Re: What's up with Photopoint?

[lpage #37985]

It has been about two days since I was able to access Photopoint's site. However, it has been over a week since I could enter their Market Place to order pictures. I kept receiving a message stating that the site was Under Maintenance. When I questioned when it was expected to be back on-line, Photopoint's response was that "the Market Place was under maintenace". Not much help!

After succumbing to their access fee, I hope they have not closed their doors!

Larry

 

[jodyq]

I was looking at the Mirror Site of Epson Photo's, and not even the Photopoint ads are displaying. It don't look good. And to think I had to beg them to take my money to keep my photos.
http://photo.epson.com/welcome/policies.html

It has been about two days since I was able to access Photopoint's
site. However, it has been over a week since I could enter their
Market Place to order pictures. I kept receiving a message stating
that the site was Under Maintenance. When I questioned when it was
expected to be back on-line, Photopoint's response was that "the
Market Place was under maintenace". Not much help!

After succumbing to their access fee, I hope they have not closed
their doors!

Larry

 

[Pete40370]

Doh! I just paid for their service earlier this week! Dag nabbit. It looks like their albums.photopoint.com server is redirecting all traffic to their http://www server, which is not responding at all. various curses

pete

It has been about two days since I was able to access Photopoint's
site. However, it has been over a week since I could enter their
Market Place to order pictures. I kept receiving a message stating
that the site was Under Maintenance. When I questioned when it was
expected to be back on-line, Photopoint's response was that "the
Market Place was under maintenace". Not much help!

After succumbing to their access fee, I hope they have not closed
their doors!

Larry

 

[Russell41213]

If Photopoint can't stay online (fee based) how are the free services going to survive???

Russell
Marysville, WA

 

[Pete40370]

Heck, that was one of my reasons for going with PhotoPoint. I thought it'd be more likely to last because of the fees.

Well, it's not dead yet, so I guess we should hold off on our hysterics. They could just be having technical difficulties.

pete

If Photopoint can't stay online (fee based) how are the free
services going to survive???

Russell
Marysville, WA

 

[Chris Epler]

Ok, heres my research on this:

198.164.208.200 is the IP for http://www.photopoint.com .

198.164.208.200 is at the University of New Brunswick. (Interesting)

A traceroute to that IP seems to end (for me) at:

142.177.141.125 which is Stentor National Integrated Communications Network (University of New Brunswick's ISP?)

So somewhere at Stentor National Integrated Communications we're having a problem. Things like this could ALSO be caused by bad BGP route advertisements where an ISP says they handle traffic for xyz IP range and all up stream ISP's take that route and pop it in the core and now all the traffic for Photopoint suddenly goes the wrong way.

I wouldn't jump to conclusions that this is a Photopoint problem. I worked in the ISP industry for about 5+ yrs and I have seen bad BGP advertisements cause all sorts of hell. Assuming it's Photopoints problem is in bad form without confirmation. Has anyone contacted them via phone to confirm where the problem is at?

Contact info for photopoint.com:

Administrative Contact, Billing Contact:
Sutherland, Colin (CSW333) [email protected]
Pantellic Software, Inc.
Maritime Center, Lobby Level
Halifax, NS B3J 3K5
CA
(902) 492-8341 ext. 1701 (FAX) (902) 492-8342
Technical Contact:
DNS, ADMIN (DA23203-OR) [email protected]
Pantellic Software, Inc.
Maritime Centre, Lobby Level
1505 Barrington Street
Halifax, NS B3J 3K5
Canada
902-492-8341
Fax- - - 902-493-8342

 

[richard cohen]

i called the company and got a voicemail stating that they are working on the technical problems and hope to have the site back up by the end of the day.

usually if a company like this goes out, they announce it in public beforehand so my guess is that they really are having (severe) technical difficulties.

 

[Phil Askey]

They are actually up... It looks like their firewall doesn't return ICMP, which is sensible.

Try telnet'ing their mail server:

telnet mail.photopoint.com 25

Ok, heres my research on this:

198.164.208.200 is the IP for http://www.photopoint.com .

