Telstra clear Unmetered Support

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menabassily

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Ultimate Geek

Topic # 106292 21-Jul-2012 06:35
Hey guys, I'm just wondering if Telstra clear (or should I say vodafone now) offers support for unmetered STEAM server. I have purchased some games from steam (summer sale) and they are not hosted on the local Telstra Server (Because they are older games) SO I want to ask telstra to grab this game and leave it on their server. It's really annoying to pay $4.00 for a game and then it cost you another $10 to download its content. I don't wanna complain too much but I have never been a fan of Telstra's support, it took them 12 days to call me back so I can close my account earlier this year, I hope this can be done with ease. Don't you think there should be a way to request a download to be made to their steam server ? Makes life easier. Kiwinized geek

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389 posts

Ultimate Geek

Reply # 659407 21-Jul-2012 06:42
There are no mention of the word "support", "contact us" or even a phone number on the Steam unmetered page or the general unmetered page. The only number there says "CALL US TO JOIN" Kiwinized geek

freitasm

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Reply # 659412 21-Jul-2012 08:17
menabassily: (or should I say vodafone now) You shouldn't. Until it's approved, nothing changed. menabassily: support for unmetered STEAM server. I have purchased some games from steam (summer sale) and they are not hosted on the local Telstra Server (Because they are older games) SO I want to ask telstra to grab this game and leave it on their server. You already posted here, they will notice. Not sure the help desk itself is trained to deal with Steam anyway. menabassily: It's really annoying to pay $4.00 for a game and then it cost you another $10 to download its content. If you buy a book on Amazon and pay $4.00 you have to pay shipping. So why wouldn't you pay "moving bits" for content when you already pay "moving atoms" for content? There's a cost moving bits you know, and you buy a game you are not paying the moving bits cost, you're paying the content creation costs. Mauricio Freitas (Geekzone Admin, Devil's Advocate, my blog, technology disclosure, my tweets, Web Performance Optimization) Geekzone Price comparison \| Amazon Kindle order page \| How to get the best out of Geekzone \| New Zealand IT Jobs \| Geekzone News \| Jinglebugs

menabassily

389 posts

Ultimate Geek

Reply # 659414 21-Jul-2012 08:37
freitasm: If you buy a book on Amazon and pay $4.00 you have to pay shipping. So why wouldn't you pay "moving bits" for content when you already pay "moving atoms" for content? There's a cost moving bits you know, and you buy a game you are not paying the moving bits cost, you're paying the content creation costs. I agree, but at the same time it will be much better for everybody to have this kinda of data on the Telstra server. Or at least offer support on it. Kiwinized geek

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Reply # 659415 21-Jul-2012 08:38
Sure, it will be. But a cache will most likely populate with the most requested files/games. There must be a way to manually load some content. As I said you can call the help desk, or wait to see if there's a reply here from TelstraClear, as I am sure this has come to their attention. Mauricio Freitas (Geekzone Admin, Devil's Advocate, my blog, technology disclosure, my tweets, Web Performance Optimization) Geekzone Price comparison \| Amazon Kindle order page \| How to get the best out of Geekzone \| New Zealand IT Jobs \| Geekzone News \| Jinglebugs

menabassily

389 posts

Ultimate Geek

Reply # 659416 21-Jul-2012 08:41
freitasm: Sure, it will be. But a cache will most likely populate with the most requested files/games. There must be a way to manually load some content. As I said you can call the help desk, or wait to see if there's a reply here from TelstraClear, as I am sure this has come to their attention. That's what I'm hoping for. I would suggest to have a download request form online too, with their Steam Server unmetered page. Kiwinized geek

DonGould

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Reply # 659462 21-Jul-2012 10:44
See this whole discussion is why nothing should be free. My observation of stream is that it seems to contribute to disappointment a lot. If stream was chargable then there would be much more motivation by the providers to move content in that users want when they want it. But I have to agree with MF on this one, re the shipping. 20 years ago you'd get a game on a CD. It would cost say $30 from the local store. Inflation means that $30 is now $60 or more. That $30 was $4 for the content producer, $4 dollars for packaging, $4 profit for the distributor, $3 dollars in freight to get it to the store, $15 retail profit to cover the cost of stocking and staff. Today you can get that game from the content producer directly for the same $4 it was 2 decades ago. All Telstra is asking you to do is pay $10 to move it from the content producers server to your machine. When you think of it in these terms you can start to see why this isn't such a bad deal. From an employment point of view it's a disaster. My guess is that you're sitting at home downloading games off the net because you can't get a job locally. That local retail store that was selling the games has closed. Your job as a courier is gone, you can't get a 'office junior' job at the local distributor, even getting a job at the local McD's has got harder because everyone's sitting at home just down loading games for free of stream. Promote New Zealand - Get yourself a .kiwi.nz domain name!!! Check out mine - i.am.a.can.do.kiwi.nz

