[ale] cheapest DSL service... ?

[Dow Hurst]

Our users have Earthlink/Mindspring, CharterCable, and 
Bellsouth.  I have Earthlink.  Each user has slightly 
different configurations of DSL modems and accounts. 
Overall, once the service is setup with our firewalls, it is 
pretty transparent until the provider changes parameters on 
logins or decide to do maintenance.  I am talking about 7 
users including myself here.  Cost ranges between $50 and 
$70 per month too since some are static and some aren't. 
When downtime occurs it usually means a full day to a month 
of problems for those on Earthlink or Bellsouth.  I mean 
that about a full month.  I would recommend Earthlink since 
once I've gotten past low level support, I have had decent 
Linux support.  This recommendation is only for a user that 
can put up with outages of at least once per year of a full 
day to a month without dying.  Sort of reliable in that most 
of the time it just works.

If you want a more reliable and Linux friendly service, I 
would definitely go with Speakeasy.  I've wanted to switch 
but Earthlink works well enough that I don't want to change 
my email or deal with any outage problems.  I still have 
this on the ToDo list at a low priority.  The next long 
outage might force me over the edge! ;-)

Okay, those are my thoughts.  I definitely recommend using 
Bob Toxen for setting up a standalone firewall that 
autoconnects to your provider and is managed for updates and 
security by him.  We have 7 in the field and 3 at KSU.  They 
are the machines that cause me the least trouble and time. ;-)

Also, an account with Linux support, better reliability, no 
PPPoE or PPPoA, and static IP is worth a significant extra 
cost in my opinion.  I would say eliminating the PPPoE and 
PPPoA would significantly reduce our DSL problems.  I've 
never had a single issue with the user on Charter Cable, 
however, it they won't talk about Linux at all.

Best of luck,
Dow


Courtney Thomas,,, wrote:
> Who do you recommend Dow ?
> 
> Thank you.
> 
> Dow Hurst wrote:
> 
>> I really despise that now!  Reliability and quality mean a whole lot 
>> more in the long run.  I've spent many days working on unreliable DSL 
>> connections that ended up being a provider problem.  That just should 
>> not be.
>> Dow
>>
>>
>> Christopher Fowler wrote:
>>
>>> Many people have a higher value of their money than they do of their
>>> time.  They'll pick the cheapest route regardless of the amount of work
>>> involved.
>>> On Wed, 2004-01-14 at 09:07, Geoffrey wrote:
>>>
>>>> Christopher Fowler wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> An average internet user would be bellsouth or Earthlink.
>>>>>
>>>>> An engineer gets Speedfactory or Speakeasy.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> I don't understand that.  I do understand why 'an engineer' would 
>>>> choose Speedfactory or Speakeasy.  I would expect an 'educated' 
>>>> average internet user would as well.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Ale mailing list
>>> Ale at ale.org
>>> http://www.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale
>>>
>>
> 
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> 

-- 
__________________________________________________________
Dow Hurst                  Office: 770-499-3428            *
Systems Support Specialist    Fax: 770-423-6744            *
1000 Chastain Rd. Bldg. 12                                 *
Chemistry Department SC428  Email:   dhurst at kennesaw.edu   *
Kennesaw State University         Dow.Hurst at mindspring.com *
Kennesaw, GA 30144                                         *
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