CLARA maintenance

[jont]

For all CLARA users out there looks like they are doing upgrade works so you sites could either be down or on a go-slow at the moment

[fleetwood]

Cheers Jont
Had noticed the c..r..........a.....................w......................................l today

[george]

Connection problems for us today.


Grrr.

[Bob Isaac]

I have had connection issues for a long time with Clara, I don't know if it is the local exchange or Clara, or both. At the moment it doesn't matter as our server got compromised last night, even after a firewall upgrade. :-(

Bob

[pinbrook]

Firewall is not the be all and end all, there are loads of other vulnerabilities for hackers to feast on.

For example: You have to keep on top of PHP software as hackers are always finding ways of hacking the very popular progs (PHPBB, PHPNuke) Its one of those races like we have with spam filters, as soon as you update "Spam Assassin" for the latest spams, spammers find another way to of disguising their spam to get past filters, the same goes for hackers. Its a sad world

[fleetwood]

Are we sure its Clara to blame this time?
My web connection has been flakey for the last few days (keeps dropping and reconnecting, esp around mid evening (7-9pm).
This is most likley the ISP (BT Broadband), rather than anything to do with Clara.
Anyone else on BT experiencing same?

[jont]

Anyone else on BT experiencing same?

Yes - had to restart the server and the router a couple of times recently to pick the connection up again.

CLARA site shows major work to their routers yesterday - nothing showing today

[Bob Isaac]

I think BT are more likely to be at fault most of the time. My local exchange is in the red (heavy congestion) most of the time.

Anyone tried or using Sky broadband?

Bob

[fleetwood]

Very tempted to give Sky broadband a go, as it would save me a packet.
I think its something like £10pm for unlimited 'advertised' 8GB broadband (on the assumption that you are already a Sky subscriber), and dirt cheap (or free - I haven't the details with me) phone calls.
But, I'm a cautious old soul who is very skepitical of anything that sounds too cheap!
So I'm sitting on the fence for now.

[jont]

Probably OK for casual use but how trustworthy / stable / reliable they are for a business connection is another thing.

From seeing the ads don't they have a fair use policy? Nightmare scenario is after 20 days into the month you exceed this and they disable you for the balance of the month! Although that is probably a little draconian and they will most likely stiff you for additional bandwidth (you'd hope)

[jont]

See our friends are up to it again ... all my sites are down at the moment

[george]

See our friends are up to it again ... all my sites are down at the moment

*bangs head against wall*

[jont]

...2 of them are back .......

[pinbrook]

Going back to the Q about Sky Broadband. My sister had it installed a few weeks ago, she says its OK, its abit oversubscribed at present and has a few teething problems.

She used to use cable and laments moving to an area where cable is not available.

[jont]

She used to use cable and laments moving to an area where cable is not available.

We have only just got broadband ... cable is but a mere pipe dream .... even Freeview is promised on a distant horizon