I will do my best to summarize the events in the last few days. But the gist of it is, I am very disappointed in AT&T and how this situation was handled given the hassle I was put through only to receive a lousy $10 a month off my service.

On Friday, I called AT&T High Speed DSL in order to upgrade my package from PRO to ELITE, which is an increase of 3.0 Mbps to 6.0 Mbps. Given DSL, I felt it was adequate.

Of course, they do the obligatory thing and ask if its ok to discuss potential specials/offers for my account. Of course, that is fine with me. I explain I am looking to increase my internet speed, and she suggests U-verse, not just because I can get upwards of 18Mbps, but they had some good deals on programming as well.

Ok, that peaked my curiosity. So she reviews what I currently have, which is Dish Network, 200 channels, regular phone line, and DSL service. She starts explaining U-verse, which I previously knew about, but was curious what has changed. It all sounded fantastic and they were offering a 6 month promotion, etc.. and when it was all said and done, it was a very good price for 12Mbps download, u200 package, 3 months free HBO, a gift card, 1 dvr, 2 receivers (which are already HD compatible), free installation and more.

I was stoked to be honest. After some discussion, I was sold and an order was placed and a installation date was set. The date was for Tuesday morning, 9 – 11 am.

Here is the thing. I work downtown…so its a 1 hour drive minimium for me on most days…so I have to take time off in order to handle this U-verse installation + make the drive downtown when its done.

So I get a call from the technician this morning saying he is 20 minutes away. Oh man, 12Mbps download goodness was so close.

I get a call 20 minutes later…”Mr. Kohlmeier, is your address “{insert address here}”?

Me: “Uh, no..I haven’t lived there for a 1 1/2 years. I am at {insert new address here}, but I am only 5 minutes away now.”

U-verse technician: “I am sorry Mr. Kohlmeier, I cannot install this today, the signal is pointing at the wrong address. We will have to reschedule.”

Me: “Are you kidding me? I work 1 hour away and took time off today for this!”

Technician: “I am sorry Mr. Kohlmeier, is there another day that works for you?”

Me: “Well…..how about tomorrow”?

Technician: “Well sir, the office will have to change the address on the order, etc… it might be 7-10 business days”

Me: {insert silent pause here}
Me: Ok, I will call the AT&T office..I might not even use AT&T anymore. Thanks, goodbye.

So then I get on the phone with AT&T and Carla was very apologetic for my inconvenience and was going to get in touch with a specialist that can help resolve my problem, she said she would call me in 15-20 minutes. So 20 minutes goes by and I get a call from Carla, it wasn’t the call I was expecting.

Carla: “I am sorry for the inconvenience Mr. Kohlmeier, but it looks like the address you are currently at does not have U-verse in the area. So we are going to have to transfer you to the cancellation department to get the order stopped.

Me: “Are you kidding me…after all this and the service isn’t even supported here?”

So Carla transfers me to the Retention department. I am told they have to cancel the order, but also stop my service from being disconnected. “WHAT“.

So I am on the phone with this guy for 30 minutes…where 25 of them was spent with me on hold as he worked with another group to stop by order and prevent my service from being turned off.

Now here is what really pisses me off. After ALL this hassle, in my personal opinion, I had to go through to NOT get service I was hoping to get…the best AT&T could do was take $10 off my internet package. So instead of $35/month, it would be $25/month.

I personally find this unacceptable. I realize that is $120 off for the year…but for being dragged along thinking I was going to get a brand new service, then they couldn’t install it on a day I took off, then that I couldn’t get the service at all, to my service almost being shut off…$10 off / month just feels like a low ball. That is like being offered an 2009 Maxima, only to have the keys taken away saying you get your 2001 Dodge Grand Caravan back (yes I drive that).

So AT&T, I haven’t signed off yet…I am very close but would be happy to speak to you about staying a customer. Comcast…I am also interested in speaking with you about any deals you can throw at me.