198.164.208.200 is at the University of New Brunswick. (Interesting)

A traceroute to that IP seems to end (for me) at:

142.177.141.125 which is Stentor National Integrated Communications
Network (University of New Brunswick's ISP?)

So somewhere at Stentor National Integrated Communications we're
having a problem. Things like this could ALSO be caused by bad BGP
route advertisements where an ISP says they handle traffic for xyz
IP range and all up stream ISP's take that route and pop it in the
core and now all the traffic for Photopoint suddenly goes the wrong
way.

I wouldn't jump to conclusions that this is a Photopoint problem.
I worked in the ISP industry for about 5+ yrs and I have seen bad
BGP advertisements cause all sorts of hell. Assuming it's
Photopoints problem is in bad form without confirmation. Has
anyone contacted them via phone to confirm where the problem is at?

Contact info for photopoint.com:

Administrative Contact, Billing Contact:
Sutherland, Colin (CSW333) [email protected]
Pantellic Software, Inc.
Maritime Center, Lobby Level
Halifax, NS B3J 3K5
CA
(902) 492-8341 ext. 1701 (FAX) (902) 492-8342
Technical Contact:
DNS, ADMIN (DA23203-OR) [email protected]
Pantellic Software, Inc.
Maritime Centre, Lobby Level
1505 Barrington Street
Halifax, NS B3J 3K5
Canada
902-492-8341
Fax- - - 902-493-8342

 

[Lee52228]

I tried calling Photopoint's main office in San Francisco office. 4152485140, but all I got was an automated reply. When I tried to spell any name it came back not there and when I hit o I got a message that the operator was not there.

Try telnet'ing their mail server:

telnet mail.photopoint.com 25

Ok, heres my research on this:

198.164.208.200 is the IP for http://www.photopoint.com .

198.164.208.200 is at the University of New Brunswick. (Interesting)

A traceroute to that IP seems to end (for me) at:

142.177.141.125 which is Stentor National Integrated Communications
Network (University of New Brunswick's ISP?)

So somewhere at Stentor National Integrated Communications we're
having a problem. Things like this could ALSO be caused by bad BGP
route advertisements where an ISP says they handle traffic for xyz
IP range and all up stream ISP's take that route and pop it in the
core and now all the traffic for Photopoint suddenly goes the wrong
way.

I wouldn't jump to conclusions that this is a Photopoint problem.
I worked in the ISP industry for about 5+ yrs and I have seen bad
BGP advertisements cause all sorts of hell. Assuming it's
Photopoints problem is in bad form without confirmation. Has
anyone contacted them via phone to confirm where the problem is at?

Contact info for photopoint.com:

Administrative Contact, Billing Contact:
Sutherland, Colin (CSW333) [email protected]
Pantellic Software, Inc.
Maritime Center, Lobby Level
Halifax, NS B3J 3K5
CA
(902) 492-8341 ext. 1701 (FAX) (902) 492-8342
Technical Contact:
DNS, ADMIN (DA23203-OR) [email protected]
Pantellic Software, Inc.
Maritime Centre, Lobby Level
1505 Barrington Street
Halifax, NS B3J 3K5
Canada
902-492-8341
Fax- - - 902-493-8342

 

[John Burns]

Matt Wiggins who runs the Mavica board says he has heard they have folded. He also says that it is an unsubstantiated report.

John

Try telnet'ing their mail server:

telnet mail.photopoint.com 25

Ok, heres my research on this:

198.164.208.200 is the IP for http://www.photopoint.com .

198.164.208.200 is at the University of New Brunswick. (Interesting)

A traceroute to that IP seems to end (for me) at:

142.177.141.125 which is Stentor National Integrated Communications
Network (University of New Brunswick's ISP?)

So somewhere at Stentor National Integrated Communications we're
having a problem. Things like this could ALSO be caused by bad BGP
route advertisements where an ISP says they handle traffic for xyz
IP range and all up stream ISP's take that route and pop it in the
core and now all the traffic for Photopoint suddenly goes the wrong
way.

