Okay, here goes. I'm about to lock this thing up. Here's what's going on. I have an HTC Incredible. I am also having problems with IRC. I will bullet point the facts as I currently see them, and follow that with my actions and the actions of VZW thus far. I will then continue to update as VZW follows up with me.
The problem: IRC Applications unable to connect to IRC servers.
- Can not connect to efnet servers in particular.
- I have had limited success connecting to a very limited number of efnet irc.<HOST>.edu servers
- I have had success connecting to various non-efnet hosts
- changing the ports used has no effect
- I can connect to the IRC server I run as well as other non-efnet related IRC servers
- I *CAN* connect to everything I want to over wifi. The problem only exists on VZW's data stream.
I contacted VZW regarding this issue and talked to someone named "Sara(h)" who diid a very good job at *trying* to help me while on the phone, but as VZW's stance on this has been one of not accepting responsibility for the issue, her answers during my initial call were not helpful in the least and served simply to frustrate me. "We do not support this application so you will have to contact the 3rd party application developer". Well, DUH. NO?! The application works fine! I'm NOT CONTACTING THE APPLICATION DEVELOPER! I want to talk to someone from your networking department! The poor girl got bowled over, and never saw it coming. I apologized, let her know my frustration wasn't personal, and let her know that while I had sympathy for her, it didn't change the fact that if I didn't get a resolution or some answers from VZW, that I was going to turn into her worst nightmare and that the nightmare would be made very public in a wide array of forums across the internet. She was unable to help me inside of the first call. She was trying really hard to make this call disappear, but I don't go away so easily, so I forced a tracking number out of her so that I could continue to follow this up properly, and she told me that she, or someone else would contact me in the next 24 to 48 hours. I told her that that was acceptable, and despite having to deal with me, I hoped she would continue to have a good day. She did an admirable job, considering she had to deal with me.
"Sara(h)" ended up calling me back in a VERY timely manner. Here was her response:
- According to her, VZW is indeed blocking access to certain hosts intentionally. THIS IS ACCEPTABLE. VZW is doing this to ensure their customers get the best service they can provide. Or at least in this case, they are blocking access to services that have caused problems for their customers repeatedly. If you are an efnet chatter, you know just as well as I do that the packet kiddies ruined it for us. If you don't know what that means, basically, "efnet" servers are home to an insufferable number of children (regardless of age) who use network traffic as a measure of their manhood. So they saturate the network with as much traffic as possible to stop all service from functioning. It's basically a child throwing a temper tantrum, on an epic scale.
Basically, if you want to use an android IRC client with your phone... on EFNet... find a good .edu server, try try and try again, or set up a bnc client on a shell. If you don't know what I am talking about - google it please.
SUMMARY (in a bullet list):
- VZW admitted (to me) that they are blocking certain hosts.
- This is Beneficial to VZW customers. Don't complain to them please. They are honestly working in the customer's best interest here.
- If you need to connect to efnet using your phone, either use a bnc or ssh/telnet to a shell and use the IRC client of your choice.
- Submit this as many places on the internet as you can so that customers are informed and have a reasonable expectation and understanding of what is happening.
- "Sara(h)" took GREAT care of me. She deserves a medal! And probably a promotion for this.
I really hope this helps people out there. And I hope VZW understands that honesty is ALWAYS the best policy!
- earlten
