Getting fiber, expecting to start up streams again

I received a phone call yesterday regarding fiber now being available in my neighborhood through CenturyLink (or more accurately, was available since March of 2022, so I'm getting notice roughly 2 and a half years late).  I have set up a date to have it installed, as well a getting my speeds updated to a fiber plan, so my 40 mbps download & 3 upload will be upgraded to 500 mbps both ways.  This means that streaming of online games will be an option again, so I'm expecting I will start streaming again once I have the new connection rates, as early as the 17th when it's installed.

Note that I no longer play Fortnite however (I don't even have this game installed anymore), not after Epic Games stole 4 years of my life from collecting V-Bucks for use in the Save the World mode (roughly 37,100 V-Bucks forcibly transferred to the Battle Royale mode, a mode I don't play).
I have been playing a lot of Warframe lately, so there's a very high likelyhood that this will be the first game I stream once I am able to do so again.
I am still looking for a decent method to be able to stream from console systems again (spending a lot of time & money on Nintendo Switch games after the attacks from Steam trolls started targeting me over multiple sites); it may require new hardware, but ultimately console system games could become a part of the Twitch channel again (if I can find something that actually works, Elgato still ignoring requests for the old Game Capture HD to be fixed with Twitch streaming).

One final note is that it appears health issues are still going to be playing a part in how long I will be able to stream...  After going back to my old surgeon, it's been determined that the masses that have to be removed are too big & is currently determined to be inoperable...  If I do go back to them again, I'm considering asking if skin grafting could be an option.  In any case, this issue is causing an ongoing issue that results in anemia as a result of loss of blood, so if I do get back to Twitch streaming, periods of how long I can stream for may be limited...

The other issue here is that because of the mass attacks from Steam, my channels are still on high alert & therefore high restrictions are still in place.  This shouldn't affect anybody who has an account over a year old, has followed the channel for over 6 months or has a verified phone number on their account, but for those who haven't met any of these conditions, chatting in the channel won't be an option...  These restrictions won't be reverted back to what is normal until 2 years after the last attack, which is currently expected to be 5/30/2026.  Additionally, permissions on my Discord server still remain as invite only & invites are only offered to those I trust on request, this will continue until the 2-year period has expired since the last attack from Steam trolls.

Due to cutoffs from certain PC gaming platforms, I will not be able to run games over their platforms until I am able to acquire a copy of Windows 10 (or higher) to be able to continue running these platforms & gain back the option to run games I already own over them (this includes a number of games that were updated since then & no longer run on Windows 7).  Due to my personal site & this blog being blacklisted on Bing, I am unwilling to put any more money into Microsoft, so any legitimate copy of a newer OS will only happen if gifted to me (I won't waste any of my own money on any more Microsoft products, this was also a deterant to getting an XBOX system when it was being considered, instead going back to Nintendo when I got a Switch).

Current games & platforms that I have confirmed as not runnable on my current OS include (but are not limited to) the following:

• Ubisoft Connect (formerly Uplay)
• 7 Days to Die
• For Honor 
• Grand Theft Auto IV
• No Man's Sky
• Soulworker

Note that this is only a small portion of this list, there are plenty of other games that I haven't considered streaming or playiing yet & some games that aren't allowed to be streamed on Twitch or videos of those games uploaded to YouTube. I will continue adding to the list as I run into more games owned that I can no longer run.

Another attack against YouTube channel through abuse of the report function

On April 7th, I got an email about a removal of content from my YouTube channel, which was a recording of multiple people teabagging other players in Destiny (for PlayStation 3) recorded back in 2015 (it took me a while, but I was eventually able to locate my backup of the video, which was an exportation from Twitch, so the original better quality version is likely still on Twitch), which came through while I was trying to get some last minute tasks done in Warframe (which unfortunately I was unable to complete before the weekly reset).  It was these particular attacks why I made it a point to back up each & every video on YouTube/Twitch & link everything over to Steam to preserve the descriptions of each video, the latter I would suspect is what lead to it getting hit with the mass of Steam trolls apparently still looking for ways to penalize me over my online content (ousting people for who they are based on their actions in games or on various sites).

Note that this isn't the first time one of these videos have been hit with a takedown in the past (the first one being back in 2015), however there was never a publication about it to WonderGamer.net because it was successfully appealed & the removal reversed.  Of course I've been keeping backups for this particular reason, specifically so it could be re-uploaded if necessary (to another site if necessary, although it should still be on Twitch regardless).

