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Excite Could Go Dark On Friday
robvasquez writes: "According to this CNET article, excite @home could be pulling the plug on cable modem subscribers. What's your providers back up plan? Could milions of trolls and Nimda spreaders be taken off line?"
In Canada - Rogers cable is currently switching to their own servers.
-->If Linux was written by Bill Gates & Co. - no one would want to switch !!
Some of us slashdot readers are going to be caught in that too you know.
It's not all "trolls and Nimda spreaders" who happen to be on @home, and could be screwed.
blah.
I'd supply links but most Shaw customers visiting this site probably already know, and I'm feeling lazy.
========================================
Death will come, and will have your eyes
-- Pavese
FYI, there are three Canadian providers of @Home's service. The biggest (at least in eastern Canada) is Rogers, which started up separate email servers on Friday (after two delays for more testing), and started up their separate web servers (AFAIK) about a week before that. The 2nd-largest, Shaw, wanted to separate itself about a year ago, and started switching web servers long before @Home even filed for Chp.11, and switched email services about 2 months ago. Cogeco switched it's web and email services about 1 month ago.
My other sig is funny!
I'm hearing rumors that @Home is delibrately causing issues with customer account conversions at various cable offices. My fiance is a CSR, and she's been talking about how @Home's sytems are no longer removing modem records from the headends, and the regional General Manager is contantly on the phone bitching at them to fix it (and fast). Apparently every time they try to convert a customer, they issue the account close operation, and it returns successfully, but the customer's modem stays online. When they add the local record for the subscriber, their UBR is given the appropriate information and will accept the modems, but the customer has a 50/50 chance of the @Home UBR responding before theirs. Effectively keeping most customers on @Home's network.
You'd think that they were just having issues with their UBR, or maybe with their access to @Home's subscriber management system, but they are able to successfully add new customers to their own service just fine, and everything was going smoothly with conversions until just a week ago.
Could be @Home being a prick until the very last minute, could be a coincedence. I'm not apt to support one theory or the other, I'm just relaying what I hear.
Moderation: -1 Heresay! (lmao)
I have Charter@Home, and they are in the process of switching everyone over to Charter Pipeline, their own network.
We've been barraged for a couple months on Shaw @Home to set up new shaw.ca addresses.
Please read this thread on DSL Reports. It includes important information, schedule, etc. :)
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
Here is the E-Mail I received from COX:
... now and in the future.
:)
Dear Cox @ Home customer:
Recently, you were informed that our high-speed Internet partner - Excite @
Home - filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy protection. We recognize that this
situation may have caused you some concern about the future of your service.
Rest assured, we are taking all the necessary steps to provide continued reliable
high-speed Internet service to our customers
We are deeply committed to providing you with a quality high-speed Internet
service. For several months, we have been hard at work creating a new Cox-
managed network to better serve you. There are many benefits to directly
managing our own network, such as:
* Easier, more streamlined customer service experience.
* Enhanced network performance.
* Ability to bring you the latest in cutting-edge technology and product
features.
In the weeks ahead, we'll continue to keep you informed and share more details
of our exciting plans. For more information, please visit www.cox.com/moreinfo
We thank you for being a valued Cox customer.
Sincerely,
Cox Communications
Hopefully, this E-Mail means that I do not have to dig out my 56k external modem again. Sometimes, I think that there would be fewer headaches with Dial-up, oh well, Mo Bandwidth, Mo Problems
I hate sigs.
The local @home partner (Optus) here in Oz bought out our local division of excite@home. So no big problems here at all, we even get to keep our e-mail addresses :-) Only thing is there were a few small glitches a few weekends ago as they were transferring everyone over to new non-@home server infrastructure and new ip-addressing scheme. They did the whole shebang in one weekend.
...this is getting out of hand
www.home.net
News release, letter to subscribers and excite users, vendor and investor info.
May actually be a source of information for youse guys.
Have you read the moderator guidelines? Well, have you, PUNK? (and I want a Karma: Gnarly option)
I just talked to an AT&T@Home support rep via their Java web chat app.
You say: Will my service through AT&T be affected if Excite discontinues its service Friday?
After a bit of prevaricating...
In-Max Marcus says: While we cannot be certain of the court's final decision, AT&T Broadband has always encouraged its customers to periodically save their browser bookmarks, personal Web page files, address book, and e-mail files to their desktop, disk or CD. These steps are commonly practiced for increased safety against unforeseen events such as computer crashes, network outages and virus infections.
I was able to get the guy to come through with an answer:
You say: I need the answer to this question: If Excite can't reach an agreement, and discontinues its service Friday, will my Internet access also be discontinued. I'd like a solid answer, please.
In-Max Marcus says: No.your services will not be affected at all and we wil reprovisoin all the settings needed.
So there you have it. My own cable service seems to be well in hand.
Editor Emeritus and Senior Writer, TeleRead.org
Charter Communications, aka That OTHER Evil Empire(TM), already switched us over from @Home to Charter Pipeline. So far, so good. It's up, anyway. Thanks to OpenBSD, I don't need their interesting but useless Weendoze software. BTW, if you decide to use their software, don't. You can't uninstall it save via reinstalling Winduhs.
... R.I.P.
Unfortunately, DSL was not much of an option since I'm 18,000 feet from the CO. Oh, well. It still beats dial-up.
@Home
It's a very dark ride.
I had customers calling into today saying they couldnt reach excite mobile mail on the phones. After some checking, mobile.excite.com says they discontinued thier service. They didnt even let me know so I could remove the connection.
Date sent: Mon, 19 Nov 2001 19:50:28 -0500 (EST)
Dear Cox @ Home customer:
Recently, you were informed that our high-speed Internet partner - Excite @ Home - filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy protection. We recognize that this situation may have caused you some concern about the future of your service. Rest assured, we are taking all the necessary steps to provide continued reliable high-speed Internet service to our customers ... now and in the future.
We are deeply committed to providing you with a quality high-speed Internet service. For several months, we have been hard at work creating a new Cox- managed network to better serve you. There are many benefits to directly managing our own network, such as:
* Easier, more streamlined customer service experience.
* Enhanced network performance.
* Ability to bring you the latest in cutting-edge technology and product features.
In the weeks ahead, we'll continue to keep you informed and share more details of our exciting plans. For more information, please visit www.cox.com/moreinfo.
We thank you for being a valued Cox customer.
Sincerely, Cox Communications
Step 2: Merge with MediaOne and control 30% of cable.
Step 3: Get the FCC to withdraw the cable ownership caps set during MediaOne merger
Step 4: Buy out the number one broadband company, despite protests from stockholders that AT&T (being the majority stockholder) had set itself up to pay very little for Excite@Home.
50K? What were you sending them, a raw TCP dump of your entire day's POP/SMTP sessions? Anything more than the headers of the email you received is just extra garbage for them to wade through.
Rogers @Home users should be a-ok - since I last met with their network engineering people (a couple months ago) they were pushing through with their contingency plans in case Excite @Home went boom. Now that it's apparently happening, they're more or less ready. Of course, the changeover hasn't been flawless, but a) what do you expect when you try to set up e-mail for 422,000 broadband users, about 1-1.5million accounts in six weeks? It's simply not a very easy thing to do. Also, having all 422,000 activate their e-mail accounts within a day or two isn't something you'd expect to go flawlessly. We spoke with their VP of Network Ops and Engineering before the changeover on the phone, and he said there are still several bugs to be ironed out (apparently the requiring the FROM: header to be @rogers.com isn't gonna stay around).
The new news service right now is kinda sucky, but again, what do you expect when you go from Excite@Home, who have at least 30 (our guess) news peers to a server with only one. But again, I expect that'll change and improve with time.
As for the IP services, Rogers is running their own DHCP/DNS/TFTP servers now - and almost all of the network is using these new servers now. Basically, there are three DHCP/DNS/etc clusters, with each modem be dualhomed to two at any given point. If one fails or is unavailable, the modems will be rehomed to the remaining two. Each cluster is made up of three Sun E420 (I believe) machines, with two production servers and one hot failover. DHCP is no longer run using the CRXXXX client-id number, but is now entirely MAC address based (hence your IP's reverse DNS lookup now containing your MAC address).
