Orcon email vanished!

Forums › 2degrees (including Slingshot, Orcon, Flip, Stuff Fibre, MyRepublic, 2talk and Vocus) › Orcon email vanished!

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299 posts

Ultimate Geek

#397338 29-Oct-2010 13:54

robbyp:

I believe even googles gmail has lost their customers email before. It is a problem with the whole cloud computing model.

At least you can download your email to back it up. However some hosted cloud applications don't have this option.

The majority of "cloud" offerings allow POP3 and IMAP offline client access so there is nothing stopping users using Outlook and then backing up the PST files on a regular basis.

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Ragnor

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#397344 29-Oct-2010 14:10

You don't need to use pop, IMAP can be used in disconnected mode where a copy all mail is stored on your local machine... Thunderbird supports this (but it's not enabled by default).

Note: Older versions of Outlook have pretty crap IMAP support.

ardvark

7 posts

Wannabe Geek

#397346 29-Oct-2010 14:12

and I use a mac and wont touch entourage with a barge pole either

looking forward to Orcons response to this issue when I get home tonight given I have heard nothing from them for the last 24 hrs

would be ironic if they email me...

xurizaemon

153 posts

Master Geek

#397348 29-Oct-2010 14:15

nzkiwiman: I also find it annoying (this goes to many companies) that Twitter and Facebook have become THE place for technical support over help desks and website pages. Some of us have not brought into these two fads yet.

That's exactly why it's quicker to get support via these "alternative" channels. When everyone bruys in, then it will be just as slow and crap as email or phone. And all the cool kids will start faxing in their support requests.

Also, when Orcon's support interface is email only (they don't expose the web view of their support system to customers, which is a real shame IMO), and the issue is with their email systems in the first place ...

xurizaemon

153 posts

Master Geek

#397355 29-Oct-2010 14:21

In the past I've advised people to use Orcon's mail offering for exactly this reason - if they use Google Domains free, they don't have any kind of support agreement with the provider, so it's worth spending the few dollars on Orcon's mail hosting.

Now we get to see whether a few years of a few dollars a month translates into any kind of actual backup or support.

Yeah, everyone should have backups, but they can only back up what the postman hasn't destroyed on the way.

khull

1245 posts

Uber Geek

#397362 29-Oct-2010 14:26

On the news now

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/technology/news/article.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10683900&ref=rss

such publicity is often bad for any company. Best hope their damage control team/PR will handle this appropriately.

Have not been impressed with the standard of service Orcon is offering. At the price I am paying I might reconsider soon.

redjet

299 posts

Ultimate Geek

#397370 29-Oct-2010 14:34

xurizaemon: In the past I've advised people to use Orcon's mail offering for exactly this reason - if they use Google Domains free, they don't have any kind of support agreement with the provider, so it's worth spending the few dollars on Orcon's mail hosting.

Now we get to see whether a few years of a few dollars a month translates into any kind of actual backup or support.

Yeah, everyone should have backups, but they can only back up what the postman hasn't destroyed on the way.

I'd trust Google's free email hosting offerings any day over an ISP's paid offering. Hosted email brings in a large amount of advertising revenue for Google so if it's down or people stop using it then it will be a massive hit to their bottom line - which is why you can bet that they will have far better processes in place behind the scenes than your average ISP does.

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Talkiet

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#397412 29-Oct-2010 15:37

freitasm: What's even harder to believe is that no backup existed?

Back in the day, I worked for a place that supplied servers and storage systems to many ISPs and government departments and I was occasionally called upon to help with odd storage system failures.

One memorable event included noticing an ISP in NZ had an email problem and had some status along the lines of "we've had a storage issue but are restoring from backups" . They indicated that customers wouldn't lose any email but their system might not have accepted email for a while so some email may not get through (BS filter starting to go off)

A couple of hours later I took a call from this ISP and they basically asked if there was any way to restore the data off their RAID5 if they had already been running the array in a degraded state and then replaced the wrong disk.

The answer is of course no, they were totally stuffed. I suggested their only option was to restore from backup and they said that with the transient nature of data on their email servers, it didn't make sense to run backups, so they'd just rebuild the system and start clean, and tell customers that no data was lost.

Now things may have changed with more people leaving email on servers (IMAP, webmail use etc) but at the time this was pretty standard.

Having said all that - I hope Orcon is able to recover the data. Personally I have all my email split and sent to my ISP and Gmail, and also have it all backed up locally and remotely. But I'm paranoid :-)

Cheers - N

Please note all comments are from my own brain and don't necessarily represent the position or opinions of my employer, previous employers, colleagues, friends or pets.

cyril7

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#397452 29-Oct-2010 17:21

Looks like TVNZ NEWs at 6pm will be covering this as a lead story.

Cheers
Cyril

freitasm

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#397454 29-Oct-2010 17:22

There is another large ISP constantly having email problems - too many in the last few months. I am talking about Vodafone folks... I'd be afraid.

robbyp

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#397461 29-Oct-2010 17:32

freitasm: There is another large ISP constantly having email problems - too many in the last few months. I am talking about Vodafone folks... I'd be afraid.

I've got a client who is having major issues over the last few days with their @ihug.co.nz email accounts, which is now all managed by vodafone.

robbyp

1199 posts

Uber Geek

#397462 29-Oct-2010 17:36

cyril7: Looks like TVNZ NEWs at 6pm will be covering this as a lead story.

Cheers
Cyril

http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/orcon-customers-emails-wiped-3864874

It says they are giving those customers $100 credit, which is pretty good.

I see it is the lead item on TVNZs news, they should mention than it is a government owned too, as it is owned by Kordia.

This type of thing does happen from time to time with small providers, such as web hosts who disappear, but never gets media coverage due to them being so small.

freitasm

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#397465 29-Oct-2010 17:39

They should use these $100 to pay for three years of domain registration and use the free Google Apps. They would have a much better experience by miles.

merve0o0

492 posts

Ultimate Geek

#397479 29-Oct-2010 19:16

The problem I had with google is they suddenly decided I didn't know my password then locked my account. I have now lost all access to my google linked accounts.

ardvark

7 posts

Wannabe Geek

#397482 29-Oct-2010 19:22

Well its nice to see Orcon are admitting to the stuff up more and more...

Was wondering when they are going to tell me about the $100...

Perhaps it was by email??? Which I havent got...

Still no explanation how they can back emails up and then not have them...

also nice to see how orcon has not updated their web site on IMPAP settings and how you have to back it up as they dont, they also dont explain in the set up how to upload and backup the IMAP mail on your PC/ MAC

http://www.orcon.net.nz/support/page/what_are_your_imap_settings_for_orcon_email/

but they do admit they dont back up their cloud computing

http://www.orcon.net.nz/support/page/do_you_back_up_the_cloud_servers/

Unless Orcon can explain how 200 accounts can have their email wiped with no back up the $100 credit will be the last money I spend with them, I will be off to a more reliable provider...

A

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