And Me Too...

Bye Bye Blogger

2006-03-09T08:41:00.000-08:00

OK, It's bye time to Blogger. I've decided to move away to WP, with my own hosting. So no more posts here. Please meet me at DesertWind

Changing the Plans: Planning the Changes

2006-02-15T00:15:00.000-08:00

I'm planning to move on to my own hosting, with WordPress installed. Im also planning to have a domain of my own like riyazusman.info or desertwind.info. I'm quite not satisfied with the default templates and modules of WordPress. I'm trying several hacks. Or any other service ...

The BIT, Inc.

2006-02-15T00:12:00.000-08:00

I was the one who suggested this name for our website. I think i'm good at naming. Many of my friends loved this name. The BIT, Inc. is all about our batch. Its the community of 29 students who made a difference. We were good at studies, at the same time we were excellent at extras. We made JMC look different. The BIT, Inc. is our home at web. Photos, Blogs, News, Views and all the Juice. (Courtsey: Tehelka). Have a visit and leave some comments here.

DataOne - Free Uploads ???

2006-01-18T04:46:00.000-08:00

A discussion is going over here, at my friend Ashwin's blog, that only downloads get charged for BSNL DataOne BB. But my experience is not like that. Let me display the detailed bill I got from BSNL. This is the exact replica of the detailed bill they gave me for the month of October. Just look at the Total Usage;, which I highlighted in the table. It is the sum of Send and Recv Mbs, which clearly shows that uploads are charged. At least it was like that till October 2005. May be they have changed policy after that, I don't know about that. If they have made uploads free, Thats good for BitTorrent users, lot of people including me will turn into seeders!!!

New Year - New Problems

2006-01-16T03:59:00.000-08:00

Long time no post doesn't implies that everything has been fine with DataOne. I have been very busy with two of my brothers marriage, and starting of some new ventures by my family, so that i have hardly some free time enough for blogging. There are several new problems after my last post 1. Really (Yes, I mean it, Really!!!) Slow speeds and downtime several times a week. 2. For about a week I was not able to use the connection for more than half an hour. The connection is on, but Data Transfer is Zero. 3. I am not able to use my telephone and BB simultaneously. Whenever there is an incoming/outgoing call, my BB simply disconnects. Hmm... Its not all bad news. There is something for celebrations too. Billing is proper now, and for last two months, I'm well in my datacaps. But my complaint about My First Bill is still there. They provided me an unusable idiotic Detailed Bill after having a Struggle with the Customer Care.

Detailed Bills - The BSNL Way

2005-12-17T09:51:00.000-08:00

Send MBs: 3989 Recv Mbs: 13786 Total Usage : 3896 Less free usage: 1024 Chargeable Mb: 3872 - Charge 2872 x 1.2 = Rs. 3446.4 I got a reply from BSNL for my request for a Day-by-Day detailed bill of my DataOne Usage. And thats what you see above. Nice Detailed info !!!

Customer Service - The BSNL way

2005-11-30T00:52:00.000-08:00

So, yesterday I went to BSNL Accounts Officer to complaint against my DataOne overcharging. This was yet another bitter experience. He told me that there is nothing like Happy Hours (Free usage at 0200 - 0800 hours) in DataOne. I argued him that it exists, and I've confirmed it from various sources. I asked him to check with the BSNL site. Guess what his answer was ? "We've no Internet connection available here" Wonderful!!! I found one brochure of BSNL DataOne on his table which clearly confirms the availability of Happy Hours. He was not convinced even then. I asked him for a detailed bill of my usage, which he refused for. "Who said you that there's a provision for supplying a detailed bill ? I can do nothing on this issue, Give me a written request/complaint, I'll look into it" He also told that the metering is not done here in Kerala, but in Pune. So as he requested i give a written complaint, and asked for an acknowledgment. "Acknowledgment? what acknowledgment ? If you want one send it by registered post." After half an hour of argues, he agree to seal and sign on the xerox of the application to keep with me. At last for my mistake i asked, "When can I expect a reply ?" "How can I say ? I can't even say we will reply you. We will call you when your complaint is replied from the officials. Do not call us until we contact you." So I started waiting.

