kelvin quee

(For non-Singaporeans: Starhub is a info-communications company. One of their many services is MaxOnline, an Internet broadband service through co-axial cable. This post is mainly about how Starhub MaxOnline ‘blocked’ an important port of my Internet Connection.)

(Note: The word ‘block’ and its various forms are in quotes because I cannot be absolutely sure what Starhub was doing and what actually happened at that moment. As far as I understand, the situation, to the best of my knowledge, was that I couldn’t access any sites that uses Port 443. To me, and I believe most people in the IT profession, Port 443 was inaccessible or ‘blocked’. To avoid possible misunderstanding, I will place the word ‘block’ in quotes. It’s up to you to interpret it.)

(Disclaimer: Everything here written is an account of what happened. It’s meant to express my opinion and not to change anyone’s opinion of Starhub. It reflects the truth to the best of my knowledge. I do not receive any incentives from Starhub or its competitors from this writing.)

I fumed.

I must have cursed in every possible permutation possible.

I checked every connection, both wired and wireless. I tested settings on all 3 computers. I tested every browser, from Opera to Firefox to Internet Explorer.

I spent 3 hours, when I should be studying for my exams, going through rigourously all my equipment, to realise that the fault lies over in Starhub.

Afterall, what are the possibilities that Starhub, having a plethora of engineers will actually fail? As compared to my less than $1000 equipment and my little experience in technology, the fault should be on my side.

As usual, I was wrong.

Here’s what happened: I was able to visit most webpages, but MSN Messenger and Gmail denied me. I was perplexed then. I mean, what’s the difference between normal webpage and MSN Messenger and Gmail?

Then I thought that my router or computer maybe blocking certain ports. My LevelOne router has been screwing up previously, so I thought that it must be the broken link. I tried to fix it. I couldn’t. I almost felt like throwing my router out of the window.

I then used wget (on Windows!) to connect to Gmail. That’s when my suspicions is confirmed. wget reported that it failed to connect to Port 443 (for SSL).

Starhub ‘blocked’ my Port 443! I wonder what other ports they are ‘blocking’.

I then called Starhub, cursing. The guy over at the other end refused to believe my claim until he made me go through all the firewall and Internet Explorer security settings nonsense, even though I displayed adequate knowledge that I knew that Starhub was ‘blocking’ my ports.

After I ended my call, when I next tried accessing the Internet much later (and more infuriated), it was fixed.

Still, it was a very bitter experience for me, especially when I pay about $600 (1 USD=1.6SGD) a year for internet access.

For a while, I thought I must get back at Starhub, so I went to read their Terms and Conditions. Then, I grew wiser, especially when there’s a section that reads:

12. Liability
a. The Service is provided on an “as is” and “as available” basis and you agree and accept that you use the Service or rely on any Content obtained through the Service at your sole risk. We expressly disclaim all warranties of any kind, whether express or implied, including implied warranties of merchantability, satisfactory quality, fitness for a particular purpose and non-infringement to the fullest extent allowed by law. No advice or information whether oral or written, obtained by you from us or through the Service will create any warranty not expressly made in this Agreement.

b. You will be solely responsible for the Content/data retrieved, stored or transmitted through the Service and/or the Equipment.

c. If you are dissatisfied with the Service or with the Content, products or services available on or through the Service or with any of the terms and conditions of this Agreement, your sole and exclusive remedy is to discontinue accessing and using the Service or terminate the Service according to this Agreement.

Now, I wished that I’ve a friend who is a lawyer. Does anyone know if the terms “as is” and “as available” are too all-encompassing? Is it a fair term?

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 13th, 2006 at 12:56 am and is filed under Technology, Commentary. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.