offer' with crazy pricing in the meantime. (Could that time not have been used to fix iBoss? Unless this order came from the CEO or one of his lackeys...)
Some *Devs* have had time to implement the 'Nag screens' in the meantime. (Could that time not have been used to fix iBoss? Unless this order came from the CEO or one of his lackeys...)

 

[arcturus]

Are you mad?

I am sure to implement the Nag screen take 2 minutes vs the other problems they might be facing which might be dealt with by a completely different and independent developer or development team.

if iBurst were 'hijacking' my browser to show me adverts then I think there would be a case.

 

[iBurst]

Hi all

Please note that this is not browser hijacking.

It was a small redirect which was implimented by our network team at the request of Customer Services. It is having a positive effect on the amount of slow speed reports to the contact centre.

We are investigating streamlining the redirect if it is found to be too often.

Positive feedback would be prreciated.


Thanks

 

[fragtion]

great feature, similar to Mweb and MTN Business's "You have reached your cap" landing pages. It is a sort of browser hijack (because here I am typing www.google.com, and I land up on iBurst's home page - not quite my intended destination!), and so it does get annoying, so there should definitely be the option to check/uncheck a box or something in the control panel or something, for those of us who know the symptoms of having reached our cap...