Readers' Comments

Reader Comments on Aardvark Daily 9 April 2003
Note: the comments below are the unabridged submissions of readers and do
not necessarily reflect the opinions of the publisher.
From: Dave Fowlie
For : The Editor (for publication)
Subj: Xtra's ridiculous terms

You mentioned section 3 in todays column

....and not use them for any activities, or to post,
upload or transmit to or by means of the Services, any
information or materials......

in connection with surveys, contests, pyramid schemes,
chain letters, junk email, spamming or any duplicative or
unsolicited messages (commercial or otherwise)

Now I'm sure they have good intention's at heart, prevent
spam etc....

But not being allowed to send information to surveys or
contents....no more opinion polls on slashdot, no more
winning stuff from the latest Lynx promotion...where does
it end?




From: just an idea
For : The Editor (for publication)
Subj: just an idea

the xtra clause (todays one) seems aimed at
stopping "sucks" sites? like xtrasucks.co.nz etc from being
hosted at xtra.

Could be time, and fun, to test this policy?

Get a site hosted at xtra, with any dns name, and get the
dns xtrasucks.co.nz from some other isp to point to it.
Add content to taste.




From: James
For : The Editor (for publication)
Subj: Xtra's arrogance

I work for a company who has dealt with Xtra over issues in
the past regarding Xtra blocking access to their email
servers, and I myself deal with customers connecting
devices to the net via mobile. We found out this was going
to happen in december last year, around 2 weeks before the
blocking was to take effect. The crux of the matter was
Xtra's marketing department dealing with ours and wanting
us to pay a fee for our users who need access to check
their Xtra email. Xtra was very heavy handed about this and
demanded a fee which no other ISP in the country charges
us. We refused, but the marketing guys kept negotiating for
as long as possible so as to at least delay the process and
keep users happy. To cut a long story short, Xtra cut off
access and I have had a steady stream of disgruntled
customers who have literally voted with their feet by
changing ISPs to one of my companies alliance partners. So
on that note, I would like to thank Xtra, their marketing
guys have given these partners several thousand dollars a
month in extra revenue. One last point, has annyone noticed
that Telecom mobile is the only one who can access Xtra




From: nathan
For : The Editor (for publication)
Subj: feedback

two points;

following on from Daves comments-does the Max Newmann
newsletter constitute "junk mail"? i certianly don't
appreciate it.
if so, it would appear that xtra are in breach of their own
terms and conditions.

...and for your reader who is waiting for the end of his
billing cycle on the 29th; i too thought it prudent to wait
till the end of my billing cycle, however i called xtra
yesterday, and i was advised that they operate on a
"pro-rata" system anyway. so the time to migrate is now! (to
ihug BTW...10gigs of Jetstart for the same price as 5gigs at
xtra!)




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

Well I guess when they Xtra  joined  up with MSN these
things happen. Do I see the large hand of M$ in these terms
and conditions??  It's the sort of T&S they would have..




From: Wally  Kaos
For : The Editor (for publication)
Subj: Two line Rentals To get  ADSL (Telecom & Xtra) 

We still have one and have had three ADSL Jetstream
Jetstart accounts.

It all started when my son logged on to Jetstream Games.
Other networked pc's could not get a connection to the
internet when logged into Jetstream Games.

I rang Xtra and they said just get another ADSL line.
Before you can get another ADSL line you have to have a
second telephone number and second telephone line rental if
two ADSL accounts are used at the same time with different
account logins.

OK,Here we go again.lets try this new option and see what
happens.At that time it was $299.00 for ADSL jackpoint and
connection,$299.00 for ADSL Dynalink ALE-070 modem,Winproxy
firewall & antivirus software $130.00,New Telephone phone
number connection fee $45.00 and payement in advance for
telephone line rental etc.The whole lot came close to
$1000.00.I had already done this expensive exercise with
Jetstream Jetstart ADSL number one (1st account).

All I really wanted at this point was a second ADSL line
rental only plus the option of a second Jetstream Jetstart
or full rate Jetstream account.I had no need for anymore
telephone numbers and xtra line charges.

Well it became necessary to call Xtra again to ask for a
third ADSL line for myself as my partner was soaking up all
the Jetstart bandwidth chatting etc,while running the web
cam also.

Another $1000.00 dollars later we had five(5)phone
numbers,four telepnone line rentals,three ADSL line rentals
plus a number of smartphone services.
The costs had crept up to $750.00 per month for our home
only services.Medical research studies,playing
games,hobbies,A/V,ham radio and streaming NASA Television.

Never again do I want to see phone line rentals forced onto
people who do not want them.
Students these days have mobile phones and only need an
ADSL line rental service only.
Telecom's policy is to force two line charges from every
ADSL customer.

The Government needs to smash this monopoly urgently.
The NZ Government should not have sold and given Telecom
the line network in the streets and roads of our cities
including country areas.
The cable line network should have been set up as a lines
company only.
The NZ Government must divide Telecom Lines
(copper,fibre,cat 5,coax etc) into a seperate company or
take it off them to give the people and companys of New
Zealand a fair go.




From: Rob K
For : The Editor (for publication)
Subj: isp to isp liability?

If I use my ISP to access your site and write bad things
about Xtra, are we (me and my ISP) liable for anything?

Rob K
Ft Bragg, NC [USA]
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