sushubh : operamaniac | WPer | tifosi

Why? Because it’s one of the rare CDs that comes with copy protection. And pretty advanced one at that. The problem is that you cannot play it on PC, let alone record it as MP3 for your own listening pleasure. Because SONY thinks, every one of us who buy the CD has malicious intents and would rip the songs and upload them to internet for others to download.

While doing so, they have created a big problem for me. Technically speaking, I am entitled to keep 1 copy of the CD for backup purposes. Now since I cannot duplicate this CD or save the songs as MP3s or OGGs, if the CD gets damaged after a while, I am totally screwed. This basically sucks. Will SONY issue me a replacement then? Coz I lost the songs I bought on a media that was designed by them to limit my power to keep a backup. I don’t think so.

So. I am a new member of the “Don’t buy CDs which are copy protected Club’ and you are welcome to join us. Protest by not buying. I made a mistake when I forgot to check the warning (in small prints as usual when they should use a big graphic like this).

As a consumer we are entitled to 1 backup. And if that exercise is taken away from me, I as a consumer don’t agree to that. And I protest back by not buying any copy protected CDs in the future.

The weird part is that, I decided sometime back to stop downloading MP3s to support the artist I listen too. And I have bought more CDs in the last few weeks than I have ever bought. And incidents like these make me look like an idiot. Why am I being screwed for being a genuine customer when anyone can download MP3s of the songs I am paying from my own pocket? It sickens me and I ask you to support the cause. You want the songs, I know… you will find them somewhere on the net pretty soon.

Even Sting’s Sacred Love (Rs. 450 as compared to Lakshya’s Rs. 125 Audio CD) was not copy protected. And he is someone real huge. Lakshya on the other hand is OK.

I have made Blogs. Loads of them. On many servers. Never did I ever face any problem from my host related to increasing loads on the web host. But here is a company which has banned this particular Blog tool ‘WordPress’. The best Blogging platform out there. Completely dynamic with no rebuilds (compared to the more popular choice currently MovableType), they claim WordPress is putting a lot of load on their server. What a crock of shit. I find WordPress to be pretty awesome. Much faster than any forum tool or other Blog tools I have ever tried. Perhaps they need some common sense too and some dose of heavy rebuilds of MT blogs… Then they will know.

The victim: Nuclear Moose Candy

In a good way actually. After my last e-mail discussion with the senior management, the net got a bit reliable as the local guys get a bit more sensitive towards me (the pain in the ass). And I am getting calls, loads of them from Chennai to Delhi. One fine lady called me from Delhi trying to explain how they are still trying to tackle the last mile connectivity problems which are not totally in their hands as it is managed by the CTOs (Cable TV Operators) and how it is almost impossible to spread out fast without their support. I almost feel like haunted by these people trying to help me. So much so, that they are making me feel guilty about the bashing I normally do on this Blog. But since it will help me get a better connectivity, I should be prepared to handle it. So, perhaps… I should take these good harassments with open hands!

For Sify Broadband customer care in India, 1 minute stands for 1 hour. Perhaps that is why yesterday evening they told me that the net (which went down for 3rd time in the last 4 days) will be back up in 15-20 minutes. As I see it now. It took them 21 hours to get me back online. They got it totally right in their brochure: get Sify broadband and leave behind unpredictable cable internet.

Here is my latest mail to them:

Hi,

I don't know if you remember me or not. But I am one fed up customer of Sify broadband. I write to you pretty regularly. Coz incidentally my net goes down pretty regularly. It was down entire last Saturday. It was down Wednesday afternoon. It is down since evening today. It rained for 5 minutes at around 6 pm and net went down. I called your area representative at 6:05 pm. I went out. Came back at 8pm. It was still down. Called your guys again. Same old response, it will be up in 15 minutes. Its 1020pm now. The net is still down. 10 days in April, I have had problems for around 9 days. That's a good ratio. I am really enjoying the true power of internet which is that it is never gonna work reliable for you if it is Sify broadband. 3 months I have been complaining, net still goes down with every power cut (in addition to the routine feature downtimes you give me pretty regularly). You have 2 people for the entire Panchkula region. That would form another excellent ratio for service people per customer. Maybe Sify is for those people who have their kids living abroad and hence they need internet rarely for chatting with them. It just can't support people who are online 24x7 like me.

