Sadly, this site is moving out from Exabytes
I have been with Exabytes for more than 8 years. There were ups and downs, but overall I like this hosting company very much. I don’t know much about Exabytes, but I think they are good and very much recommendable. What I like most? Reliability and response time to my emails.
Why am I leaving? I take very serious attention to the packaging too. Look at this packages:
Ebiz Plus RM269.00, after less RM193.68
Ebiz Gold RM399.00, after less RM287.28
Ebiz Gold Unlimited RM449.00, after less RM291.85
I think I have tried shared hosting, VPS and dedicated server from Exabytes and generally I think they are good in customer service.
After less pricing is awarded to a so-called new customer, or new hosting and does not apply on renewal. Renewal will come under normal pricing. So when I picked Ebiz Gold Unlimited in 2011 at RM291.85, I cannot renew with same price but RM449.00. However there is a trick, I did not do renewal but subscribed to a new package so that I will get RM291.85. I just need to do manual files transfer between old and new server, so that what I did in 2012. I think Exabytes know about this.
So this year, there was a need for renewal again, so I asked the sales team whether I can do it with after less price. Of course they refused, but generously offer me 5% discount for loyalty.
Yeah I think I want to try some other host. I don’t want to do the “open new account” trick again this year. Why? Because I think if they can afford to let me do the trick, they can afford to let me do account renewal for lower price too. It will speed things up, save my time and easy. Why bother to let the customer do this and that thus making things complicated.
Well I don’t blame Exabytes for this, it might be their sales strategy or so. I just hope to give an honest feedback.
Anyway, I still have another account with Exabytes but don’t think to switch over yet. I might be coming to Exabytes again later. I am not going to save few bucks, but I think they need to enhance the process.
By this time, this new post is the first after files migration.
Google Reader to Feedly
So Google Reader will taken down in July 2013, what is the alternative?
I found more people recommending Feedly and Flipboard.
I picked Feedly for the web based, and keeping Flipboard on my tablet.
MYEG Terbaik!
Saya telah beberapa kali melanggan perkhidmatan dari MYEG. Tahun 2012 saya renew insurans dan juga renew roadtax untuk 2 buah kereta. Perkhidmatan yang amat pantas, dan juga customer service yang terbaik. Cover note dan roadtax saya perolehi kalau tak silap tak lebih dari 2 hari.
Sebenarnya ada sedikit masalah semasa pembayaran ketika itu, bayaran saya tersangkut. Duit dah keluar tapi MYEG tak confirm terima. Tapi oleh kerana customer service sangat terlatih dan tahu apa masalah yang berlaku, saya tak rasa risau langsung. Email yang dihantar segera dijawab, walaupun rasanya masa tu hujung minggu.
Hari ni saya buat lagi transaction renewal untuk insuran dan roadtax kereta Pak Mertua pulak. Customer service masih terbaik seperti yang saya pernah lalui tahun lepas. Bayaran saya untuk insurans dan roadtax kedua-duanya tersangkut, puncanya sebab popup windows tapi browser cepat-cepat close. Jadi sangkutlah. Tapi yang saya nak puji adalah bantuan dari customer mereka cukup laju. Selepas komplen, tindakan diambil dan saya terus boleh proceed untuk next transaction. Tak lama selepas itu customer service call dan inform segalanya dah selesai dan roadtax akan dihantar segera. Wow…saya mengimpikan customer service setiap service provider di Malaysia untuk ikut jejak langkah MYEG.
Tahniah, saya akan melanggan lagi di masa hadapan dan menyebarkan nilai baik yang anda ada.
Cuma kalau boleh, selesaikan masalah bayaran sangkut tu…mesti ada cara yang lebih baik.
Lawati MYEG di sini.
Good job!
Why I think muday.my just robbed me?
First, I am a Pro Niaga customer. I have few times advertised with Mudah.my and I bought credits to list my ads in Featured list.
This is the story of few days ago, somewhere end of March 2013.
So I have my existing ads running for free for about few months. Free ads, yeah I don’t get much attention from it. So I decided to list my ads in the Featured Ads, you know the ones listed on the right side of the screen, so my potential customers can easily spot my offered service there. I want to feature it for 30 days, so it’s gonna cost me 64 credits. I don’t have enough credits, then I decided to top-up 50 credits, cost me RM50. Everything went well, I paid via Maybank2u.
