Started about 14:00 yesterday (August 17, 2009) Hong Kong time access to majority of the Internet web services hosted outside of Asia was unreachable.
This first happened at my home with Netvigator Home Broadband service. I Tweeted about this hoping to get confirmation from others in Hong Kong. I also left to tried to see if the problem is localized to my building or district (Wanchai). I visited a Starbucks in Causeway Bay. After logging into PCCW WiFi connection at Starbucks I confirmed that most Internet web services were unreachable.
A friend then came and logged into the PCCW WiFi University service and was able to connect to each of the web services I was not able to. So I proceeded to try using Smartone-Vodafone to reach these Internet web services. I was too successful in accessing these Internet web services via Smartone-Vodafone’s HSDPA network.
This morning China Unicom released an explanation, as reported by Shanghai Daily, the reasons for yesterday’s Internet interruptions for its customers. PCCW’s Netvigator service released a short news item in their Customer Service section of their web site, placing blame on “severe weather conditions” that caused “multiple submarine cable faults” claiming that “Some customers may experience traffic congestions” with”international traffic”. I have encountered Error 500 for services I tried to access, but in Netvigator’s “news item”, it claims that their “systems are in normal operation and are working closely with partners to divert traffic”.
I cannot see how they can claim their “systems are in normal operation”, when I had paid for and expects the delivery of broadband Internet service at 8Mbps. So I called Netvigator’s Technical Support line, 1000, and filed a complaint and asked for details of compensation to customer for the interruption.
According to Netvigator service policy, if any interruptions is longer than 24 hours their customer is justified for compensation. The Technical Support representative tells me that I should call back after the service is back to “normal”, since they have no idea how long the interruptions will last.
I asked the Technical Support representative if all Netvigator customers will be compensated after the service returns to normal, and he gave me a convoluted answer that basically say that not all Netvigator customers will experience the problem. So I ask for my official complaint to be logged.
I suggest everyone who are effected by the PCCW’s Netvigator Broadband Home service interruption to call Netvigator and demand compensation and to ask for your complaint to be logged.
Great site Vinko … any thoughts on why Netvigator are so cagey about explaining why iPhone/iPod Touch users cannot access the net via wifi from home? I spent more than an hour on the phone last night arguing with their tech-support manager (the first guy was useless) who would not answer my basic question: Does Netvigator support iPhone wifi on their home broadband Yes or No? !!!! They could not answer!!!I'm not techi but my understanding is because they use PPPOE to charge for each home computer who access via wifi, the iPhone/iPod Touch cannot log in via Airport (or even their own wifi routers).Any thoughts? Seem to me Netvigator should be able to answer this simple question: 'Can iPhone owners connect via Netvigator wifi from home? If so how? If NO then MAKE THIS PUBLIC!!!!!!!Best wishesKeith
Great site Vinko … any thoughts on why Netvigator are so cagey about explaining why iPhone/iPod Touch users cannot access the net via wifi from home? I spent more than an hour on the phone last night arguing with their tech-support manager (the first guy was useless) who would not answer my basic question: Does Netvigator support iPhone wifi on their home broadband Yes or No? !!!! They could not answer!!!I'm not techi but my understanding is because they use PPPOE to charge for each home computer who access via wifi, the iPhone/iPod Touch cannot log in via Airport (or even their own wifi routers).Any thoughts? Seem to me Netvigator should be able to answer this simple question: 'Can iPhone owners connect via Netvigator wifi from home? If so how? If NO then MAKE THIS PUBLIC!!!!!!!Best wishesKeith
Thank you for your compliments.First of all I never recommend people get Nevigator Home WiFi, mainly because the WiFi modem/router is a very cheap model. You can do much better with a third party one like Apple's AirportExpress or anything from Netgear or Linksys.Secondly, your understanding is some what correct. Netvigator's ADSL broadband service does indeed use PPPOE to connect to its server. This is not a problem as long as the router is set up to dial into Netvigator's network and then the router also enables DHCP to distribute its own private (local) set of IPs to all devices at the home. I had done this for a friend who did not listen to me and subscribed to Netvigator Home WiFi.Sometimes the Netvigator may reset these settings, so the best solution is to put a 3rd Party router like the Apple AirportExpress as the Ethernet device connected directly to the Netvigator modem/router. From then on, all your computers, iPhones and anything else only connects to the AirportExpress.The reason I recommend the Apple AirportExpress; particularly if you are a Macintosh user. Is that you can also use the AirportExpress as a portable “local” network when you travel. This will create a WiFi network in your hotel room and allows you to share your room Internet connection with all devices you have in your room. Additionally it will serve as a great hardware firewall.