Thanks

A big thanks to the guys on the graveyard shift on the dedicated support line. We know that you think that you were just doing your job. However doing your job well helps us do our job even better. A big thanks goes out to Aplus.net

Special thanks to Robert McClelland

We would like to formally not thank

Every once and a while when a person plans a project and lays out a plan the most overlooked part of the overall project can be the problem. However, last night we experienced something that even we were seriously shocked about.

In the midst of migrating the files to the new server we where informed that the ISP in the area that we where in(We where on the road), had an file packet system limiting p2p file size transfers and capping the max upload and download speeds at around 30kb. Now normally a system like this wouldn’t affect us, but in this case it did.

The ISP At&T which people are paying $29.95 a month for is basically an extremely light dsl line with speeds of around 527kbs. The problem is it limits heavy users as “ourselves” because we are bandwidth hogs. I find it extremely ridiculous on their part to do this.

First off we weren’t trying to download/upload a stolen mp3 or movie or software of any kind. We where just trying to upload 184MB of backed up files to the new server. Estimated upload time 13hrs, at home we can do this within 20 minutes on our cable line for only $49.99 a month. After searching on the forums(because we had plenty of time) we saw a lot of people were having the same issue from ComCast as well.

Why are these systems bad? Well what if you want to do online gaming, listen to pandora, watch hulu, send a picture to your friend, online chat, or anything that basically requires a speed faster than dialup. Then you are considered a bandwidth hog, even though you are paying a premium for the “bandwidth” that you can’t access.

The point is, we could of had the site uploaded resolved and back online within 4hrs tops. Because of AT&T, we ended up watching X-Men on our laptop while we waited for the ftp to finish uploading the files. Total upload time 4:47hrs vs 20 minutes and alot more sleep.

However, now there are too many homes on the market, and new home and commercial building has come to a crawl. Many undocumented workers are in construction so they are currently losing out.

I can’t find any recent numbers (since after the markets crashed in August) that distinguish between illegal and legal immigrants, but the numbers from April-June show that the unemployment rate for Latinos (both legal and non) was higher than it was for non-Latinos:

…the Hispanic jobless rate — immigrant and native-born alike — climbed to 6.5% in the first quarter of ’08 (non-Hispanics are at 4.7%). Compare that to late 2006, when Hispanic unemployment rates got closer than ever before to non-Hispanic rates, at 4.9% to 4.4%. Latinos have lost a lot of ground, particularly the immigrants among them. Their immigrant unemployment rate is 7.5% now; for those who have arrived since 2000, it’s 9.3%.The report doesn’t distinguish between illegal and legal immigrants, but it’s known that illegal workers are overrepresented in construction, the industry that has taken the the biggest lumps. Over 220,000 Hispanic immigrants lost construction jobs in the last year. -TIME; Jun 4, 2008

So, what does this mean for immigration? Well, it isn’t exactly headline news anymore and reports are showing that apprehension of illegals is decreasing; this may mean that there just aren’t as many to catch?