Comment Re:Fine, get rid of POTS, give us Net Neutrality (Score 0) 449
Former.
Gee, I wonder why.
Former.
Gee, I wonder why.
As a network administrator, I can guarantee you that traffic shaping *is* necessary.
Just like in "real life" you drive at a certain speed, and traffic lights decide which cars pass and which ones have to wait.
Just like in "real life" certain vehicles have priority above all (ambulances).
Expecting a fully unregulated internet is dumb. No matter how much capacity you can add to YOUR network, there will still be a bottleneck somewhere. And you really don't want ICMP queueing up at that point, or Bad Things® happen.
And you really don't want SMTP to have the same priority as HTTP. You really don't need that email to arrive in a second. It can take 10, 20, 30 seconds. It can take a minute, and that's OK. But your web browsing can't wait 10, 20, 30 seconds.
Let's not be fools. Traffic shaping IS a need. I get where you're coming from (priorizing one company over another) but it's silly to think it should be completely unrestricted. Real life isn't. Why should the internet be?
Road cones are orange. Fire extinguishers are red. Safety vests are fluorescent orange. Ground wires are green/yellow...
I was talking about lower-level control. The kind of control that happens in the "megahertz" domain, like the feedback loop of a switch mode power supply, which should be done, IMO, in an analog domain.
It was meant to be an analogy. Using a microcontroller to control a SMPS is the same as using a PC to control industrial processes.
But what would you know about that? Filthy electrician. Don't you have some wires to splice?
Your "EEs" actually "code" too, but in disguise. PLCs are programmed, just (usually) not in written code, but rather, in Ladder Diagram or Function Blocks. But you know that, right?
I'm a programmer, but also a hobby electronics guy. And I've worked with PLCs. And I know for sure that "CS" types are never involved in these projects. The programming required is minimal (as usual with "elegant" engineering solutions), so a CS degree isn't required. It's much more about the hardware than software.
A CS guy usually doesn't even know what SCADA is, and would think LD is for retards.
And also: come on, EE guy, your kind is moving into "programming"... Seen enough people thinking "since now we have really fast and cheap embedded CPUs like ARM that are 32-bit, run at 80mhz, and cost cents, we might as well use that instead of a dedicated PWM chip for SMPS". Call me old fashioned, but I really think those things (SMPS control) should always be analog. Even with the annoyance of stabilizing that damn feedback loop that starts oscillating.
Why? If american companies settle here, there will be no room for competition.
As a south american, I've always been confused about the US policy against us. I really don't understand why the US has, since the end of WWII, crushed Latin America again and again and again, and they keep doing is to this day.
The US had at least two good options with LATAM:
1. Let LATAM develop, have healthy capitalist economies, get us to be in the NATO Thug Club, and sell us their flashy iPhones and cars.
2. Let LATAM develop, under their rules, and make us become their own China, much nearer and in the same timezones.
As it is now, Latin America is basically useless to US interests. We don't have a developed industry. Pretty much the only thing US buys is oil from Venezuela and copper and lithium from Chile. Other than that, latin america is still poor. We have slow internet (so netflix can't grow), we have really high prices vs. salary (so the flashy iphones are reserved to a tiny fraction of the population), and other things are considered "luxuries" (like an XBOX360 which is 4-5X the US price, since: if only the rich can afford it, they might as well charge what the rich can pay).
US has been in bed with China for too long. China is now heavily investing in LATAM. I think the US really needs to take a strategical leap, unify LATAM, and make the "American Bloc" to compete against the Eurozone and Russia/Asia. But this is not going to happen. If it hasn't happened in 60 years, it's not going to happen now. Which is a shame. The potential of Latin America is simply unbelievable:
(*): The political instabilities in Latin America have been caused by CIA and friends over 40 years. LATAM naturally steers left because the (many) poor that feel "left out" of the system. Piñera in Chile was right-wing and his party lost to the same left-wing candidate (Bachelet) who was the president before him, because the breach between the "rich" and "poor" is rather high there. Middle class people can barely afford to go to college.
The best course of action would be for the US to let us "naturally develop". It will be a slow process, taking at least 50 years for LATAM to reach higher status (and leave behind the "south american shithole country" stigma), enough time for the US to figure out a new course of action. Development will allow US companies to move production here, and decrease chinese dependency.
But the "paradigm shift" needs to be real. The US only wants Latin America to sign free trade agreements with countries that WILL NOT benefit from them. For example: US wanted a FTA with Argentina. Our main export was, at the time, beef (exports of interests to US, not counting,for example,soybean). The problem is that while the FTA was "free", later "regulations" weren't. Argentina can't export beef to the US (because the US wants to protect its own market). Our industry doesn't produce anything that the US wants so that's another problem. But, the US had a *LOT* to sell to us. If we signed the FTA, it means 0 tariffs for US products, and eventually, destroying our own local economy.
Chile is more flexible in this regard. Chile does not have factories or farms. Their economy is solely based in raw mining exports, no value add. The US now gave them the Visa Waiver program. So the US buys copper from them, and chileans fly to the US for vacations and "return" the USD. Chile benefits in no way, but they are OK with that since their president is a right-wing billionarie.
As it is now, the US unstoppable monetary emission will eventually cause a crash and take 3/4 of the world's economy with it, leading us to a "New World Order" with China on command, and the final victory of "Communism".
This is completely irrelevant for your application. If you're in the Middle Of Nowhere, you'll just use a basic radio. VHF can go for tens of kilometers in open space. This "box" you talk about will give you ISOLATED cell phone coverage, it will not connect to the rest of the system. And if we're into that, we might as well use regular analog handhelds that just work.