If the appeal does fail, I do intend on re-uploading the video, however it will have a different title & description if I do (at least on YouTube if it gets re-uploaded there).

As with any other case, I document everything that happens & keep logs of it to not only publicize these injustices, but also to keep track of when it happens for myself.  On the latter point, this resets the 2-year monitoring date of the thread where these attacks started on Steam, now potentially ending on April 7th, 2026, including more IP bans are likely to be placed on my personal site (after I get a chance to go through raw access logs again & see if there has been any excessive access of the site, which I haven't been doing for a while, but knew I would ultimately have to when I saw certain names popping up in my IRC logs for my Twitch channel, those logs still being kept track of here).  As I stated, this is a potential ending date, which is likely only to be extended because the attacks clearly haven't ended yet & probably won't until arrests are made.

This will likely result in a restriction on YouTube for uploading larger videos (over 10 minutes) for 90 days as it has in the past, any new videos will be held onto & uploaded at a later date if necessary, making it a point that their publications were postponed due to the attacks that lead to the publication of this new channel update in each of those videos' descriptions.

This also puts a longer hold on the lockups that are affecting public joining of my Discord channel & the increased chat restrictions on my Twitch channel back to the new 2-year date previously mentioned in this article.  This means that new Discord members on my server will need to be issued a private invite link to join (and they'll only get that if I already trust them) & the chat restriction for Twitch accounts that don't have a verified phone number on their accounts will either have to be at least 6 months old or have followed for 3 or more months (previously at 1 week & 10 minutes prior to the mass attacks coming from Steam).

Needless to say, the restrictions in place on YouTube (non-visible channel ratings, blocked comments & my personal refusal to stream to YouTube due to easy-to-manipulate standards) will be a PERMANENT restriction, given YouTube is 1 of 2 sites where trolls have managed to manipulate the report functions in their favor (the other being Steam after the attack that succeeded on January 14th, 2024, which is now detailed on my Steam profile & WonderGamer.net).  This also gives further reason why even though I've been on a waiting list for Google Fiber in my neighborhood for over 8 years (since moving to where I'm living now, there were a few years prior to that at the previous residence as well), I will be unlikely to switch to them when it does become available because I don't know that I can trust them with my payment information (probably the only exception I was going to make for paying for anything through them, but if the appeal fails, I will be looking at other options for my ISP when fiber does become available in my neighborhood)...

Regarding streaming

The lack of decent internet has been the primary reason why streaming has ended (or at least postponed indefinitely) on my Twitch channel, after switching from Xfinity back to CenturyLink (only to find they had the same problems that caused me to switch from them 4 years prior when I came back) & finding they do not offer a high enough upload rate to be effective in streaming online multiplayer games (Xfinity offering 10 mbps where I live now with the Boost plan, CenturyLink only offering 3 mbps at a higher cost), but perhaps somewhat effective for offline games.  Within a year of moving to my current residence (in 2016), CenturyLink (previously Qwest) were going door to door to tell people they were going to be putting in fiber, of course I was with Xfinity at the time & had some choice words for them when they came by to tell people; 8 years later, CenturyLink STILL has not followed through with their claim of putting in fiber in the neighborhood.

My father told me some time last year that there was a low income credit that was being offered through Xfinity, something that had me considering going back to them, but only if they weren't going to try & seek the early termination fees I had to file an FCC complaint against (their own staff telling me there wasn't a current active contract, only finding out after I had already had CenturyLink installed that they were hitting me for almost $200 in early termination fees); these fees were dropped through the FCC complaint, but Xfinity still refused to admit the actual reason for dropping them, giving another reason for it to try & save face (these details were published to WonderGamer.net in a review detailing the FCC complaint against them).  However I am finding that this credit may be a part of a federal affordability plan that may be getting killed this year, so this may kill any plans I have on going back to Xfinity if that is the case...

Unfortunately I just don't have access to a decent upload rate in my area that doesn't cost a fortune, I have to deal with what I have & this meant I was limited to uploads to YouTube for online games, which unsurprisingly is being attacked yet again (with a possible new publication regarding the attack to my personal site if it doesn't get reversed, making sure to take screenshots of each screen for it's publication if needed).

I believe it's time I contact Scripps news & ask them why gaming sites such as Steam (as well as PSN, I'll get into details about this at a later date) have not been getting the attention it should be regarding dangerous online environments for children (if it's this bad for me, you can only expect how detrimental this would be for a child).  This was previously stated in the ticket I filed with staff on Steam (apparently the only way anything that would get them to step in on it, using the report functions on Steam was getting very little done, if anything) & they were already aware of my intentions if the attacks didn't stop; while they may have been limited on Steam, it hasn't ended there, so it's time to make this a matter for the news to cover & hopefully start extending laws against social platforms to gaming platforms that also have these issues.