I wouldn't jump to conclusions that this is a Photopoint problem.
I worked in the ISP industry for about 5+ yrs and I have seen bad
BGP advertisements cause all sorts of hell. Assuming it's
Photopoints problem is in bad form without confirmation. Has
anyone contacted them via phone to confirm where the problem is at?

Contact info for photopoint.com:

Administrative Contact, Billing Contact:
Sutherland, Colin (CSW333) [email protected]
Pantellic Software, Inc.
Maritime Center, Lobby Level
Halifax, NS B3J 3K5
CA
(902) 492-8341 ext. 1701 (FAX) (902) 492-8342
Technical Contact:
DNS, ADMIN (DA23203-OR) [email protected]
Pantellic Software, Inc.
Maritime Centre, Lobby Level
1505 Barrington Street
Halifax, NS B3J 3K5
Canada
902-492-8341
Fax- - - 902-493-8342

 

[Philip Ong]

i called the company and got a voicemail stating that they are
working on the technical problems and hope to have the site back up
by the end of the day.

usually if a company like this goes out, they announce it in public
beforehand so my guess is that they really are having (severe)
technical difficulties.

Seems that I made a wise decision not to part with my monies when they ask for a fee.
I feel sorry for those who did if they actually folded.

Phil

 

[Chris Epler]

Seems that I made a wise decision not to part with my monies when
they ask for a fee.
I feel sorry for those who did if they actually folded.

THE SKY IS FALLING! THE SKY IS FALLING! THE SKY IS FALLING! THE SKY IS FALLING! THE SKY IS FALLING! THE SKY IS FALLING! THE SKY IS FALLING! THE SKY IS FALLING! THE SKY IS FALLING! THE SKY IS FALLING! THE SKY IS FALLING!

 

[Frank Sinkavich]

It has been about two days since I was able to access Photopoint's
site. However, it has been over a week since I could enter their
Market Place to order pictures. I kept receiving a message stating
that the site was Under Maintenance. When I questioned when it was
expected to be back on-line, Photopoint's response was that "the
Market Place was under maintenace". Not much help!

After succumbing to their access fee, I hope they have not closed
their doors!

Larry

I tried this morning to log on and no go. The site is inaccessible. However, Epson Photo (powered by Photopoint) is up and running. I was on and checking some photos I have there.

Sure hope I have not lost a membership fee. I wonder how many of us there are who paid the fee when requested figuring all photo sites would be charging for posting and storage.

Frank

 

[Ron Garmany]

Frank,

You might want to check the Epson Photo site again...I just went there and got a message that they are having technical difficulties and I was redirected to the Epson home page...Things are REALLY starting to look bad for all of us who have PhotoPoint accounts.

REG

It has been about two days since I was able to access Photopoint's
site. However, it has been over a week since I could enter their
Market Place to order pictures. I kept receiving a message stating
that the site was Under Maintenance. When I questioned when it was
expected to be back on-line, Photopoint's response was that "the
Market Place was under maintenace". Not much help!

After succumbing to their access fee, I hope they have not closed
their doors!

Larry

I tried this morning to log on and no go. The site is inaccessible.
However, Epson Photo (powered by Photopoint) is up and running. I
was on and checking some photos I have there.

Sure hope I have not lost a membership fee. I wonder how many of us
there are who paid the fee when requested figuring all photo sites
would be charging for posting and storage.

Frank

 

[John M. Polston]

You know, I did a traceroute to them a while back and noticed that it was homed at a University as well. I wondered why this was so. Today I remember that here at Georgia Tech in Atlanta they have a New Company Incubator program that helps new companies that Students and Alumnis start and do not have the initial capital to go full steam so they offer business office services and also Network Connectivity if it is needed. I do not know if this is true for Photopoint.com and the University of New Brunswick but this seems logical. The only problem though is why did they just let it go down without letting the user's know. Who knows, but I am hopefull it will either be back up or at least have some answers early next week.

JP

Ok, heres my research on this:

198.164.208.200 is the IP for http://www.photopoint.com .

