Useful Information

In the last few days some of the high speed internet connections (from different ISPs) which I use have become very slow and the reason is a cut in the international submarine cable SEA-ME-WE 4 in the Mediterranean Sea last week.     

Based on this report at http://www.itp.net/580051-repair-work-on-damaged-cable-delayed-by-a-week, it appears it will take at least 2 more days for the cable to be repaired.

Usually cable cuts are the main reason why usually high speed internet connections become slow. If just a single broadband DSL / cable connection is slow or non functional, it is a problem with the local cable network as the cable is cut during digging by other utilities.  If both the wireless and DSL/cable broadband connections are slow, it is usually a problem with some undersea cable far away.

In the last few years, phone tapping and email interception has become rampant.

This article on email interception and phone tapping in India  explains how it is done.

It appears that many times this facility is misused to harass people or get information on business rivals.  A month ago , emails sent to 2 of my email addresses disappeared.  I contacted the ISP , who gave me complaint numbers , but  are unable to give a logical explanation for the same even after a month.

I hope there will be  greater transparency in the system in future.

R1soft (for servers) – widely used, can restore data in a few clicks

Siteautobackup.com (associated with Hostgator) – for Cpanel/WHM accounts
Base 1,000 MB Backup Account
•Backup Unlimited Websites, Domains, Emails, Databases
•Backup Unlimited cPanel Accounts
•Backup Unlimited WHM Accounts
•Only $1 per additional 1,000 MB
$1.95 USD Monthly
$19.50 USD Annually
Base 5,000 MB Backup Account
•Backup Unlimited Websites, Domains, Emails, Databases
•Backup Unlimited cPanel Accounts
•Backup Unlimited WHM Accounts
•Only $1 per additional 1,000 MB
$4.95 USD Monthly
$49.50 USD Annually

http://www.bacula.org/en/

http://www.bqinternet.com/backup/

Packages:
•10GB – $5/month
•100GB – $20/month
•2TB – $150/month
•Custom size
Features:
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•RAID6 storage
•SSH encryption
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•Get back online instantly with a Samba mount
•FTP access
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Resellers include Rsyncpalace

Other options
Ahsay
Vembu
CrashPlan Pro
Kaseya
Asigra
Novastor
BackupExec
Genesoft
zmanda.com
Amazon Simple Storage System (S3)

Today Paypal sent the following message to Indian users who had made a withdrawal between April 6 and 9, 2010.

Your withdrawal has been reversed
Dear ***,

Due to a technical issue we were experiencing between April 6 and 9, the withdrawal you initiated to your Indian bank account was not completed.

This issue has been resolved and we are in the process of restoring your PayPal account balance. In addition, you will see a reimbursement during the coming days for any applicable fees. After this has been completed, you may request another withdrawal to your bank account at your convenience.

We apologize for any inconvenience that this may have caused.

Sincerely,
PayPal

Withdrawals on or after April 10, 2010 from Paypal accounts seem to be processed as usual.

Users have been charged a fee of Rs 250 , and the fees were not reimbursed till April 22, 2010

A list of third party Cpanel addon / plugin scripts is available at
http://forums.cpanel.net/f77/third-party-applications-available-cpanel-whm-106785.html

Automatic addon domain creator script for CPanel, list of domains input as a text file
http://www.spotonseoservices.com/free-cpanel-php-script-automate-creation-addon-domains/

Based on my experience,  hackers will usually replace / add one or more file to your website directories. Shell commands can be used to conveniently remove all the unwanted  files from multiple directories.    

find $HOME/public_html -name hackersfile.* | xargs rm -f

Replace hackersfile.*  with the name of  files added by hacker. They will add their version of both index.php and index.html. Most Cpanel webhosting allows SSH access.

More information on Linux/Shell commands/ syntax to be used available at
http://books.secs.ac.in/ShellProgIn24h/bkindexf.htm
http://www.mediacollege.com/linux/command/

Many Indian personal and premier Paypal account holders appear to have received the following email:
In compliance with Indian regulations, if you are selling products and services to customers globally, please review the following important information:
• Any proceeds or earnings received into your PayPal account from the export of goods and services should be withdrawn to your bank account within 30 days.
• While making the withdrawal please make sure you select the purpose code that best fits your business.
• Any proceeds or earnings received into your PayPal account from the export of goods and services may only be withdrawn to your bank account in India. This received amount cannot be reused for making purchases.
• If you would like to make purchases on any website that accepts PayPal, you can continue to use any credit card issued by a bank in India.
For any questions, please reach out to our customer support teams by following the steps below:
1. Log into your PayPal account
2. Click “Contact Us” at the bottom of the page
3. Click on “Send Us” an email or “Call Us” to reach us by phone

Not all Indian Paypal account holders have received this mail . Initially many thought it was a phishing email, but later Paypal has confirmed that the email is genuine. Also Gmail seems to have flagged the email as spam.  They have also not specified a date from which these rules / restrictions will come into effect.