Pre-publication update

Before I managed to get this update published, I received an email from YouTube giving a decision on the appeal & this was that they were not going to reverse the decision against the video they decided to remove.  After spending roughly 2 hours typing all the information above, I wasn't simply going to remove it, so it's going to stay.  I will attempt to reupload the video with a different title & description.  If that fails, I will link over the video from Twitch to the Steam description since the video is still there & find another site to upload the backup to (probably adding another link to my YouTube channel to another media platform for videos that were moved after YouTube chose to allow the manipulation of their system).  There will also be another publication to WonderGamer.net regarding the allow manipulation of the report function by YouTube staff (aka Google staff).

EDIT:  Perhaps I should consider bringing up YouTube to Scripps also in regards to dangerous social platforms (they've already been mentioned on this particular point a number of times, I can still provide additional backup content regarding the matter however)...

Possible Warframe videos coming to YouTube channel

Considering I've been playing a lot of Warframe lately & have had an increase in running into Warframe leechers, I've decided to start recording my gameplay again.  These recordings could also result in Warframe highlight videos being uploaded/published on YouTube (unfortunately not on Twitch as I have had issues with audio desyncronization when trying to upload longer videos to Twitch, one of the reasons Twitch channel update videos are mostly exclusive to YouTube when previously recorded).

When I started playing Warframe regularly, I started using the SteamLink app on my nVidia Shield TV Pro (and older model, not the newer ones).  Unfortunately after the last Steam overhaul update a few days ago, performance over the SteamLink app took a serious turn for the worse, so I'm back to playing on the actual PC again.  It was determined after running into 2 leechers in 2 consecutive missions (1 per mission) that it was time for me to start recording missions in case I needed to start publishing videos of violations to go with reports again (again running into a third leecher in the third mission, which only destroyed my interest in continuing to play it for that day).  The 2 leechers previously stated were not recorded, but screenshots of their information was uploaded to my Steam profile, so the information is still out there regarding their disgraceful actions (or more accurately, inactions); I didn't even feel like messing with processing & uploading the video or reporting the third leecher, this was just the "I'm done with it" point for Warframe for the day...

Unfortunately I am still stuck with CenturyLink & a lower upload rate not capable of streaming online games (only offline games are possible with my current upload rate, the bandwidth from steaming interferes with online gameplay too much), so streaming to Twitch still is not a viable option.  Also as much as I want to get back into streaming, health is still an issue & I am unable to get a date set on my operation (which will require more recovery time as was the case when I last had this same operation done, something I didn't take seriously after the first surgery, which is likely why it has to be done again).

The plus side is my father told me that it appears that Xfinity/Comcast (my parents going back to being a customer of theirs) may have a disability discount, so I may start looking into going back to Comcast (at least for internet, if nothing else) in the near future.  Unfortunately with the lack of preferable health to do extended streams, any streams that might be done after the switch will still be limited to "as my health permits" & likely be no longer than a few hours (at the most)...

Internet problems again; further streams on hold...

While I was intending on doing a Dauntless stream later today, I've found that my internet with CenturyLink is again having issues & my upload rate currently is not high enough to run a stream of online multiplayer games (single player games perhaps still being an option).  I did attempt to schedule a repair call with a technician over their online chat, but the chat representative was unwilling to schedule the call & stated that I needed to contact my router's manufacturer (which isn't going to fix anything).  There's also a high probability that even if the technician does come out to fix it, my upload rate is going to be back to a mere 3 mbps, which means I won't be able to stream online games anymore anyways (not until CenturyLink offers a higher upload rate or I ultimately decide to switch back to Xfinity, the latter I've been attempting to avoid after what they pulled with me in 2018).  I've been waiting for Google Fiber to become available in my area to get a decent internet connect at a decent price, but this still remains unavailable in my neighborhood since I moved here in 2016...

So while I was considering a stream today, no stream will be possible while my internet connection is malfunctioning (even if I do get a service call scheduled, it's unlikely it will be fixed while I still have energy to work on the last day of Dauntless before the new season).  I'll be making a call to CenturyLink later today to try & set up a service call to have somebody come & look at the line, but if I can't get anywhere because they would rather put responsibility on my router for the problem (which is only a factor because my CenturyLink modem is in bridge mode, which was necessary because I wasn't able to update my personal site if it wasn't), I will need to make calls to start switching back to Xfinity at the end of this month.