However, after 3 1/2 years, I felt it was time to move on and forward with a different path and continue focusing on building my skill sets and professional career. Tomorrow, I start my new job that I truly feel will be extremely beneficial to my professional growth and the overall well-being to myself and my family. My role will initially focused on providing mockups, prototypes, user experience/user interface enhancements, and more as the role continues to evolve. I can’t wait.

First, I don’t know if its CloudFront or Dreamhost, but someone dropped the ball this weekend. After hooking all my images, css, etc… up to the correct CloudFront paths, I noticed on Saturday my site was down, per se. See, the content loaded just fine, but EVERY CloudFront URL I had setup was no longer working. Why this has happened I don’t know. The CNAME’s are correctly setup, the files are there on CloudFront. So I had to setup some new CNAMES and CloudFront URL’s which is why my site is showing the css/images it is now.

I guess I can wait till tomorrow to see if someone trips over the power cord again.

Secondly. I have had to make some decisions lately regarding my life that are difficult, but I feel are necessary for myself and my family. It is something I am definitely looking forward to and excited about. Transition periods are always the toughest because your worried what your leaving behind might not get picked off the floor quick enough and what your moving toward is new enough you face the standard learning curve that comes with it.

Most decisions in life are difficult, but this is one of forks in the road I must take.

So trying to follow Yahoo!’s YSlow FAQ tutorial, I add in my own custom hostnames. YSlow, after running some tests even recognizes I am using my custom hostnames, yet it still determines F should be my score.

Why? I realize not ALL my hostnames are hitting the CDN, but geez…an F. That just hurts.

But in all seriousness…anyone have a clue why my custom hostnames are not changing the YSlow grading scale?

It has only been a handful of days since I took the giant leap for mankind into the world of CloudFront and S3 by Amazon.com. I have yet to implement into my site as their are some technical workarounds I have to get in place…but I am excited at the idea of moving to a true CDN. After setting up the account, the very first thing I did was started doing a google search on tools used to upload files. I wish Amazon has some of the tools right then and there after making your account.

So one of the first products I came across was one called CloudBerry S3 Explorer. I then saw there was a PRO version that was FREE and in Beta (download here) so I decided to give that a shot. It was installed in a couple minutes and up and running.

Clean Interface

After it was loaded, I was treated to an FTP looking interface.

I immediately was drawn to the right hand side which I assumed would be the “REMOTE” side of the file transfers. I clicked the dropdown and saw the option for a NEW Amazon S3 Account or FTP Connection. At first, I was confused because of the FTP Connection but then realized the way CloudFront works…I can transfer files FROM an FTP location TO my CloudFront account. Nice!

After entering my S3 Credentials, security code, etc… it logged me in and I saw my 4 buckets I previously had setup from my host, Dreamhost. I am fortunate that Dreamhost automatically connected up the buckets with CNAME’s I gave it and more. You can manually add buckets from within CloudBerry S3 Explorer Free or Pro (you have to make sure they are lowercase). Something like cdn.yourhost.com. If you do it this route, you will have to make sure the CNAME is setup on your host if you want to use the url “cdn.yourhost.com” from within your website or application.

Adding files to your buckets is as simple as drag and drop. On the left hand side, I have my local computer. On the right, I have my CloudFront account and buckets. I simply locate the appropriate files on the left hand side and drag them over into the bucket I have opened on the right.

GZIP!!!

A great feature I love about CloudBerry S3 Explorer PRO is the ability to compress your files before they are uploaded. The alternative is to run your files through an online compressor, save the file to your computer and upload.

With this feature, you can leave your files (like css, javascript, etc…) in their non-compressed format for debugging, testing, etc… and when it comes time to upload, the program itself GZIP’s it, adds the correct HTTP Headers, and uploads it. See the screenshot below for file size comparisons I just tested.

Another great reason to Gzip is it saves you on transfer costs. Granted, for small text files we are probably talking fractions of cents….but in large scale applications or companies, this can mean major dollars.

Speed

One of the benefits of the PRO version is it supports more threads which increases the upload speeds/files to the CloudFront server.

