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NCE website down??

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NCE website down??
Posted by farrellaa on Tuesday, January 18, 2011 11:04 PM

I have been trying to access the NCE website for the past couple of days and get an error message stateing that their server is full. Has anyone else had this problem? Seems they would fix it if it is the problem.

Bob

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Posted by jwhitten on Tuesday, January 18, 2011 11:43 PM

farrellaa

I have been trying to access the NCE website for the past couple of days and get an error message stateing that their server is full. Has anyone else had this problem? Seems they would fix it if it is the problem.

Bob

 

Actually it says:

Bandwidth Limit Exceeded

The server is temporarily unable to service your request due to the site owner reaching his/her bandwidth limit. Please try again later.

 

Which means that their site has transferred more bytes than their hosting account type allows. They need to purchase more bandwidth, or else wait until the end of the month when their byte limit resets. Perhaps they've had more traffic than normal. Or perhaps they've done some site upgrades or transferred a lot of information (pictures for example) behind the scenes which has caused them to overrun this month. Or perhaps they have "hackers" (generically) who are using or gaming their system (hosting account) in some manner that is using up the transfer quota. If they are not computer / web savvy it could be possible that someone is abusing their system in some manner and they don't know it (other than the obvious message they're now seeing).

 

John

 

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Posted by ianalsop on Wednesday, January 19, 2011 6:24 AM

Bob,

I tried their site a week or so ago and it was down then.

I can see the "bandwidth exceeded" comment on specific pages, but from a Google search, the top link asks me if I want to download an "httpd/unix-directory". No idea what that is, so I haven't.

Early last year I reported a problem to them when my requests for their website were jumping to a site that ended ".ru", which I presume is a Russian domain.

So it looks like the hackers are back,; I've sent NCE an email and hopefully they'll resolve this quickly.

Ian

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Posted by Graffen on Wednesday, January 19, 2011 7:09 AM

Unfortunately this will happen more and more in the future, it has nothing to do with hackers however!

The Webhosting companies are starting to remake the rules of the amount of bandwidth allowed in the different accounts.

I have received several Emails from different sites saying that the can´t be back for some time due to the new limits in bandwidth and that they have to change supplier before getting the site back online! Otherwise the cost of staying on the current Host would put them out of business!?!

I´ve even seen reports of Hosts that has raised the fees for the bandwidth so much that it now costs the same for a month that a whole year cost last year!!!

Can anyone say: "Shortsighted profit hunger"? Mischief

 

BTW, regarding bandwidth. I think it must obviously be far more important to allow free bandwidth to the various Tube sites, so people can sit there and say their stuff into the wastes of the Web........

Or to show the world the birthday of your 3 year old or whatever.......

Maybe the Web isn´t going in the direction it should.....

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Posted by Forty Niner on Wednesday, January 19, 2011 8:08 AM

Maybe they have someone on their "board of directors" from an oil company, you know, "when you've got 'em by the short hairs squeeze 'em until you get blood"!!!!

Mark

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Posted by ianalsop on Wednesday, January 19, 2011 9:22 AM

NCE are aware of the problem. Here's their response to my email............

Ian,
 
We're working on it as fast as we can. Thanks.
 
Larry Larsen
NCE Customer Support
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Posted by jwhitten on Wednesday, January 19, 2011 9:51 AM

Graffen

Unfortunately this will happen more and more in the future, it has nothing to do with hackers however!

The Webhosting companies are starting to remake the rules of the amount of bandwidth allowed in the different accounts.

I have received several Emails from different sites saying that the can´t be back for some time due to the new limits in bandwidth and that they have to change supplier before getting the site back online! Otherwise the cost of staying on the current Host would put them out of business!?!

I´ve even seen reports of Hosts that has raised the fees for the bandwidth so much that it now costs the same for a month that a whole year cost last year!!!

Can anyone say: "Shortsighted profit hunger"? Mischief

 

BTW, regarding bandwidth. I think it must obviously be far more important to allow free bandwidth to the various Tube sites, so people can sit there and say their stuff into the wastes of the Web........

Or to show the world the birthday of your 3 year old or whatever.......

Maybe the Web isn´t going in the direction it should.....

 

Bandwidth generally isn't all that expensive. And most small business web sites don't really generate huge amounts of traffic nor require that many bytes to convey. If you, or someone you know, is getting "torqed" by some shifty operator, the best thing to do is to pick up your kit and find a new / better provider. There are LOTS of them out there. My own site facilities have enough bandwidth allowances to easily meet the requirements of ten or twenty typical small business sites all for the princely sum of $20 bucks a month. Which also includes generous disk storage, lots of web-oriented tools to assist in building, running, maintaining a site and an online presence, and even direct access to the system for system and site maintenance / upgrades.

There is no reason for "Bandwidth Exceeded" flags on a typical small business site unless there is something really unusual happening. And if the owners aren't computer / web savvy, it would be easy for unscrupulous people (hackers) to move right in and set up shop, and the owners would never know until something like this happens. Even then they might not realize what or why it's happening.