menabassily

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Ultimate Geek

Reply # 659472 21-Jul-2012 10:53
DonGould: See this whole discussion is why nothing should be free. My observation of stream is that it seems to contribute to disappointment a lot. If stream was chargable then there would be much more motivation by the providers to move content in that users want when they want it. But I have to agree with MF on this one, re the shipping. 20 years ago you'd get a game on a CD. It would cost say $30 from the local store. Inflation means that $30 is now $60 or more. That $30 was $4 for the content producer, $4 dollars for packaging, $4 profit for the distributor, $3 dollars in freight to get it to the store, $15 retail profit to cover the cost of stocking and staff. Today you can get that game from the content producer directly for the same $4 it was 2 decades ago. All Telstra is asking you to do is pay $10 to move it from the content producers server to your machine. When you think of it in these terms you can start to see why this isn't such a bad deal. From an employment point of view it's a disaster. My guess is that you're sitting at home downloading games off the net because you can't get a job locally. That local retail store that was selling the games has closed. Your job as a courier is gone, you can't get a 'office junior' job at the local distributor, even getting a job at the local McD's has got harder because everyone's sitting at home just down loading games for free of stream. Now I am just confused! Kiwinized geek

DonGould

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Reply # 659475 21-Jul-2012 11:05
menabassily: Now I am just confused! Why are you confused? What aspect of what I wrote left you confused? I'm not surprised to hear you're confused though. Many many people around the world, that are much smarter than the three of us, are quite confused about this whole space. I watched this presentation this week: http://twit.tv/show/twit-live-specials/133 - "The Truth About Bandwidth Caps" While the people interviewed seemed to understand a great deal about the space, there seemed to me to be many issues they either didn't understand or just didn't touch on. However most of the presentation was just about the problems and did very little to present any solutions. I wonder if your confusion is the fact that I just didn't present any solutions to the problems I presented. I didn't bother because most people are not really interested in solutions. Often when presented with suggested solutions they want to argue why you're just wrong. Constant presentation of why a solution provider is wrong drives interest from solution presentation. Promote New Zealand - Get yourself a .kiwi.nz domain name!!! Check out mine - i.am.a.can.do.kiwi.nz

Quinny

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Reply # 659678 21-Jul-2012 20:08
This thread explains how to setup so you only download from the TCL server. We use that here and at 20gig upgrade this week was unmetered. http://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=44&topicid=94069 Post 2 by Detsoob but linked whole thread in case.

teamyoyo

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Reply # 659746 21-Jul-2012 23:49
Telstraclear's Steam server is rubbish. I believe they got the bare minimum required, installed it and promptly forgot about it. The number of new and old games and demos that I can't get of the server is staggering. Of the last 10 games I've tried downloading only 2 have worked. This includes new games like Lego Batman 2 and Blacklight: Retribution and older, popular games like Battlefield 2. The games don't seem to exist on Telstraclear's server or they're perpetually suspended because the server is overloaded. And it's not just because of Steam's Summer sale (my bank should just mail my credit card straight to Valve) it's been this way for a few months and because of Steam's new http download system Telstraclear probably aren't aware of the problem and a lot of customers are being saddled with extra data costs. Hopefully Telstraclear will upgrade their server (though with the Vodafone sale everything is probably on hold) as well as better communicate the fact that most downloads are most likely not coming off their server and suggest options such as Steam Limiter and Steam Manager to force downloads to their server but honestly I don't see that happening.

menabassily

389 posts

Ultimate Geek

Reply # 659752 21-Jul-2012 23:58
DonGould: menabassily: Now I am just confused! Why are you confused? What aspect of what I wrote left you confused? I'm not surprised to hear you're confused though. Many many people around the world, that are much smarter than the three of us, are quite confused about this whole space. I watched this presentation this week: http://twit.tv/show/twit-live-specials/133 - "The Truth About Bandwidth Caps" While the people interviewed seemed to understand a great deal about the space, there seemed to me to be many issues they either didn't understand or just didn't touch on. However most of the presentation was just about the problems and did very little to present any solutions. I wonder if your confusion is the fact that I just didn't present any solutions to the problems I presented. I didn't bother because most people are not really interested in solutions. Often when presented with suggested solutions they want to argue why you're just wrong. Constant presentation of why a solution provider is wrong drives interest from solution presentation. Sorry mate, I didn't mean any offence at all, it seems that I haven't explained the problem right and this might have caused this confusion. Here it is, Telstra offers a server that is supposed to cache all the games out of steam server so that instead of a thousand users downloading the same game which is a lot of international traffic, it will be downloaded only once into their local server and then all the traffic is local. The problem with that server is that it doesn't include all the games, just a number of games. What I am suggesting is, 1, add a form or somepage for people to "request" a game to be added to that server. 2, at least provide a support number or email to support this service (unmetered) Quinny: This thread explains how to setup so you only download from the TCL server. We use that here and at 20gig upgrade this week was unmetered. http://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=44&topicid=94069 Post 2 by Detsoob but linked whole thread in case. Thanks Quinny. I have already done that mate, and this is not what I am here to discuss, as I explained again, the problem is when some content is not available on that local server. Cheers teamyoyo: Telstraclear's Steam server is rubbish. I believe they got the bare minimum required, installed it and promptly forgot about it. The number of new and old games and demos that I can't get of the server is staggering. Of the last 10 games I've tried downloading only 2 have worked. This includes new games like Lego Batman 2 and Blacklight: Retribution and older, popular games like Battlefield 2. The games don't seem to exist on Telstraclear's server or they're perpetually suspended because the server is overloaded. And it's not just because of Steam's Summer sale (my bank should just mail my credit card straight to Valve) it's been this way for a few months and because of Steam's new http download system Telstraclear probably aren't aware of the problem and a lot of customers are being saddled with extra data costs. Hopefully Telstraclear will upgrade their server (though with the Vodafone sale everything is probably on hold) as well as better communicate the fact that most downloads are most likely not coming off their server and suggest options such as Steam Limiter and Steam Manager to force downloads to their server but honestly I don't see that happening. That's right, I agree 100% Kiwinized geek

