Today’s launch of the Atlantis marks the retirement of the US shuttle fleet. If you’re wondering what comes next for US space flight, I can suggest reading the articles entitled “WHY THE US CAN BEAT CHINA: THE FACTS ABOUT SPACEX COSTS” and “TAKING THE NEXT STEP | COMMERCIAL CREW DEVELOPMENT ROUND 2″ on the SpaceX [...]
Tagged space shuttleA reader contacted me asking more details about the IPv6 hit I received from Web Africa on World IPv6 Day, and that prompted me to take a closer look. Actually that request, as well as the one that I thought was from MWEB, were both from hosts on their networks connecting via tunnels (6to4 for [...]
Tagged IPv6, MWeb, Web AfricaIn a comment to my previous post, Adrian pointed out that localloop.co.za’s DNS is not IPv6-ready, so I hereby officially eat my words. It was, however, a successful experiment. A few things I learned: I actually got some IPv6 visitors! I was not expecting any, never mind South Africans coming from ISP-routed blocks, so this [...]
Tagged IPv6Tomorrow is World IPv6 Day. The big deal (apparently) is that some providers will be temporarily running IPv6 in parallel to their IPv4 services. The protocol has been around for 15 years, and now they’re have a whole “world day” to turn it on, and then they’ll turn it off again. Cowards. For tomorrow, I [...]
Tagged IPv6My current employer uses Dell as their preferred supplier of computers. I find this slightly annoying because of their long lead time (apparently custom configured Dell machines in South Africa are assembled and shipped from Ireland). Some of their hardware is pretty good (I’m writing this on a splendid Dell Latitude, which I would choose [...]
Tagged dell, hp, idrac, iloRoelf thinks the Microsoft acquisition of Skype will ruin the service, and something FOSS will supersede it. I enjoy reading his opinions almost as much as I enjoy disagreeing with him :-) Now here is the thing about Skype, it always works, unlike SIP and friends. You see, on the modern Internet, there are so [...]
Tagged bbm, microsoft, skype, voipTelkom SA is arguing that their copper local loop should not be considered an essential facility… yawn… standard LLU stalling tactic, but they got my attention with this statement: “It is Telkom’s contention that the wireless local loop these days is more than a substitute for both voice and broadband communications,” – Techcentral’s Candice Jones [...]
Tagged llu, telkom, wireless local loopLinking from this Slashdot post (note the emphasized text): Following a detailed evaluation against stringent technical and operational criteria, ITU has determined that “LTE-Advanced” and “WirelessMAN-Advanced” should be accorded the official designation of IMT-Advanced. As the most advanced technologies currently defined for global wireless mobile broadband communications, IMT-Advanced is considered as “4G”, although it is [...]
Tagged 4g, cell c, ituA number of articles have appeared on Mybroadband about MWEB’s strategy to force MTN, Vodacom and Telkom to peer with them. Two comments: MWEB already peers with MTN. Here are the two hops between their networks1: 6 g-0-3-vic-jinx-2.mweb.co.za (196.22.163.1) 7 mtnns-2.jinx.net.za (198.32.142.31) I think what MWEB probably means by “transit” is that MTN charges them [...]
Tagged MWeb, Mybroadband, peeringAt yesterday’s Mybroadband 2010 conference, there was a panel discussion during which the topic of capped versus uncapped broadband was raised. Murray Steyn, the panelist representing VOX (an ISP that doesn’t believe quality uncapped broadband is possible) used the following analogy to illustrate his point: Providing uncapped Internet is like inviting 10 buddies to a [...]
Tagged ispfail, uncapped, VOX/etc/network/interfaces ADSL bgp bind bugs debian dhcp dhcp3-client dhcpcd dns doc DPE ethernet fail fnbconnect home networking hosting hostname ICASA infraco IOS IPv6 IS IS Labs ispa lasers linux mikrotik MTN Business MWeb Neology peering phone-camera policy python routeros SAIX spammers telkom trouble-shooting uncapped vans verizon winbox zimbabwe