On the plus side, if I do switch back to Xfinity, I should have the upload rate to be able to start streaming regularly again (this is provided I have the health to continue doing so, which hasn't been the case for the last few months).  The bigger issue is I may not have the funds to continue paying that bill once I have to start paying my medical insurance's premiums again (especially after what Patreon pulled with terminating my account), so currently we're just going to have to see where the future of my channel goes based on available ISP services, whether they are functioning correctly, how much they are going to cost if I switch again & whether I can afford those costs (not to mention the continuing health issues I haven't been able to get taken care of due to COVID sucking up hospital resources & preventing me from getting the surgery done that I've been trying to get taken care of for over 2 years)...

CenturyLink speed changes, continued streaming pending streaming performance tests

Roughly the first week of November of 2021, I noticed that my upload rates seems slower when uploading gaming videos to YouTube, so I decided to run another speed test on 11/8/2021 & found that it appears my speeds have changed (download speeds increasing roughly 10 Mbps from where I should have been, the uploading rate running roughly 4 Mbps higher than what I was originally quoted when I switched back to CenturyLink from Comcast...but roughly half of what I had when they fixed my internet back in July).

While 3 Mbps was not high enough to continue streaming online multiplayer games (what I was getting back when I first switched back to CenturyLink), 7 Mbps might be enough to allow me to continue streaming the games I'd prefer to be streaming (although I was getting 10 Mbps upload when I was with Comcast).  I'll be running some tests when I get a chance to stream again to see if this increase in upload rate allows me to stream at 3000 Kbps (what I prefer to stream at); If not, I'll again be restricted in my streaming capability to only single player games until decent internet is available in my area (that doesn't feel like it costs an arm, leg & newborn child every month...).

 I'm still waiting on Google Fiber to be become available in my area, with any luck, maybe Biden's new budget plans will get these companies to start laying fiber optic cables for fiber internet plans once again (as they stated 4 or 5 years ago when I first moved here, later finding out that those plans were abandoned when CenturyLink changed their management company).

Sometime after 9 PM on July 11th, I noticed that my internet had started to have issues, only giving me about half of the transfer rate I was supposed to be getting since my switch to CenturyLink (40 mbps download & 3 upload), which can be seen here:

After the call on the 11th, they said they were going to have somebody look at it, but I never got an update on this & attempted to contact them again for a followup on the 13th, to which I got 2 answers that didn't go anywhere (the first call not saying a thing after their picked up, the second call not saying anything until I started repeating "Hello?" to see if anybody was even there, they eventually asked for my name & account number, where after I gave them that information, they started claiming that they couldn't hear me speaking.

I tried again the following day (the 14th) in an attempt to get an update on what was going on, finally getting somebody who responded, it seems that a support ticket wasn't even opened on the first call I made on the 11th.  I did start messing with the cables attached to the back of my modem & did a few more power recycles to see if it was just a loose cable, I got it working again (at full speed), so I closed the work ticket & went to bed (spending more time that I should have trying to get this working & mitigating what online tasks I could get done while the connection was malfunctioning).  When I woke up however, I saw that the issue was back (this time on the other line to the modem), so I rescheduled the previous work order (luckily I still had the email with the confirm, reschedule & cancel links in it).

The technician came to work on the issue on the 15th, stating that the problem was simply a clasp that had disconnected itself from the connection, so all he had to do was reclasp it & my internet was working at full capacity again.

After the got it working again, I was discussing the transfer rates with him & prorated refunds for time that the internet was not working at full capacity.  He explained that I would get an automatic prorated refund based on when the support ticket was opened, but this would only be fore the time that the ticket was opened (this means I'd only be getting back to the 14th, the 11th to the 13th I'd get stiffed on).  I stated that I might have to call CenturyLink's billing to try & get back the rest of it (stating that I had speedtest & call logs regarding the matter I could probably use as evidence to get the rest of it).

Beyond that, he also was talking to me about the capabilities of what I should be able to get in transfer rates on my home (this coming after I was speaking to my neighbor about his outage with CenturyLink, a full outage for a couple days in his case, but he was getting a MUCH FASTER transfer rate).  The technician stated that I should be able to get a higher transfer rate & for testing sake, he increased my upload rate to test it's capabilities.  While he increased it to 20 mbps for this testing period (which he was intending on lowering back to what CenturyLink is claiming what should be available in my area, despite my neighbors being able to get 100 mbps upload & 40 upload), I was getting roughly 13 mbps when I ran a speedtest with the elevated speeds.