DataOne - My First Bill

2005-11-27T07:50:00.000-08:00

My Last Month Telephone Bill Details DATAONE NEW CONN-PLAN=DH1MB INITIAL+RECRG to-05/10/05 = 1350 USG-010905 TO 300905 9568,F: 819,408.00= 408.00 BRDBAND USG-200510 17775 F: 1024, Net 2872, Rt:1.20 = 3446.40 So Here is what i understand I got an extra usage bill of 408.00 (340 MB) for September and 3446.4 (2872 MB) for October. No chance !!! So for the first time i visited the usage statistics page. Wonderful!!! I have to calculate my statistics by manually adding 1200 entries which spans over 60 pages. Why can't they do simple math ? Keeping the free, paid and mixed hours details seperate ? Well, I've done it manually. The real problem is that mixed usage hours. I've setup a cron job on my computer to disconnect from internet on 01:58, Connect to internet on 02:02, and disconnect again at 07:58. My computer does it, but BSNL won't. There are still mixed usage hours, which makes the calculation a real pain. My Paid Usage was calculated as 830 MB + Mixed hours. I'm sure the Mixed hour usage wont cross 200 MB, or in a worst situation 400 MB. So that means a usage of 1250 MB at the maximum. So what the hell is this 2872 MB ??? The same is the case of September too. The paid hours usage counts some 800 + mixed usage hours. I'm gonna request a seperate detailed bill of my dataone usage. Will lodge a complaint to the BSNL DE too.

Drivel

2005-11-15T03:06:00.000-08:00

Drivel is a better tool which support Atom/Blogger2.0 too. Unlike gnome-blog and bogTk, this one supports Title on Blogger. From Now onwards, i'll be using this one for blogging. Get Drivel here

Gnome-Blog

2005-11-14T14:30:00.000-08:00

I'm using gnome-blog for posting entries into my blog. It is a cool gnome panel applet which lets you post to your blog right from the gnome panel. You can get it here

States in India I've been to...

2005-11-03T14:20:00.000-08:00

Which states in India have you been to?

I'm not against sharing software

2005-10-09T02:29:00.000-07:00

After reading my previous post, many people are criticizing me, that i'm against a nice concept of sharing softwares. Well, i'm not. I'm not criticizing BSNL for promoting pirating (read sharing). I'm criticizing the fact that BSNL is supporting and promoting (only) a proprietary software, Windows XP, and they are asking their customers to obtain illegal (I'll explain why i use this word) copies of a proprietary software. They asked me to switch to a proprietary software for the reason that I'm using a gnu/Linux distribution. I think that sharing a copy of Microsoft Windows XP is illegal and violation of law, because they have stated the same as illegal in their EULA. I'm sure that this is not fine, but i can't obtain a copy without accepting the license. So I'd prefer using alternatives than obtaining an illegal copy. I'd be really happy to if they allow us to share software, and hope it'll happen one day. And, please read Linux as gnu/Linux wherever stated. The term Linux was used in a casual telephonic conversation. I'm not using the kernel alone. I'm proud I'm using gnu/Linux. And I thanks rms for pointing this out.

Shame, Shame, BSNL !!!

2005-10-06T12:55:00.000-07:00

BSNL is India's largest telecom company. DataOne is India's premium broadband internet service by BSNL. Today i visited their Account Usage page I got a slap on my face. "Sorry, IE is needed.", It displayed. In my earlier post I reported that they are officially supporting Microsoft Windows XP, and encourage users to obtain a pirated copy of it. Now they are promoting Microsoft Internet Explorer too, Don't they know that Firefox, Mozilla, Opera, etc., does exist ?

Firefox Wallpapers

2005-10-01T13:53:00.000-07:00

A great collection of Firefox wallpapers can be found Here. Firefox fans, Enjoy!!!

