BTW, in terms of the timing of the Firmware Updates, here is some info on our reasoning. I posted this in another forum, but it bears repeating here:

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First I just want to mention that the latency was a network problem at the datacenter we have core database equipment in and wasn't related to the firmware update. It's two separate issues.

With the firmware update though and some similar types of maintenance, we've debated it but in the end opted to do them during the evenings instead of late at night. This is only for maintenance that should have almost no impact for most users. If it would cause a major disruption for most users, we do it off peak.

There are different views on this, but ultimately anytime something like this is done, there will be a handful of users that run into issues even if 99% of the customers don't notice it (assuming it goes smoothly). For those customers, it's better for them to notice the disruption so it can be corrected (if they need to reboot as an example) give the nature of this service. In the past we've seen cases where doing it at night was not the best solution.

As an example, we've done something overnight and then a user went to work (not knowing it's down) leaving a sick spouse at home who had surgery recently. When they called to check in, they couldn't get through. If they'd have noticed, this situation wouldn't come up. That's a true example.

I guess the best short answer is that it shouldn't be noticeable for 99% of users even during peak, but "if" there are issues they will likely not be self-healing and will require a reboot or something along those lines. This is a contrast to something like a website which would require no user intervention to come back online if maintenance didn't go well.

Another side point is that if there are issues that come up, our full support center is available to help those users vs them waiting or dealing with a limited support team.

So again, I know some don't agree with this maintenance philosophy, but ultimately we felt it was the lesser of two evils for someone to notice it vs it being down and them not knowing it's down while they're missing calls.