Club Troppo

We have the choice of two uplinks for our server. One is free on agreement with the University Computer Club, our server hosts. The other is through AARNet, a network operated by and for Australian universities.

The free link, known as ‘bright’, has been on the fritz all weekend. I didn’t notice because it mostly seems to affect people who are outside of Western Australia’s internet exchange hub WAIX. My ISP connects directly to WAIX and so does the bright uplink.

Three independent reports of trouble have convinced me I’m wrong, plus advice that yes, bright is on the blink. Apparently UWA’s IT service group have been getting angry phonecalls from various parties asking pointedly what it is they’re paying bright for. (Porn, movies and music, mostly, since most of the traffic is generated in the dorms).

In any case, I have switched us over to the AARNet uplink. We generally don’t use AARNet because it costs us money and we are forbidden by the Terms of Service to use it for commercial purposes, including advertising. So at some point when bright is fixed we’ll switch back, but for now, enjoy the musty smell of internet wisdom being delivered from the ivory tower.