The biggest restriction is:
• Any proceeds or earnings received into your PayPal account from the export of goods and services may only be withdrawn to your bank account in India. This received amount cannot be reused for making purchases.

The main disadvantage of this rule is that a Paypal account holder will lose money in transaction fees – when you withdraw to your Indian bank account in Indian Rupees, you lose 2.5-3% in currency conversion fees and when you again pay through credit card, the credit card company will charge up to 5% as currency conversion fees for converting the Indian Rupees back to US Dollars. Also many people in India avoid getting a credit card, since many Indian credit card issuers are notorious for their poor service, inaccurate billing and hiring the services of questionable collection agents. 

Paypal checks are sent by ordinary post and take up to month to delivered. The status of bank withdrawals of many Indian account holders on or after 7 April 2010 is shown as pending. Of all the online payment processors, Paypal seems to most regulated in India because it has the largest number of users in India and uses NEFT.

Update 14 April, 2010  : There seems to be a problem with Paypal withdrawals to bank accounts in India on 7 , 8, 9 April, 2010  and their status is still shown as pending.  Withdrawals on 10 April 2010 have been credited to the bank account . Some users have requested cancellation of the pending withdrawal, but they may incur a foreign currency losss and it is not clear whether the  forex loss will be credited back to the account

From this list of   Radio Taxi  operators  the major radio taxi services are:
Meru Cabs – Mumbai , Delhi, Hyderabad and Bangalore , Phone number : 4422 4422
Easy Cabs – Mumbai , Delhi, Hyderabad and Bangalore , Phone no. : 4343 4343
Mega Cabs – Delhi, Mumbai and Chandigarh
Orix Infrastructure – Delhi and Kolkata

Cab services with lady drivers – Forshe and Priyadarshini

At Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport , there are toll free phones which you can use to book a cab from either of these 4 services. The customer care number for Meru Cabs and Easy Cabs are from their website. The waiting time at their call center is often 5-10 minutes and you may not get the cab you want. 

The radio taxi service is usually expensive compared to other modes of public transport.  For a distance of about 15 km, a rickshaw will cost Rs 105- Rs 140 depending on the traffic and route taken , while a radio taxi can cost Rs 350+.

In March 2010

The cost of the basic Photon plus device (Epivalley)  : Rs 2299

Activation charge : Rs 99

If  you contact the number specified on the Photon plus website,  you may not get any response, but  if you go to a TVH outlet, the Photon Plus Prepaid Internet connection is activated in less than an hour. You only have to pay MRP unlike the MTS MBlaze device, where some retailers are charging more than MRP. Some of the promotions like free usage, specified on the Photon plus website are not available in Mumbai.

User name : Connection no.@photon.ttml.in

Phone number : #777

It is very easy to install and use. Before connecting check if the signal is available. The device heats up if used continuously.

To check the balance, you have to register at tataindicom.com. A notification is sent by SMS to your mobile and by email also twice a day regarding balance and validity of your account. Online recharge is also possible, you are redirected to ichoose.in.  Most of the packs are valid for 30 days only. The maximum validity of the recharge available is 90 days at present. Speed is usually as specified, but some times it fluctuates.

Online recharge 

ICICI Bank
For credits into ICICI Bank NRI accounts:
Nominal foreign currency conversion charge of INR 25 (inclusive of Service Tax). In case, of cross currency conversion there will be a charge of USD 1, EUR 0.5, GBP 0.5, CAD 1, AUD 1, SGD 1, AED 4 and JPY 100 (inclusive of service tax).
For FC Cheques sent on Collection, correspondent bank charges and courier charges as incurred will be additionally levied, wherever applicable.
For credits into ICICI Bank Domestic accounts:
Provisional Credit (Credit in 8 days) -0.25%, subject to minimum of Rs. 350. There will be a foreign currency conversion charge of INR 25 (inclusive of Service Tax).
Non – Provisional Credit (Credit in 21 days) – 0.125%, subject to minimum of Rs. 250. There will be a foreign currency conversion charge of INR 25 (inclusive of Service Tax).
The charge for cross currency conversion will be USD 1, EUR 0.5, GBP 0.5, CAD 1, AUD 1, SGD 1, AED 4 and JPY 100 (inclusive of service tax).

HDFC bank
FCY Cheque Collection and Lockbox (FCY personal cheque, FCY DD’s and TC’s sent for collection) 0.25% of INR value (Min. Rs. 250/- per transaction)
Plus Courier of Rs. 50/- per cheque
For Transactions value upto USD 500 – Rs 200/- per transaction plus courier charge Rs. 50/- per instrutment
Foreign Exchange Conversion Fees – Rs. 90.64 (plus service tax and education cess)

Foreign Exchange Conversion Fees charged by HDFC bank seem to be higher than those charged by ICICI bank