After getting confirmation on the credits, I quickly bought the Featured Ads service. So the system deducted 64 credits from my account balance. Yeah OK, I need premium service so I need to pay right?
The problem came on the second day. I received an email from Muday.my saying my ads was deleted. WTF???
Fine, I thought they would refund the remaining unused credits due to the deletion on whatever reasons. NO, they did not.
Later I sent an email, and also filling up the feedback form asking for explanation, they did NOT answer any.
Few days later, I called up the customer service, it was even worst, the guy said “IT IS NOT OUR PROBLEM”. Can you believe that kind of attitude and customer service? According to the CS guy, I have bought Featured Ads service for a “nearly to expire” ads entry, so when it is expired the company will not refund any credits for the remaining days. He even tell me to check the rules and regulation.
Rules and regulation MY ASS! The rules are made that way so this company can shamelessly rob the customers money. Why I think it that bad?
1. Muday.my did not send any reminder telling me my ads about to expire, they just sent a notice saying it was already deleted.
2. During the Featued Ads purchase process, Muday.my know my ads is about to expire the next day, but why they still accept my request? Could they just refuse and prompt me on the spot telling me to understand that I need to renew it before proceeding with the purchase?
Why they still allow me? Because they want to take advantage of unknowing customers and protect themselves with that crap rules and regulations. That is what I call robbing!
I want my RM64 back, you robber.
My first microdata looks good
So i just tried this microdata things for my jomstay.com project.
I made the homestay view page to return product info, offer, geo-location, address and ratings.
Now the microdata test tool display exactly the way I want it to be, where the offer name and price displayed on search result page, try it here.
I take some readings on the followings:
http://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/richsnippets?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.overstock.com%2FOffice-Supplies%2FOffice-Star-Professional-Air-Grid-Deluxe-Task-Chair%2F2605023%2Fproduct.html&html=
http://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=146750
http://schema.org/AggregateOffer
http://schema.org/IndividualProduct
Using microdata for SEO
The organic traffic for Jomstay.com seems getting better since I fixed the issue with 400 return code. Google webmaster tools is a great helper, showing me where I need to fix things with my web.
So I decided to give a try to microdata today, which Google says it can understand my site better that way. I started with item type organization, address, geo and price. Let’s see what will happen. At this moment Jomstay.com is receiving aroud 35k impression organically.
Finally I have my D-Link routers bridged wirelessly
I must admit that I spent the whole day trying to figure out, why the 2 routers cannot communicate via a wireless bridge. It works flawlessly when wired to any LAN port of each, but totally not connected via APs. So here how I do it. My main router (router A) is D-Link DSL-2640B, and the second router (router B) is D-Link DSL-2730E.
The setup for router A (DSL-2640B):
1. Connect it to phone line as you normally do.
2. Connect a PC/laptop to any LAN port for configuration purpose.
3. Access the configuration area at http://192.168.1.1, enter the username & password.
4. At this point, you need to ensure that the internet access is already established.
5. Change the DHCP IP range not to start with 192.168.1.2 because you will need it later, so make it start with example 192.168.1.10-192.168.1.254.
6. Now we need to configure WLAN. Give it a name, choose authentication method (none, WEP, WPA, up to you), shared key, channel number etc. Write down this details because we are going to replicate this wireless setup on the router B.
7. Get the MAC address for the WLAN interface, check it at status. Write it down.
The setup for router B (DSL-2730E):
1. Connect your PC/laptop to any LAN port on the router.
2. Acces the router configuration at http://192.168.1.1 (default IP).
3. Make sure the WLAN is running. Interface > WLAN. Replicate the same details from step 6 as router A. You must do this exactly the same, especially the channel number. However pick the mode “AP+WDS”, because we need WDS capability to make both APs talk to each other.
4. Click on “Security” and make sure the settings is the same with the one from router A.
5. Click “WDS”, tick “Enable WDS”. Insert MAC Address of router A WLAN from step 7 of the above. Now we are telling router B that router A is a partner and safe to communicate to each other.
