Here are two things that pertain to ROGERS@Home (Rogers is basically Canada's cable network, huge company up here) and some other @Home users.
1.)
News Article
2.)
"2000-10-18: A number of news reports and commentaries by RHUA have recently appeared in the news media regarding problems with the Rogers @Home cable Internet services. The following is the direct response from their senior vice-president.
From: Rogers @Home E-Bulletin
Sent: October 17, 2000 5:32 AM
To: Rogers @Home E-Bulletin
Subject: Important Message From Alek Krstajic, Senior VP
Some of our customers have been experiencing problems with the Rogers @Home Email service and I would like to update you on the actions we are taking to resolve the situation.
Since my last update we have made a number of improvements to the Rogers @Home service. However, providing a trouble free service requires more work on an urgent basis. Despite a reconfiguration of the hardware earlier this year, Email services, in particular, are not yet consistently meeting our high performance and reliability standards.
An additional challenge for us this year has been to expand our network infrastructure at a pace greater than the growth in our customer base. We believe we have solutions that will see us stay well ahead of our customer growth curve.
Email/ DHCP Solutions:
Email and DHCP* issues were particularly severe earlier in the year. At that time, we seemed to have largely resolved these issues by reconfiguring portions of our network architecture. However, these efforts proved to be something of a temporary solution as some customers are again experiencing these same issues.
Meanwhile, Rogers had already initiated a project to build a completely new data facility to replace the existing data centre in order to provide a reliable long-term solution. The new facility is nearing completion; all that remains is the installation of new high-availability Email server clusters and DHCP servers. As these servers get installed over the coming weeks, they will provide dramatically improved reliability and enhanced capacity.
Network Solutions:
With the growth of the service, Rogers has been continually installing additional DS-3 lines** on high capacity fiber optic cables to keep pace with network demands. These DS3 lines carry the majority of network traffic between our major network centres. This has still not proven to be adequate for our customers. Accordingly, Rogers, with the assistance of @Home, has begun to install a new OC48 ring*** to provide customers with a better long-term network solution.
The first segment of this ring was completed in September, connecting all the major network centres in the Greater Toronto Area. The second segment will be completed by mid-November in South Western Ontario. The final segment will be completed in the first few months of 2001 in Ottawa. Until that time, we will continue to add new DS3 lines in Ottawa to increase capacity.
Rogers will continue to add additional network capacity at the neighbourhood level. We do this by installing additional cable modem capacity and to keep pace with the growth in our customer base, Rogers has accelerated all segmentation activities. Please note that you will see continued improvements as this work is completed in your neighbourhood.
Commitment To Our Customers:
Our commitment is to ensure that our customers realize all of the benefits of a premium high-speed Internet service. To meet our objective of outstanding customer support, we have introduced a new technical support Website. The answers to many of your service-related questions can be found here. We've also released a new feature-rich content product (
http://home.excite.ca) and will soon follow that up with a new customized Rogers @Home browser.
We have worked very hard this year to resolve many of the growth and new technology related issues. We are committed to continue that hard work until the Rogers @Home service meets and exceeds your expectations.
Thank you for your patience and understanding. Dealing with these issues is our company's number one priority in the coming days and weeks.
Alek Krstajic
Senior Vice President
* DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) servers automatically provide your computer with all necessary network settings to connect to the Rogers @Home service.
** One DS-3 provides 45 mg/s of capacity
*** OC48 lines are extremely high speed, high-capacity fiber optic cables (48 DS-3). We have implemented this new architecture in a 'ring' in order to provide a certain degree of redundancy. This allows us to re-route network traffic with no loss of service for customers if the fiber is ever cut."