 

John

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Posted by Graffen on Wednesday, January 19, 2011 10:12 AM

But wouldn´t it be considered "fun" if the people at NCE, a company that manufactures DCC systems, wouldn´t be computer savvy?

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Posted by tstage on Wednesday, January 19, 2011 12:08 PM

Although NCE's web site has gotten better, it still could use some improvement to make it more user friendly and informational.  It's also not updated all that often.  OTOH, Digitrax's web site is quite nice and helpful to the user.

Even if you only have a small business, a moderate web site can still be a real time sink.  I would guess that Digitrax has the own dedicated employee to update and maintain their web site.

Hoping that NCE will get back online soon...

Tom

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Posted by Motley on Wednesday, January 19, 2011 12:33 PM

Hmm strange, this was happening last week as well. I went the the NCE yahoo group, and they indicated that NCE was updating their website.

But it doesn't make sense if they are updating their website, that has anything to do with bandwidth usage. It sounds like they are having issues with their web hosting company. If they are exceeding bandwidth, it's very easy to upgrade to more bandwidth.

Unless they are trying to get by with a cheaper service. Who knows.

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Posted by jwhitten on Wednesday, January 19, 2011 12:57 PM

Motley

Hmm strange, this was happening last week as well. I went the the NCE yahoo group, and they indicated that NCE was updating their website.

But it doesn't make sense if they are updating their website, that has anything to do with bandwidth usage. It sounds like they are having issues with their web hosting company. If they are exceeding bandwidth, it's very easy to upgrade to more bandwidth.

Unless they are trying to get by with a cheaper service. Who knows.

 

If they are upgrading their web site *and* have low-bandwidth allotments with their account, it is possible that it is they themselves that is putting the extra byte traffic on the site, in the form of pictures, text, interactive-editing, page views, whatever whilst they're editing / developing.

Frankly however, if that's true, and it's also true that they have such a severely low traffic allotment, my previous recommendation would still stand-- get thee to a better provider! :-)

 

John

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Posted by tstage on Wednesday, January 19, 2011 2:17 PM

jwhitten
If they are upgrading their web site *and* have low-bandwidth allotments with their account, it is possible that it is they themselves that is putting the extra byte traffic on the site, in the form of pictures, text, interactive-editing, page views, whatever whilst they're editing / developing.

John,

Just from an observational standpoint, I'm guessing that NCE is probably operating as minimal a web site as possible, as far as bandwidth and web hosting storage is concerned.  Compared to Digitrax, the NCE site really doesn't contain a lot of graphics and/or even content.

The recent site is definitely an improvement over their old site from a couple of year ago.  I hope that the new changes in the site both enhance their product, as well as provide the updated and needed information to their customers.

Tom

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Posted by Hamltnblue on Wednesday, January 19, 2011 3:06 PM

Definitely time for them to put out a few bucks for a better host.  Maybe they got caught hosting on their own computer and on a residential account. If you go to street view on google maps you'll see they're in a residential neighborhood.

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Posted by Forty Niner on Wednesday, January 19, 2011 3:11 PM

Maybe they aren't familiar with computers????

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Posted by pastorbob on Wednesday, January 19, 2011 4:24 PM

Uh, I just popped over to NCE website and got right in and accessed several menu areas with no problems.  Are we talking about the same NCE?  Or maybe they can sense from my entry that I am an NCE user.

Bob

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Posted by tstage on Wednesday, January 19, 2011 4:33 PM

I think you're right, Bob.  Their web site seems to detect NCC vs. non-NCC users. Surprise

Tom

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Posted by cacole on Wednesday, January 19, 2011 4:41 PM

I just got onto their website with no problem -- they have apparently solved whatever was causing the outage.

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Posted by Motley on Wednesday, January 19, 2011 4:43 PM

tstage

I think you're right, Bob.  Their web site seems to detect NCC vs. non-NCC users. Surprise

Tom

It sure does, I'm an NCE user and I just got in finally. But, I don't see any difference of any updates?

Michael


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Posted by blownout cylinder on Wednesday, January 19, 2011 5:04 PM

Motley

 

 tstage:

 

I think you're right, Bob.  Their web site seems to detect NCC vs. non-NCC users. Surprise

Tom

 

 

It sure does, I'm an NCE user and I just got in finally. But, I don't see any difference of any updates?

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Posted by kenkal on Wednesday, January 19, 2011 11:29 PM

I talked with NCC a few days ago.  My take was that they had to change their web site host and the prior host left them some surprises in their code.  It is taking some time to clean up the mess.

If you have a problem that you need resolved quickly, NCE has truly outstanding telephone support.  They seem to give much higher priority to the telephone than to e-mails. I rarely have to wait more than a minute to talk with someone who can help.

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Posted by farrellaa on Thursday, January 20, 2011 12:12 AM

Just tried the website and it is back online.

Bob

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