I think I will do it this way. Every time my net goes down, I am sending you and the other email ids I have, a mail. Maybe this will get the problem solved. The net at this moment is still down. Your guys have stopped responding to phone calls. I know they are on the phone but not responding to my calls because when I called from my cell just after calling from my landline phone (the last successful call I had with them) which went unanswered, they picked up. Pretty interesting customer care you have here. If you cant solve the problem, don't answer the phone. And if you don't have a solution blame the power fluctuation, the user's computer or perhaps the almighty.

Seriously, if you want to provide services be serious about it. Sify's ideology is wrong if it expect to survive on the shoulders of cable wallas and a support staff of 2 guys in one entire city. That's what Panchkula has. 2 guys for entire Panchkula region. I am busted unless I get an alternative net provider in this region.

Maybe you won't learn unless there is any competition to u in this region. Well that's my bad luck.

Another stupid question. I have these many disconnections when the whether is fine and there are no storms. Rainy season is coming. What will happen then? Last time it rained, I found your switch half dip in water hanging in a polythene bag on the top of a tree. Today it rained for 5 minutes and its more than 6 hours your net is down (and it will remain down till around 12-2 pm tomorrow as it always has been). God forbid what will happen when the real rains come down. I think I am going to be writing a lot more to you.

I am thinking of starting an online Blog (maybe I can use the new Sify Blogging service) on how reliable net connections are in India. That will be a great way to publicize the service consumers get from the local Sify guys in India.

Frankly speaking, If you cannot provide the service you promise to offer (reliable net) then please tell me clearly. I will leave the work I do online. Get my Sify connection disconnected and try to live in peace. Its better than to wait for your guys sitting in front of the computer pinging a dead gateway 24x7.

Regards
Sushubh

Has the entire world turned into my enemy?
Since the last 3 Days… Customer Support has made my life a mess.

Sify Broadband the biggest private broadband provider in India. Entire Saturday it was down. It goes down whenever there is a power cut in the region. It goes down at least 4 to 5 times a day for shorter duration almost everyday. Since last night it’s giving me ping backs at around 1400-1500 ms when the usual time duration is 1 ms. Sify people call me from Chennai asking if the problem is solved. I say yes it is, but within 5 minutes of the call, the problem reoccurs. The local guy don’t pick up the phone coz they don’t have a solution. They have 2 people to maintain the cable lines of the entire Panchkula region. The average response period has been 20+ hours in 3 months of my experience. So if you are looking for the service quality of Sify? Well, Sify can’t do anything… You need a decent cable walla.

Net4India. Another company full of assholes. I have had 2 years of displeasure dealing with them. They charge awful money for web space. Their mailing service is pathetic. It has remained down for hours at a stretch for me. And the great thing about them is that whenever their mail service is down, so are their own websites. That is a pretty decent example of how reliable your sites will be if they are running on Net4India servers. Last year I had a case when they were charging old customers more for a similar package compared to new clients. They had no provision to downgrade a package I had so I had no option but to continue with a more expensive bloated package. This time, I applied for a domain registrar change, and they did not send me the confirmation mail at all that resulted in the failure of the transfer. I got a reply to my query on the day domain is supposed to get expired so even if there is a solution I can’t take it coz domain transfer itself takes more than a week time. They don’t offer a chance to cancel or continue with an order if the payment gateway is not working on first try. So you have to send a mail to the customer care asking to cancel the order so that you can again order the same package just because you want to pay using a credit card. This week I noticed another thing. All my queries asked in a polite manner were not responded on time. 1 query that was filled with mild expletives got me an instant reply. So, for disgruntled Net4India users, use my method to get the work done. Use the language you use in your friend circle, and you shall find a solution.

Chip. I loved the magazine when it was launched in India. Later it turned into another piece of crap when it was indianised and launched in a new avatar Digit. This month (or maybe last month, I don’t know I don’t care) the original magazine was re-launched. I went on the magazine site. The site looked like a mess. I noticed only 1 thing. The site was recommended for view on IE 5.5 and Netscape 4.x. Thought it was too stupid for a company that promoted intelligent computing. Wrote a mail suggesting them to make the site browser independent as I as a user no longer use any of the mentioned browsers. One of the editors replied saying he preferred opera over internet explorer, Firefox over opera and thought Avant browser to be the best. So, he preferred opera and Firefox over IE while his own site does not support these browsers. And the best he found was Avant, an IE clone which he did not like in the first place. My heart yells out: WTF.

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