Readers' Comments

Reader Comments on Aardvark Daily 24 December 2002
Note: the comments below are the unabridged submissions of readers and do
not necessarily reflect the opinions of the publisher.
From: mobileguy
For : The Editor (for publication)
Subj: Xtra pop3 blocking Vodafone

I have to add also a major p*** off for Vodafone and
TelstraClear customers on 029 / 021 that use Vodafone's
GPRS (Telcom's Mobile Jetstream opposition) to check there
email from their handsets.  Most of the new Handsets and
PDA's have a pop3 email client. Vodafone now have up to
1.2 million customers and a far chunk of handsets, PDA's
and laptops are connected to Vodafone’s GPRS (which they
now have roaming) was a big protection move from Telecom
and I suppose blocking these IP addresses will make people
look at 027 and xtra but all it's done is for xtra to
loose even more customers.

(PS you are still able to connect to xtra on normal dialup
to the 08** number but at only 9.6 or 14.4 kbs on 029 /021
handsets and PDA’s)

The world does not revolve around Telecom.




From: Chris Brewer
For : The Editor (for publication)
Subj: Dodgy server names

With regard to the psex02.ps.ad.parliament.govt.nz server,
my guess is that it stands for Parliamentary Services
Microsoft Exchange Server, Number 2. The ps being
Parliamentary Services again, I don't know about the ad part
and the rest is obvious.

I'm sure even the highly-trained *cough* MSCE's that are
responsible for such servers did think about the
ramifications but followed the internal server naming
standards anyway.




From: Paul
For : The Editor (for publication)
Subj: Xtra and POP3 access

I for one was pissed off when I found That Xtra had blocked
POP access from my Orcon  to access several family members
email accounts  left over from when we used Xtra.  My
bigfoot account fortunatly dosen't suffer from these sort of
problems. What pissed me off  the most was the lack of info
from Xtra.  A weeks warning would have been nice.

I have set those family members up new addresses at Orcon my
ISP and have set forwarding from Xtra to these addresses.
Come the end of January the Xtra accounts get trashed and I
save myself about $8.  Bye bye Xtra for good..  After this I
for one will not recommend xtra to anyone..




From: Greg M
For : The Editor (for publication)
Subj: Xtra

It seems to me that Xtra continues to act without thinking. The Press says
8000 users are affected so even if they aonly pay the minimum of $5/month
then Xtra is risking losing $40000/month in order to make maybe a few
thousand extra by forcing people to log on to check their mail.

I would
say most of these users alreadu have another ISP which they prefer so they
will do as I did a few years ago and dump xtra in favour of their current
ISP.

Obviously Xtra has too much money if it can afford to risk loosing
a guaranteed revenue stream of $40000/month!!




From: Allister
For : The Editor (for publication)
Subj: Xtra  --   Why?

I've said it before, and I'll say it again...

Why do people put up with Xtra?  The ONLY thing they offer
over and above most other ISPs is the handy inclusion on
your phone bill of the ISP charge. Whoooo hoooo!

OTOH, I've almost forgotten how much I pay paradise because
the bill takes care of itself every month through a credit
card.

The best thing everybody can do is leave Xtra in droves.




From: Ian
For : The Editor (for publication)
Subj: Portable email address

I pay for an email address through
http://www.netidentity.com/ - this is NOT free but it does
mean that people will always be able to contact me. They
have a large number of surname and other interest related
domains which can be used for forwarding and as pop3
addresses. There are a fair number of other companies
offering a similar service. So when Voyager disappeared a
year ago (or was it two?), nobody on my list knew because
instead of mailing me @voyager.co.nz they mailed me
@mysurname.com and never knew that the mail was forwarded
elsewhere. When I fell out with another ISP (not Xtra) this
month, my correspondents never knew because my published
email didn't change.
The only risks I expose myself to are the failure of
netidentity, an enromous hike in their prices or the
withdrawal of the doamin name I have bought a share in.
All of these can be sorted by buying a domain of my own.
I've done this too, and am slowly migrating my published
email address from @mysurname.com to @mysurname.co.nz - I
have bought my surname's .nz domain but my caution online
means I'm not going to tell Bruce's readers what domain
that is.

No worries Mr Rumplestiltskin, your secret is
safe with me! (oops).  Aardvark

However, I *WILL* wish you all a very merry Christmas and a
happy new year.




From: Ex-Telecom Customer
For : The Editor (for publication)
Subj: Bring on the Xtra Competitors

I am writing to express my pleasurable experience when
joining Ihug after leaving Xtra after finding out about the
new restriction!!!


I called the guys at Ihug and it could not have been easier
or a more pleasurable move. The staff are amazingly helpful
and they have some awesome products!!!

You go guys - show Xtra and Telecom how it is suposed to be
done!!!!

Happy Ex-Telecom Ihug Member
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