As for the 'net access, Rogers has purchased a 5Gbps transit link from Teleglobe in NYC, and they said they are currently negotiating peering with other providers.
So in a nutshell, if @Home goes bye bye on Friday, Rogers users are pretty well covered (although I'm sure there will still be some problems - there ALWAYS are).
----
Bryan Samis
http://www.thesamis.net
I also got a letter in the mail about a rate increase 2 weeks ago... a $7.00 increase in billing rates in the Northern Virginia area. I guess this is the backup plan.
--- email from september ---
Dear Comcast @Home Customer,
On Friday, September 28, Excite@Home, the Internet service provider for
Comcast @Home, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection to allow them
the opportunity to restructure their financial situation with their creditors.
As you may know, financial restructuring allows companies that have declared
bankruptcy to continue to operate their business successfully.
More than five years ago, Comcast committed to the high-speed Internet
business by partnering with Excite@Home, and we continue to be committed
to providing high quality, reliable service. We are confident that Excite@Home,
whose major shareholders include AT&T, Cox and Comcast, will maintain all
e-mail and web space services for our customers.
Comcast will continue providing its customers with the best high-speed
Internet service both now and in the future. We are doing everything possible
to ensure that the 950,000 customers we will serve by year-end will continue
to be served well while Excite@Home restructures its financial situation.
Comcast views high-speed Internet as one of the most important products
in our portfolio and we remain committed to this business and to our customers.
We thank you for choosing Comcast and look forward to continuing to provide
you with the best high-speed Internet service available.
Sincerely,
David Juliano
Sr. Vice President & General Manager
I have an account with Cogeco cable in Windsor, Ontario, Canada, and they had us switch our e-mail addresses about a month ago to user@cogeco.ca. I notice now when I do a traceroute I see only one router with a .home.net name (there used to be many) and the traffic then goes through a bunch of routers in Teleglobe.net starting in Toronto then getting to New York by way of Chicago. So, other than that one router (in Ontario) which may not even be owned by @Home anymore, we seem to be completely independent of Excite@Home. Service seems about the same as always: great when it's up, down a bit too often.
If I can be modded down for being a troll, can I be modded up for being an orc, or a balrog?
I talked to a few people at Comcast back when Excite was having trouble earlier this year, and they hinted at the fact that there wouldn't be a problem if Excite went under.
Later, when I called to complain about the newly-imposed bandwidth caps, they hinted at the fact that they would be offering different service plans in the near future, and mentioned Excite's financial troubles numerous times.
Also, if you notice they have had their own portal (www.icomcast.net) up and running for some time now.
Lastly, they just upped their cable modem service rates--from what I'm told by people at Comcast again, its to cover new operating expenses (read: no more Excite).
So, with any luck, Comcast users shouldn't experience many, if any, problems with service. All signs are pointing to them keeping service afloat.
Ok, apparently neither mozilla nor w3m from my machine could connect, but I could using lynx from an alternate location.
Here's the scoop from http://www.cox.com/moreinfo:
Following you will find some information to address questions you might have about the email communication that you recently received from us.
Q1. When will you be switching my service?
A1. Cox is creating its own managed network to enable it to ensure the quality and reliability of your service. This transition will be made before June 2002, however we have not yet finalized specific dates for each community
we serve. We will continue to keep you informed on our progress and will do everything we can to give you as much advance notice as possible when the time comes to transition to the new Cox high speed Internet service.
Q2. Do I have to change?
A2. Yes, our partnership with @Home will be ending. Once the Cox-managed network is ready, all customers who currently have the Cox@Home service will be transitioned over to the new Cox-managed network. We think you will be pleased with the new service. By managing all elements of our high speed Internet service, we will be in a much better position to control the quality of our service and deliver greater customer satisfaction. We will make every effort to make this transition as smooth as possible.
Q3. What do I have to do right now?
A3. There is nothing for you do right now. At the appropriate time, Cox will provide you with all of the information and tools you need to smoothly convert your service to our new Cox-managed high speed Internet service.
Q4. How will I be affected?
A4. Since we are in the process of finalizing the service and its features, we don't have specific information to share with you at this time. We assure you that your Cox-managed service will include the most popular features you
currently enjoy, as well as some additional benefits.