Here is a breakdown of what the PRO version supports:

PRO Features:

• Encryption – make sure the data is always protected and only you can view it
• Compression – speed up copy process and save on storage and transfer cost.
• Chunking – break large files into smaller ones to speed up the process and make transfer more reliable.
• FTP support – copy files directly from FTP server to S3 bucket.
• Multi-threading – speed up the transfer of multiple small files
• Automate/schedule ACL updates
• GZip – yet another way to save on transfer costs.
• Custom http headers support
• Premium support – all inquiries will be answered withing 24 hours period
• 1 year maintenance is included

So far, I REALLY like CloudBerry S3 Explorer Pro and when it comes out of Beta, I will definitely be buying a license.

The most experience I have with CDN’s or Content Delivery Networks resides mostly with Akamai. However as I make a move toward CloudFront, the single striking issue hitting me in the face has to be how one handles overwriting files.

From what I have heard, the best practice when dealing with CloudFront and S3 is to version your filenames. Maybe something like v1_filename.jpg or v1_common.css

Then, when it comes to a new update and you can’t wait 24 hours for the file to be updated/purged, you upload v2_filename.jpg

This seems like a giant hassle which requires you to update your web application to use the newly named filename. Is there a solution around this with CloudFront and S3?

Please, comments are welcome!

So I have decided to try Amazon’s CloudFront and S3 services for storage of Absolute Bica files. The purpose is more for browser pipelining and faster loading times versus storage alone. Dreamhost provided unlimited bandwidth and storage, so that isn’t an issue…but I know I could benefit from my files being distributed elsewhere across a CDN.

Without some technical work-a rounds, I will most likely lose any of the PHP compression techniques I have utilized on this site for the last 7 months, however having Gzip enabled will help.

In the meantime, if some areas of the site falter in the coming day…don’t blame me…blame the Cloud. Ok, so blame me as its probably a technical error on my part…but Amazon is global…they can take part of the blame too

You can’t beat the pricing though..it’s fantastic.

United States
Storage

* $0.150 per GB – first 50 TB / month of storage used
* $0.140 per GB – next 50 TB / month of storage used
* $0.130 per GB – next 400 TB /month of storage used
* $0.120 per GB – storage used / month over 500 TB

Data Transfer

* $0.100 per GB – all data transfer in

* $0.170 per GB – first 10 TB / month data transfer out
* $0.130 per GB – next 40 TB / month data transfer out
* $0.110 per GB – next 100 TB / month data transfer out
* $0.100 per GB – data transfer out / month over 150 TB

Requests

* $0.01 per 1,000 PUT, COPY, POST, or LIST requests
* $0.01 per 10,000 GET and all other requests*

* No charge for delete requests

Thanks for Paul Stamatiou for his awesome guide. Though I didn’t need the guide to get up and running, I realized you have permissions for each bucket and the respective files that I had set to deny

If you go with Dreamhost.com as your hosting provider and use the coupon code “absolutebica“, you will receive $20 off your yearly hosting bill (normally $119) AND you will receive 1 FREE Domain registration.

I use Dreamhost.com as my hosting provider and have always been very happy with it. It has an administration interface with tons of bells and whistles, easy management of all your site details, email, 1 click installs, and more. You also get very quick responses via their support whenever you need it. They have always been extremely helpful when I have had to contact them, which is rare.

I highly suggest you head over to http://www.dreamhost.com and during the checkout use the coupon code “absolutebica” (without the double quotes) to receive this special discount.

Where: http://www.dreamhost.com
Code: absolutebica

Enjoy!

We provided iGolfFixes with a beautiful and simple design that made the viewing and purchasing process extremely simple. If you are a golf fanatic like myself, I highly suggest you take a look at the many samples of golf swing lessons they offer, and if you like one…make a purchase!

We worked across every detail with The Guyer Institute of Molecular Medicine to make sure the site met their business goals and branded image.

Click the screenshot below to view this project on my portfolio: