Avalon batch [2] countdown!

[el_rlee]

5:10 "our new SMT line production bla bla in a few weeks from now"

That's really really bad news.
I would appreciate them outsourcing this step, as they already did in the past.

Building production can take time, make problems and deadlines are hardly met - even by professionals which do it all the time. And for this guys it's the first time, no offence.

[SolarSilver]

I would appreciate them outsourcing this step, as they already did in the past.

Building production can take time, make problems and deadlines are hardly met - even by professionals which do it all the time. And for this guys it's the first time, no offence.

I don't understand how they can't use the old setup, unless the installation of the new SMT line makes the whole area unusable.

[cedivad]

I would appreciate them outsourcing this step, as they already did in the past.

Building production can take time, make problems and deadlines are hardly met - even by professionals which do it all the time. And for this guys it's the first time, no offence.

I don't understand how they can't use the old setup, unless the installation of the new SMT line makes the whole area unusable.

Or maybe the old smt line is busy?

So the new smt line will be ready in a few weeks, and they plan to finish shipping batch 3 sometime next month... Something doesent add up...

[SolarSilver]

Or maybe the old smt line is busy?

In a competitive business where timing is crucial (ask any BFL customer), this would sound like very bad planning...

[kendog77]

Alt coins don't pay and FPGAs are no longer worth it since ASICS.

It is no longer cost-effective to BUY FPGAs. Running them is still OK.

Even the most power inefficient FPGA (the BFL single) is still worth it to run. For me it still makes around 10x the electricity it uses and my electric rates are pretty high.

You may want to check into mining Terracoins. It seems to be going into a boom right now and you should get 2.4 times more than with btc. Apparently (just found all this out), fpga miners are all flocking to trc.

Terracoin difficulty adjusts very quickly, so it is unlikely that someone would be able to take advantage of this temporary "boom". Those who mine Terracoin because of the potential for high profitability are going to be disappointed when the difficulty adjusts up within minutes.

[cedivad]

Or maybe the old smt line is busy?

In a competitive business where timing is crucial (ask any BFL customer), this would sound like very bad planning...

Busy doing something they want that smt line to do... Something that fits perfectly with the hashrate increase...

[el_rlee]

Or maybe the old smt line is busy?

I don't think that there is an old SMT line.
I guess production was outsourced so far, that's common and doesn't make too much trouble.

[cedivad]

Or maybe the old smt line is busy?

I don't think that there is an old SMT line.
I guess production was outsourced so far, that's common and doesn't make too much trouble.

So whats the problem with using the old outsourced smt line after 2 months of delays?
I'm tired of these delays... I didn't have the time to listen to the interview, but if the transcript is correct, they basically announced another "few weeks" delay... That can't seriously be correct.
Also, they managed to explain the lack of replies to the tickets? Seriously? How?

[el_rlee]

Or maybe the old smt line is busy?

I don't think that there is an old SMT line.
I guess production was outsourced so far, that's common and doesn't make too much trouble.

So whats the problem with using the old outsourced smt line after 2 months of delays?

The production line being first priority, delivering second?

[cedivad]

Or maybe the old smt line is busy?

I don't think that there is an old SMT line.
I guess production was outsourced so far, that's common and doesn't make too much trouble.

So whats the problem with using the old outsourced smt line after 2 months of delays?

The production line being first priority, delivering second?

After 2 months of delay where their customers lost 200+btc per Avalon?
And how does that sums with them not wanting to sell a batch 4? You don't need the smt line for selling chips.

Come on guys... Get real. This is worse than BFL.

[el_rlee]

And how does that sums with them not wanting to sell a batch 4? You don't need the smt line for selling chips.

But for your own mining farm, which I guess is the big master plan.
Correct me if Yifu revealed their plans in the speech and it should be something else...

[cedivad]

And how does that sums with them not wanting to sell a batch 4? You don't need the smt line for selling chips.

But for your own mining farm, which I guess is the big master plan.
Correct me if Yifu revealed their plans in the speech and it should be something else...

Correct.

Now, in what world using the old smt line for your units while your customers wait for the new smt line coming god knows when is not a scam?

[el_rlee]

Outsourcing also makes trouble, and I think they have enough of that getting their SMT line running

[miningusa]

They will come good, just can't jump ship.

[BitAddict]

I hate all these delays with nearly 0 info on what's going on....
I hope they're working hard.