Q5. Is my new service going to be comparable to my existing service?
A5. It is our goal to provide you with high speed Internet service that is comparable to or better than your existing Cox@Home service. In fact, by offering our own Cox high speed Internet service, we will have a much better abilit
y to manage our network performance and provide the high-quality customer service and technical support our customers have grown to expect from Cox.
Q6. Will I get any new features?
A6. In addition to providing you with the features that you currently enjoy with your Cox @Home service, there will also be some new features and benefits associated with the new Cox-managed service. We are currently finalizing the details and we will share this exciting information with you in advance.
Q7. Is my email address going to change? If so, when?
A7. Since we are still finalizing the details of our Cox-managed high speed Internet service, we don't have any specific information to share with you at this time. You will be notified in advance about any changes to your service, so that you may have time to prepare for this change as necessary. Please know that we understand that an email address change is significant, and we will make every effort to make any service transition as smooth as possible.
Q8. So will you start offering other ISPs?
A8. We are in the process of testing the technical feasibility of offering multiple ISPs over our broadband network. Once this testing is complete, we will then determine the feasibility of rolling out multiple ISPs on a wider basis.
It really makes me wonder if they consider the port blocking on 80 and 25 to be a "feature" to "improve" "service". The funny thing is that I know someone else across the street w/ Cox@Home who DOESN'T have those ports blocked. And I wasn't even running a web server, while he is. Go figure.
"The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule." --H.L. Mencken
This even works if you use a linux system as a dhcp system -- I modified the resolv.conf and then doctored pump to not mess with my modified file.
you should read everything on the internet as if it had "but I'm probably talking out of my ass" appended to it.
It's not that the loss of Excite isn't causing any confusion, but for both Rogers@Home and Cogeco@Home, customers have been contacted weeks ago about the change (snail mail, television commercials, e-mails, and even phone calls). Rogers and Cogeco will simply be changing over to @rogers.com and @cogeco.com respectively, and, as long as no one has their system set up as a static IP (which it shouldn't), the user only needs to change their e-mail program of the change (and maybe reupload their website to the new domain).
The sad part is, Excite is definitely being a big dink about all of this. I had several usernames from Cogeco, and then
I moved to a Rogers-controlled area. Everything was fine until now - unfortunately, since Rogers wasn't the original creator of the usernames, they can't transfer it to @rogers.com - and since Cogeco can't get Excite to transfer them to Rogers, I'm rather stuck. Fine, I can just get Rogers to create some accounts for me when everything's settled, but Excite could have simply deleted the accounts and then Rogers could have had free access to them - but no, they froze the accounts, not allowing anyone to touch it. Ugh. Ah well, things will be MUCH better now that Excite is over with... at least from my end of things.
This is a MUCH bigger annoyance and inconvenience than you're allowing for.
I'm a new dad and I don't need this interruption in my life to take addional time away from my family. My @home connection has greatly INCREASED the amount of time I have for the things that matter with "a real person" and "social skills". I rely on my always-on @home net connection to save me time with banking, shopping, parenting advice, medical information. The implications of this are wide-ranging -- my accounts all over the place send email to my @home address, and if Cox doesn't handle any changes gracefully, it's gonna make things miserable for me. Not to mention that I'll have to explain to my non-techie wife why her grad-school profs, friends, family, co-workers, and students have to go change their address books.
Cox better look long and hard at buying and keeping the @home domain!
It's not the end of the world if you lose connectivity for a while. You will survive.
Yes, no doubt we'll survive, but time is scarce, now more than ever, and I don't need this additional burden. What a headache.
Well, here is the Email I just got today from Cox:
Dear Cox @ Home Customer:
As you know from our previous emails, Excite @ Home, our vendor in delivering
your Cox @ Home service, filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy protection at the end
of September. We have endeavored to keep you informed of the potential impact
this Bankruptcy could have on your Cox @ Home service and are writing to you
today to provide the latest information we have available.