quickymart

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Reply # 659780 22-Jul-2012 08:30
If it goes the same way that files.paradise did, it will probably be forgotten about and eventually closed down.

DoomlordVekk

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Reply # 659864 22-Jul-2012 12:22
Gents(and ladies), while I don't have day-t-day working knowledge or hands on with the Steam cache located in the TCL network, I can tell you 1) It's not a ZX81 or for the amerikiddies, a TRS-80. It is a reasonably specced mid-range Dell box. 2) TelstraClear, to the best of my knowledge has got ZERO input or control as to what is served, content-wise from the cache. The only real control we have is if the lights stay on, what IP ranges are served from it and the size of the pipe that feeds and serves it. Why moan about something that has been put into place to help you out? If it's going to drive you into data deficit to get the game, based on it NOT being unmetered, then maybe you need to consider your data spend or your gaming habit. Why not look at it as, "well, it's going to cost me $40 for the game via Steam and ~$10-15 in data, thats better than $90-$110 to walk into EB Games and buy it. Oh, that came out of the cache, thats $10-15 that I didn't have to pay" Sure, you can't gurantee what will come from cache but even factoring in the data charges, you're still better off than walking into a B&M store and walking out more than $50 lighter in the rear pocket. (editted for gender non-specificity) "Customers don’t expect you to be perfect. They do expect you to fix things when they go wrong." Donald Porter – British Airways The views expressed here are my own and are not reflective of other organisms or organisations.

freitasm

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Reply # 659868 22-Jul-2012 12:26
DoomlordVekk: The only real control we have is if the lights stay on, what IP ranges are served from it and the size of the pipe that feeds and serves it. Why moan about something that has been put into place to help you out? If it's going to drive you into data deficit to get the game, based on it NOT being unmetered, then maybe you need to consider your data spend or your gaming habit. Why not look at it as, "well, it's going to cost me $40 for the game via Steam and ~$10-15 in data, thats better than $90-$110 to walk into EB Games and buy it. Oh, that came out of the cache, thats $10-15 that I didn't have to pay" Sure, you can't gurantee what will come from cache but even factoring in the data charges, you're still better off than walking into a B&M store and walking out more than $50 lighter in the rear pocket. Brilliant post. Mauricio Freitas (Geekzone Admin, Devil's Advocate, my blog, technology disclosure, my tweets, Web Performance Optimization) Geekzone Price comparison \| Amazon Kindle order page \| How to get the best out of Geekzone \| New Zealand IT Jobs \| Geekzone News \| Jinglebugs

menabassily

389 posts

Ultimate Geek

Reply # 659887 22-Jul-2012 13:21
DoomlordVekk: Gents(and ladies), while I don't have day-t-day working knowledge or hands on with the Steam cache located in the TCL network, I can tell you 1) It's not a ZX81 or for the amerikiddies, a TRS-80. It is a reasonably specced mid-range Dell box. 2) TelstraClear, to the best of my knowledge has got ZERO input or control as to what is served, content-wise from the cache. The only real control we have is if the lights stay on, what IP ranges are served from it and the size of the pipe that feeds and serves it. Why moan about something that has been put into place to help you out? If it's going to drive you into data deficit to get the game, based on it NOT being unmetered, then maybe you need to consider your data spend or your gaming habit. Why not look at it as, "well, it's going to cost me $40 for the game via Steam and ~$10-15 in data, thats better than $90-$110 to walk into EB Games and buy it. Oh, that came out of the cache, thats $10-15 that I didn't have to pay" Sure, you can't gurantee what will come from cache but even factoring in the data charges, you're still better off than walking into a B&M store and walking out more than $50 lighter in the rear pocket. (editted for gender non-specificity) Ok, makes sense, but how do you know that this games is/not on that Telstraclear server so that you can estimate your cost?? Kiwinized geek

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