Go Open

2005-10-01T06:11:00.000-07:00

Go Open is a South African Television Show dedicated to Open Source. The whole series is available for download at go-opensource.org

My First at an Operation Theatre

2005-09-20T05:45:00.000-07:00

It was first of that kind to me. I really wonder how did i stand with it. I was asked by my uncle, who is an ortho surgeon to capture a minor operation with my handycam. They provided me with the OT over coat, head cap and a mask. I felt really uncomfortable in the mask. But more was to come. Inside OT, It was OK in the beggining. The AC was turned on, and there was a mild smell of medicines. I was really afraid of seeing an operation live, but thanks to my sony handycam, i never take my eye back from the viewfinder, which turned all black & white for me. I never thought of turning on the LCD of the cam. After some 15 minutes, I begin to more and more uncortable. I feel dizzy in my eyes, and in one stage i was in stage that i gone unconscious for a second or two. I really wanted to tell my uncle that I cant stand anymore. It was not the sight of operation that made me uncomfortable, but it was something else, the atmosphere of the OT, the smell, the AC. But I feared of telling him, because it may distract his concentration. But i survived. I managed to be there at an OT for an hour and a half. I still feels dizzy while I am writing this. Now I realise why I decided not to go for the medicine, inspiet of extreme pressures from my dad, who owns a hospital, and my 4 doctor uncles. I feel right at my decision.

BSNL Promotes Pirating!!!

2005-09-07T22:20:00.000-07:00

BSNL People here at alathur not only uses pirated software, but also promoting it. (For those who doesn't know, BSNL is a Indian Government owned Telecom Company) Recently i've applied for DataOne Broadband internet connection. After some frequent visits to the local Telephone Exchange and BSNL Office, they supplied me the modem , my username and password. Even though they are supposed to setup the connection in my home, they refused to do so. They just give me paper with a connection diagram on one side, and instructions for connecting to the internet using Microsoft Windows XP (Start->Control Pnael-> blah blah stuff). When i'm back up home, i tried connecting using the new ADSL modem in my Fedora Core 4 Machine. Inspite of hours of hardwork, it just refused to connect. I'm sure that all my settings are correct. But it doesn't seem to work. Atlast I decided to call the BSNL guys for help. The following is the conversation between me(ME) and the BSNL guy(BG). After those introductions.... ME: The broadband connection seems to be not working for me. Can you help ? BG: We have given you the instructions on a paper, had you followed that ? ME: But those were for Windows XP machine. I'm using Linux here. BG: Linux ???? ME: Yes, Linux. I've given all the settings correct. But it refuses to connect. Any clue ? BG: Linux, but DataOne works only on Windows! ME: Oops, i know for sure, atleast a 100 people who works on Linux using DataOne. And me, myself has done it at one of my friends machine. BG: That's not possible. We provide support for Windows Only! We dont think Linux is user friendly. It uses commands for everything. ME: So, what am I supposed to do ? BG: We recommend installing Windows XP on your computer. ME: Well, that's not possible for me for atleatst two reasons. Reason 1: I have no licenced Windows XP CD with me, and purchasing one is out of my budjet. Reason 2: Even if I had a CD, using Windows softwares is against my "Use no non-free software Policy. I'm a member of FSF. BG: Who said u need a licenced version. Just contact your local software vensor. you'll get if for cheap. ME: What ??? Thats against law ! BG: Just do as everyone is doing man !! Even we use pirated XP here at our office. We have atleast 20 computers here with XP installed, and possess no licenced Windows CD with us. ME: That doesn't seems a good reason for using Windows for me. Well can u give me any assistance in setting up a connection in Linux ? BG: (Rude) We cant help you in this issue. Do it your self if you can. (He Hangs Up). Later on i discovered that the modem was faulty, replaced it, and i've set up the connection in 5 minutes (Including hardware installation) in my FC4 Box. I called up that BSNL Guy, just to say the following. ME: Sir, This call is for just informing you that i've set up my broadband connection, and is working fine, IN LINUX. (I hanged up)