First, we want you to know that we are committed to providing you uninterrupted
high speed Internet service. Cox Communications has been working diligently in
negotiations with Excite @ Home and using all legal avenues available to protect
you, our valued customer. Meanwhile, we have been forging ahead with our
plans to deliver reliable high speed Internet service to you on our Cox-managed
network. You will soon be receiving additional information about our new Cox
High Speed Internet(sm) service, along with information to help you convert to this
new service.
The latest developments with Excite @ Home:
This month, Excite @ Home's creditors petitioned the Bankruptcy court with a
motion to allow Excite @ Home to terminate service agreements with its cable
affiliates on November 30th. This includes agreements with Cox, Comcast and
AT&T. If the Court grants the creditors' request, there conceivably could be a
temporary disruption in the services that Excite @ Home provides to
approximately 3.7 million customers served by its North American cable affiliates.
We are doing everything possible to see that there will not be a disruption in your
service, but also want you to understand the possibilities and to be prepared:
*If the Judge's ruling states that Excite @ Home may terminate its service
agreements with Cox and the other cable affiliates, this does not mean that
Excite @ Home will automatically turn off the service on November 30th.
*With the Judge's approval, Excite @ Home would then have the ability to make
a decision on termination; however, we are negotiating with them to prevent any
service disruption.
*If Excite @ Home decides to terminate service despite our efforts to negotiate a
temporary arrangement, the question remains as to when the service would be
terminated. We are doing everything we can to ensure that your Cox @ Home
service continues until we can transition you to our new Cox-managed Internet
service. In short, we are doing our best to make sure that you will never be
without high speed Internet service.
Additional help Cox is providing:
In addition to exercising legal avenues, negotiating with Excite @ Home, and
building our own high speed Internet service, Cox is also offering the following to
help you and to keep you informed during this transitional period:
* Toll Free Customer Information Line (1-877-832-4751). You can call in for
the latest updates as we work to quickly resolve any service issues.
* Website Message Center at www.cox.com/info We will provide online
updates and a "Frequently Asked Questions" (FAQ) section to address your
concerns.
* Automatic Account Credits. We will credit your account automatically for
service and leased equipment so that you are reimbursed for any time you
are without service.
* Free, temporary dial-up Internet access. In the unlikely event that you
should experience a service disruption, we have arranged for temporary
dial-up access to the Internet via NetZero(r). In order to take advantage of
this precautionary option, please see the "What Should I be Doing Right
Now" section that follows.
Cox has a long history of outstanding service in your community. We pride
ourselves on providing high quality products and the best customer service.
Please know that we are committed to our customers and understand the
extent to which you enjoy the services we provide. We recognize that you
have a choice in service providers and we will continue to do our best to
remain your choice now and in the future. In advance, we apologize for any
inconvenience that the Bankruptcy of our vendor Excite @ Home may cause
you.
Stay tuned for more details, and thank you for choosing Cox.
Sincerely,
The Cox High-Speed Internet Team
Cox Communications, Inc.
_______________________________
What Should I be Doing Right Now?
1. Check your Cox @ Home email daily. Opened messages will be saved
automatically to your hard drive.
2. Download free dial-up Internet software. In the unlikely event that Excite
@ Home terminates your service, you would lose connectivity to the Internet and
access to your Cox @ Home services such as email and webspace. We do not
recommend that you install the software at this time, just download the software
and save it so that it may be installed should you have an interruption in service.
In order to restore access to the Internet and to set up a temporary email
address, we recommend that you register for dial-up service via NetZero and
download the necessary software. You will not be able to download the software
from your home after your Internet service has already been disrupted. While a
free dial-up connection is not ideal, it will give you temporary access to the
Internet for surfing, making transactions, etc. However, you will not be able to
access your Cox @ Home email accounts while the service is shut down. For
information on how to download this software, please visit www.cox.com/info
3. Back up your personal web page to your hard drive or to a CD. (This is a
good precautionary measure to follow at any time.)
4. In the unlikely event that there is a disruption in service, keep your cable
modem connected to your PC until service is restored.
5. Watch for more information from Cox on the transition of your service to
Cox High Speed Internet. At such time that you can make the transition to our
new service, Cox will be providing you with all of the information you need to make
your transition as smooth as possible.
It seems to me like they are trying their asses off to keep as many subscribers as possible, which is a good thing.
I hate sigs.