It appears for the time being, he's going to leave it at the higher transfer rate (at least until CenturyLink's system kicks it back to the mere 3 that was assigned to me when I switched back to them in 2018).  For this reason, I decided I wouldn't be seeking the addition credit to my account for the 3 days that isn't going to be prorated in the automatic refund as it's going to improve my ability to continue doing stuff online (at least as long as the increased upload rate remains for the 3 days that did not count due to their not creating a support ticket during the original conversation on the 11th).

Note that I have not been streaming to Twitch since the switch to CenturyLink & the initial tests that made it clear I could not continue streaming online multiplayer games with only 3 mbps upload rate, only leaving the possibility for single player games that didn't rely on internet bandwidth for decent functionality.  However provided this upload rate sticks for a while, I may be able to go back to streaming to Twitch until it's lowered again (at that point we're back to the waiting game of waiting for either CenturyLink to wire the neighborhood with fiber and ultimately until Google Fiber becomes available in my area, which is probably the only thing that is going to end my boycott that is keeping me from putting my payment information on any Google service after YouTube allowed Bandai/Namco to go after my YouTube channel simply because of a link that went to a review of one of their games on my personal site that they didn't agree with).

Long story short, those that are following the channel can expect some more streams to Twitch (at least until the upload rate is lowered again), so it's a pleasant change after 4 days of hell of not being able to do half of what I've been attempting to get done, we'll just have to see how long it lasts before I have to stop streaming again...

Decision made, no more multiplayer streaming until I get better internet

On 3/3/2020, I decided to run some tests with my new internet connection to see what I would be capable of on my encoder without causing too many problems with the games themselves (provided the game was online multiplayer).  Keep in mind with my 10 Mbps upload rate with Xfinity, I was able to stream with no bandwidth problems at 3000 kbps (probably could have even gone higher).  What I found was that in Fortnite, I had to lower the encoding bitrate a whopping 2000 kbps (this was a mere 1000 kbps left) to play the game without lag while streaming & the videos when I went back through them were blocky as hell (even in the recorded versions).  At this point it's been determined that streaming multiplayer games while I'm stuck with this shit upload rate with CenturyLink just is not an option, however recording & uploading to YouTube is still optional (not to Twitch while uploads are tied in with premiers).  On the other hand, I should still be able to stream single player games at 2500 kbps, but as it is now, I can't see streaming blocky video that nobody wants to watch is an option, I will have to wait until Google Fiber because available in my area, I can't really go back to paying over $100 per month on disability income alone with Xfinity & I wouldn't while they are still claiming there's an early-termination fee on my closed account (I was told there wasn't an active contract only 4 days prior)...

Twitch version
lower quality public version

Twitch version embed broken due to API change, have not managed to get it fixed yet

YouTube version
Higher quality unlisted version with moderated comments

ISP switch currently a bust, Twitch streams are currently up in the air

The attempt to switch to CenturyLink for the time being has been unsuccessful, the technician not only leaving before the order had been completed, but the modem currently is getting no connection to the internet after recycling the power on it. Until the order is completed, it looks like I'm still stuck with Xfinity. Using the connection I still have with Xfinity, I spoke to 2 representatives to get this matter resolved over the phone for close to 1 hour & 36 minutes, looks like CenturyLink is still incapable of being able to tell who is supposed to fix what & they are still bouncing customers around like ping pong balls (this is what originally got me to switch from them back in 2014)...

I still don't know where this is going or when I'm going to have a stable internet connection with a new ISP, ultimately it's looking better to just remove the boost option from my Xfinity bill & eat the lower speeds with higher costs if CenturyLink can't get their shit in order... Most of my day today has already been wasted with what CenturyLink has been dragging out & the installation technician leaving with the statement of, "That's on you" when I stated we needed to figure out why the modem wouldn't work with my router (attempting to put the modem into bridge mode, which made the administration interface inaccessible & an internet connection completely lost after recycling the power).

Currently the status of streams regarding my Twitch channel are up in the air as I'm not certain where the status of my ISP is going, temporary or not, I can't get anything affordable that is dependable & this is killing my ability to do anything online worthwhile... I'll give another update when I know better where this is going, but I currently don't have anything concrete, I may end up abandoning this switch & just lowering my speed with Xfinity to get the bill down a bit or actually considering going with a satellite provider as a temporary solution until I have something dependable to switch to...