[martinm]

I hardly believe that they have a own SMT- Line as long they don't provide any prove. The pictures shown us in interviews are not their SMT-Line, they outsource to other companies. I wrote the following already some time ago in a short review about BitSyncom:

The company assets are clearly unknown, due to the fact that nowbody ever visited any production facility of BitSyncom, we can assume that they don't have any own machines. The pictures shown in interviews of the representative of BitSyncom are clearly the same facility were the Icarus boards were already manufactured, and this facility does not belong to BitSyncom.
The blog post of XianFu shows the same facility in April 2012 when he visited this company the first time:  http://www.openmobilefree.net/?p=1361

(compare the photos of the facility in the post from 2012 with them included in any interview that shows "their SMT line")

The other fact is that they use customer machines for mining, some people reported that their machines arrived full of dust, like they were used for long time. However they even approved that they use the machines for mining some time ago.

On the convention was stated:
1. They are dealing with potential security issues in china. e.g. ngzhang  doesn't drive his own car anymore, doesn't use his old cellphone, doesn't live where he used to...
-> Not so surprising, he is now a rich man and made a lot of chinese people unhappy by not keeping their shipping dates and setting up bullshit terms. Besides this, it's unclear how their organized their operation inside of china, maybe they acted without a company, don't paid tax or whatever. It's also clear that the chinese government is NOT against Bitcoin and this has nothing to do with Bitcoin by its nature. The TV Station CCTV broadcasted some days ago a 30 minute long documentary about Bitcoin, this documentary was a positive for Bitcoins.

2. They have physically secured the transportation route between them and the shipper in hopes of preventing damaged avalons (said 6-7 Avalons had  broken corners or damage).
Good news, however they should inform customers how to deal with support cases. They don't provide a customer support phone number, don't answer support tickets, don't react on e-mails, so what should customers do when they face any problems? Why don't employ some Chinese students to handle support, this will just cost 650$ or less a month!

Disclaimer:
I have orders at BitSyncom and BFL

[Elokane]

OK, back to topic please

has anybody talked to Yifu at the Bitcoin 2013 conference?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaZPnHCHnNQ

Still waiting for news on shipping...

That was a good video, thanks for posting the link (or whoever the original author) was. Cleared up a lot of stuff (about the reason for them not answering tickets and all) and Yifu does seem like a real decent guy.

What's the reason they're not answering tickets?

[SellingMyGPUs]

What's the reason they're not answering tickets?

In short: it's too much hassle.

About 20% of the emails coming in is about 'real' problems, the rest is people nagging and seeing if they can cut the queue by offering more money, so in general they consider all requests for support to be an annoyance and decided to start ignoring them.
 
The only thing it takes is somebody to sit down each day for 60 minutes (one hour) and reply to emails.

Most of the emails can be replied to by stating "sorry, the computer says no so please go away"

The rest is getting punished by the "Soup nazi attitude"

And figuring out why their product packing is inadequate is also taking the procrastination route, speculating about "sabotage" while the simple solution is that the modules need to be screwed down from the top and from the bottom of the device (instead of simply the bottom right now). Try shipping a rackmount with 4 GPU cards and you'll end up with the same problem. DHL will refuse your insurance claim for a good reason.

Seriously, if you want to run a multi 100k BTC company and you can't be arsed to show some elementary understanding of how to deal with customers, then you should run a business where you have no customers. Or you should start treat your customers with the minimal respect they deserve, if memory serves me right, batch #2 customers saved Avalons ass by providing them with funding to fulfill their batch #1 obligations...

Can we get at least a minimal newsletter update? I have no problem in getting a notification things are running late, at least if there is a feedback.

Now it's all speculation and emotion... Some problems are so easy to prevent...

[dchou]

The reason nzhang has to hire a security detail is due to the perception in China that he is raking it in, not necessarily due to the fact.

In our hallway conversation with Yifu after his talk, I believe he mentioned that Batch 2 was a break even to money losing proposition (someone else who was there can confirm).  This was why the price of Batch 3 went up.  SMT lines aren't cheap.

[Minor Miner]

The reason nzhang has to hire a security detail is due to the perception in China that he is raking it in, not necessarily due to the fact.

In our hallway conversation with Yifu after his talk, I believe he mentioned that Batch 2 was a break even to money losing proposition (someone else who was there can confirm).  This was why the price of Batch 3 went up.  SMT lines aren't cheap.

I do not understand.   Why buy an SMT Line if you are not going to make machines anymore?   I thought Generation 2, they were just selling chips?