Any handheld radio can go for days without a charge. Your iphone, if looking for a signal, will drain the battery in just a couple of hours.
I meant to say: without justification. A low level tech can't schedule a tech's visit without a good justification. Their performance is measured in how quickly they can "dispatch" the clients, and how little house calls they schedule. Their performance isn't measured in how accurately they can solve a client's problem.
That's why sometimes if your problem is taking too long to solve, they put you on hold and hang up.
This applies to outsourced call centers. They bill by the hour of calling, so it's not in their interest to solve your problem, but rather, have you keep calling so they can keep billing.
Low level techs do have access to statistics of your modem (noise level, disconnections, etc). So they can easily see if you're lying when you say you've "already unplugged everything" (people lie about this all the time). Seasoned techs will see the statistics and just schedule a visit. Newbies will walk you through the script, even if it's not necessary.
Was there competition in your area?
There are two ISPs in my city. Arnet, who's bee here since 2001 (well, since long before, cause they're the phone company, but in 2001 they started selling ADSL), and Fibertel, since 2007.
Whenever I had a problem with Arnet, it was almost "oh yea? what are you going to do? cancel your service? LOL".
Once fibertel arrived, the game changed. I ordered Fibertel and had it running, so I called Arnet. They were more like "PLEASE SIR WE WILL GIVE YOU 6 MONTHS FREE!".
The funny thing is: I signed up for Fibertel in the first place since my phone line is busted and ADSL can't keep sync anymore. Arnet refused to properly fix it for so many years, i just went away. Now they're still refusing to fix it (I filed a complaint against the CNC - the FCC equivalent for you americans).
I have a friend working at a call center and he tells me this is how it's done. Low level tech just follow a script, but the "cancellation" representative is different. It also works for when you don't want to follow a script. If you know your problem is your modem (and you want a new one, or a tech to come and change it), and the drone wants you to unplug it, plug it back, connect your computer directly to it,etc, you just tell them you want to cancel service. The cancelation rep also can schedule a tech's visit for no reason.
There are other off-the-record details. Such as: the low level techs are usually young men (nerdy gamer type), while the cancelation reps are women or (hehe) gay men. It's been tested that young men are more "technically inclined" and the women (and gay men) are more "motherly and understanding". Of course, this is just something the HR person knows. It's not written anywhere in the company policy.
I live in Argentina. I call my ISP every 6 months to "refresh" my promo. The trick is not to ask for a discount, but outright call and ask for cancellation. That sets all the alarms and they will do anything to keep you. Drag your feet a little (don't accept the first promo).
I also do that with my bank. Account and CC renewal fees are ridiculous.
The rest of the latin american governments, except Chile and maybe Paraguay are controlled by "socialists". Argentina has expressed "full support" for Maduro's governent. Ridiculous, really.
The problem with these uprisings, particularly in Ukraine and Venezuela, is that they're not fueled by food prices. I don't know the fine details about the Ukrainian case but I've been reading quite a lot about Venezuela. And I happen to live in Argentina so I see a lot of parallels between the Venezuelan case and the Argentinian (Venezuela is a little window to the future for us Argentinians).
Basically, Chavez got to power through a coup in the 90s. Since then, Venezuela has been going downhill. Like all "socialist" countries, Venezuela has failed to establish a solid industry, financial sector (obviously), and "free trade" concept. In Venezuela, like in Argentina, everything has to be approved by the government. Many private businesses close, and to keep the unrest, the government hires those people, to create idle "Ministries". Following Castro's example (and leadership, since Venezuela now is effectively governed from Havana), venezuela has armed militias "to defend the revolution" (the estimated number is 300.000). They openly acknowledge this fact and the militias themselves say they will defend the revolution "by any means". Their army is also co-opted by Communists, and the intelligence services by Cuban agents (according to Venezuelans they're easy to spot, as they don't have a venezuelan accent).
Venezuela has also jailed the opposition leader, accusing him to be a CIA mole, instigating protests.
Obviously a system like this can only be sustained by corruption at all levels. Venezuela's government managed to destroy PDVSA, the country's oil company, and because of this, they destroyed all their economy (since they're completely based in oil and never bothered to diversify, since Venezuela had so much of it, fuel was cheaper than bottled water). Elections were "tight", and the other candidate lost by 1.8%, amongst accusations of burned ballots.
What's happening now is simply that a good portion of the population sees the country becoming a satellite of Cuba. Chavez signed an agreement giving Castro 53.000 barrels of oil a day, a number that's since been increased. In exchange, Castro sends "doctors" to Venezuela (and among those, a good deal of intelligence agents to indoctrinate the population and forces). People protesting are simply demanding the corruption to stop. The government is answering to this violently, claiming this is all a coup orchestrated by the CIA. They're just trying to hold on to power by the force.
I see this happening in Argentina soon. The government is using all of Venezuela's tactics (a little more subtle, but essentially the same). Food prices are high but not unaffordable. People protesting aren't the poor, it's the "middle" classes. The 50% of the country that didn't vote for this government, and through taxes, they have to support all the people living off government subsidies or working for the government, while having no benefits for themselves (in Argentina, the government is sticking its hand up the retirement funds to pay for subsidies for the "poor", essentially pissing your future).
What I see in both cases (Venezuela and Ukraine) is that protests start normally but they're later turned violent by communist chaos agents (Cuba in the venezuelan case, and Russians in Ukraine). While I don't think Russia is looking to become communist again (since the country is now ruled by the rich that made their fortune after 1991), they still use the same tactics they used in the USSR era.
(proper) CGNAT uses 100.64.0.0/10, so it doesn't collide with RFC1918 reserved addresses. See: RFC6598.
Work is the crab grass in the lawn of life. -- Schulz