198.164.208.200 is at the University of New Brunswick. (Interesting)

A traceroute to that IP seems to end (for me) at:

142.177.141.125 which is Stentor National Integrated Communications
Network (University of New Brunswick's ISP?)

So somewhere at Stentor National Integrated Communications we're
having a problem. Things like this could ALSO be caused by bad BGP
route advertisements where an ISP says they handle traffic for xyz
IP range and all up stream ISP's take that route and pop it in the
core and now all the traffic for Photopoint suddenly goes the wrong
way.

I wouldn't jump to conclusions that this is a Photopoint problem.
I worked in the ISP industry for about 5+ yrs and I have seen bad
BGP advertisements cause all sorts of hell. Assuming it's
Photopoints problem is in bad form without confirmation. Has
anyone contacted them via phone to confirm where the problem is at?

Contact info for photopoint.com:

Administrative Contact, Billing Contact:
Sutherland, Colin (CSW333) [email protected]
Pantellic Software, Inc.
Maritime Center, Lobby Level
Halifax, NS B3J 3K5
CA
(902) 492-8341 ext. 1701 (FAX) (902) 492-8342
Technical Contact:
DNS, ADMIN (DA23203-OR) [email protected]
Pantellic Software, Inc.
Maritime Centre, Lobby Level
1505 Barrington Street
Halifax, NS B3J 3K5
Canada
902-492-8341
Fax- - - 902-493-8342

 

[Jim C.]

I hate to say it, but It's looking more and more like Photopoint is history.

Jim C.

It has been about two days since I was able to access Photopoint's
site. However, it has been over a week since I could enter their
Market Place to order pictures. I kept receiving a message stating
that the site was Under Maintenance. When I questioned when it was
expected to be back on-line, Photopoint's response was that "the
Market Place was under maintenace". Not much help!

After succumbing to their access fee, I hope they have not closed
their doors!

Larry

 

[Greg R35144]

that's the only advice i have to share at this moment!

Jim C.

It has been about two days since I was able to access Photopoint's
site. However, it has been over a week since I could enter their
Market Place to order pictures. I kept receiving a message stating
that the site was Under Maintenance. When I questioned when it was
expected to be back on-line, Photopoint's response was that "the
Market Place was under maintenace". Not much help!

After succumbing to their access fee, I hope they have not closed
their doors!

Larry

 

[Gene47068]

Well it looks like they took our money and ran at less those of us that where dumb enough to contribute, without any notification of any kind that I am aware of. Makes me wonder how many paid within less than a week before they went down ???????

Seems that I made a wise decision not to part with my monies when
they ask for a fee.
I feel sorry for those who did if they actually folded.

THE SKY IS FALLING! THE SKY IS FALLING! THE SKY IS FALLING! THE SKY
IS FALLING! THE SKY IS FALLING! THE SKY IS FALLING! THE SKY IS
FALLING! THE SKY IS FALLING! THE SKY IS FALLING! THE SKY IS
FALLING! THE SKY IS FALLING!

 

[Joe Hawblitzel]

Gene,
You might want to read my comments (and others) in the Olympus SLR forum.

http://www.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1022&page=1&message=1281104
Joe Hawblitzel

Seems that I made a wise decision not to part with my monies when
they ask for a fee.
I feel sorry for those who did if they actually folded.

THE SKY IS FALLING! THE SKY IS FALLING! THE SKY IS FALLING! THE SKY
IS FALLING! THE SKY IS FALLING! THE SKY IS FALLING! THE SKY IS
FALLING! THE SKY IS FALLING! THE SKY IS FALLING! THE SKY IS
FALLING! THE SKY IS FALLING!

 

[Jason Busch]

Gene,

What I think happened was that they charged a fee in order to pay their bills that were previously outstanding. In other words, premeditated fraud. If they become permanently offline, then this statement will stick. If not, I will be much happier.

Of course, Photopoint is by no means alone in doing this. Several internet-born companies do this as well. Cyberrebate.com comes to mind. Quite a pathetic bunch of losers.

Now, I'm crossing my fingers with my credit card company if I can get back my $20.

Jason Busch