6. Now we need to change router B IP number to 192.168.1.2. Do this at Interface > LAN > LAN.
7. Then most importantly is to disable the DHCP server. Interface > LAN > DHCP. Choose mode “None”.
8. However please remember that after router B restart you cannot connect to it anymore due to unavailability of IP address. So to avoid this, you need to manually assign IP address to the PC/laptop. Use the same numbering range, example 192.168.1.9.
9. After router B restart, you will be able to access it at htpp://192.168.1.2
Back to router A:
1. We need to tell router A WDS that our APs are good APs, so it is safe to establish connection.
2. Go to http://192.168.1.1/wlwds.cmd
3. For mode, pick AP, for Bridge Restrict pick “Enabled(scan):. Then wait few minutes and you will see a wireless network from router B. Tick and save.
Now you need to restart both router A & B and make sure http://192.168.1.1 and http://192.168.1.2 is accessible to any devices connected either to router A or router B.
ClouDNS.net the free DNS Hosting service
A friend of mine is hosting a domain name and hosting service from Exabytes. However due to own reasons, he decided not to maintain the hosting service, but at the same time he need the domain name to be pointing to his blogspot.
I gave him few options:
1. Do a url cloaking using frames, or
2. Do a url redirection via the cpanel, or
3. Do a dns update and point to blogspot
He made a wise decision with the DNS update. So I created a ticket and requested Exabytes to create 2 CNAMEs as instructed by blogger. Ahh, the domain is registered with MYNIC, the worst domain management panel I have ever known. Me myself is able to login to MYNIC, but not enough permission to change the DNS. Not to mention that I have separate accounts for each domain I hosted with MYNIC. So I still need to trouble Exabyte for the changes to take place.
After confirming with Exabytes about adding the CNAME entries, I tried to update blogger panel but was not successful.
I was getting busy and almost forgot about this, a week pass by, then my friend keep reminding about the domain update. That was the time I tried to look for DNS hosting service so I will not bother Exabytes about this again. So I found ClouDNS.net, it’s free for the first 3 domains and full-featured, plus the interface is quite cool. So free job is for the free dns service, yes it is.
I managed to get houri.com.my working with CloudDNS. So that’s it, pretty straight forward for setting up a self-own domain blogger site. What I just did:
1. Register for ClouDNS.net account
2. Add 2 CNAME entries (refer blogger)
3. Add 4 A entries (refer blogger)
4. Ask my registrar to point to ClouDNS DNS servers (4 servers)
5. Update blogger.com settings.
Streamyx router D-Link DSL-2640B firmware upgrade
So I got the need to upgrade the firmware of my ADSL router. Found this link for latest D-Link firmwares.
I downloaded Version 1.00 (26/6) and got it uploaded to the router.
Everything works well, except that I think this upgrade is useless:
1. I lost the capability to have virtual wireless networks ( you know multiple network names with multiple permission but using only single router).
2. The initial idea for me is to fix the Dynamic DNS, because the last firmware I got the DDNS not updating (dlinkddns.com), so I thought it will be fixed in latest firmware.
3. I lost the TM built-in settings, need to fix it manually (yeah including lovely tmadmin username which is reset to admin).
So just don’t do it except there is a strong need to upgrade the firmware.
.htaccess error “File does not exist” & Googlebot Not Found notice
I have had quite a time googling around looking for answer on why on earth that my .htaccess rewrite not working as it should be.
I had this line in .htaccess:
RewriteRule ^view/([0-9]+)/([^/]*)\.html$ /index.php?op=view&id=$1&t=$2 [L]
and what I got is this in cpanel error log:
File does not exist: /home/xxx/public_html/view
and that was freaking disturbing.
The URL is working fine when it is accessed directly via web browser:
http://www.jomstay.com/view/5365/mawar-homestay-d-bkt-katil.html
but, Googlebot told me it was getting file not found with 400 return code.
Solution:
There were 2 things that I have done and looks like it solve my problem, at least for the moment.
1. Redo the URL rewrite – I have removed the virtual subfolders “view/xxx/yyy.html” into a root folder file such as “view-xxx-yyy.html”.
2. The second, it is my script that having “require (“./ppp/wp-blog-header.php”)” that giving 400 not found message to Googlebot. Upon some testing, I need to at least output something to browser before calling this statement. So it can be done via a simple “” or “echo ‘ ‘; ” before including wp-blog-header.php. Technically I don’t know why this is happening, but the trick just do what I need.