SSH to Sonic shell account via AT&T cellular disconnects ??

[tbessie]

Can anyone suggest a way to find someone at AT&T who can tell me what they're doing? Like, if they are injecting RST packets in long-running connections to kill them, as suggested in the thread I posted?

Or is there just no way?

- Tim

[aw]

That would be quite bad if they did that. Comcast got in trouble for that a while back when they tried that with BitTorrent:
http://it.slashdot.org/story/07/09/04/2 ... r-torrents

[James]

As a workaround can you VPN to sonic and then SSH over that VPNed connection?

[tbessie]

That's a possibility to try. I'll see if that works, thanks!

APPENDED: Nope, can't do it - Sonic VPN is not supported by Android unless I root the phone, which I don't want to do.

- Tim

[virtualmike]

Do I understand correctly that the problem occurs whether you're on cell or wifi networks? If it's happening on wifi, I'm curious how AT&T could be causing it.

[tbessie]

Do I understand correctly that the problem occurs whether you're on cell or wifi networks? If it's happening on wifi, I'm curious how AT&T could be causing it.

Nope, you understand INcorrectly. It happens only when on AT&T's network; everything works fine when I'm on WiFi.

Also, I have tried this on 2 other phones (Nexus One and Nokia N86), and I see the same effect, so it's not tied to phone id nor phone type or OS. It seems attached to my account.

I'm seeing other people commenting on it on other forums, though not much, so it seems like a new-ish AT&T policy and applied in only certain cases. Unfortunately, AT&T won't tell me what that case is, or what they are doing (I've called, talked to them 2 or 3 times - they say they can't help me).

- Tim

[virtualmike]

Thanks for the clarification--I must have misread something in the threads.

Based on my reading over the years, it seems like there are a lot of policies at AT&T that are unknown to the customer service reps.

[tbessie]

Thanks for the clarification--I must have misread something in the threads.

Based on my reading over the years, it seems like there are a lot of policies at AT&T that are unknown to the customer service reps.

No problem; as of today, the problems *seem* to have disappeared automagically - another fellow who was getting disconnections on a streaming app told me (on the AT&T forums) that it stopped happening today. I tested SSH connections today, and, at least, it no longer disconnected after 10 seconds. I'll report back after further testing.

I might not have made myself 100% clear about WiFi vs. AT&T networks at some point, though I think I did later. I was in a bad mood yesterday, so I might've missed typing something.

Yeah, the Customer Service people there don't seem to know much. A lot of them seem to be based in the southern states somewhere, so they have unfailingly polite southern manners, but don't necessarily know very much about deep technical issues, sadly.

- Tim

[virtualmike]

Yeah, the Customer Service people there don't seem to know much. A lot of them seem to be based in the southern states somewhere, so they have unfailingly polite southern manners, but don't necessarily know very much about deep technical issues, sadly.

Unfortunately, in most call center environments, the staff are trained that if the information is not found in their knowledge base, then it doesn't exist, and the correct answer is "no."

We are so fortunate that Sonic.net doesn't operate that way!

[tbessie]

Yeah, the Customer Service people there don't seem to know much. A lot of them seem to be based in the southern states somewhere, so they have unfailingly polite southern manners, but don't necessarily know very much about deep technical issues, sadly.

Unfortunately, in most call center environments, the staff are trained that if the information is not found in their knowledge base, then it doesn't exist, and the correct answer is "no."

We are so fortunate that Sonic.net doesn't operate that way!

... and that is why I love Sonic, and recommend them to all my friends!

They are a rare gem in a field of old rocks.

Back when IBM used to make consumer computers, when I ordered my first Thinkpad, their customer service was - amazingly for such a big company - almost as good as Sonic's. There was a problem with my order, so after a short amount of time they assigned a "Solution Manager" who's job it was to make everything right. He was empowered to do whatever it took to make me happy, pretty much, even though I was just buying a silly little computer. I was quite amazed.

I'm glad that Sonic is there - with all the awards they win for customer service and community awareness, I can only hope they continue, even when Dane, Scott, Kelsey et. al. are no longer part of it (hopefully in a well-deserved retirement).

- Tim