On Fri, Feb 10, 2012 at 1:19 PM, Eric J Esslinger <eesslin...@fpu-tn.com>wrote:
> We're toying with the idea of a low bitrate 'lifeline' internet on our > cable system, maybe even bundled with a certain level of cable service. > > First question, if you happen to be doing something like this, what bit > rates are you providing. > Well, a lifeline telephone is effectively 64kb/s, up and down. Makes me remember when I had my first ISDN line and was happy to get beyond dial-up rates. > Second question, though 'real' internet customers all get real IP's, what > would you think of doing something like this with 'large scale' nat > instead. Understand, we're only talking about basic internet, something > like a 256k/96k (or similar) connect, not something that would be used by a > serious user. (One thing we are looking at is some older dial up users we > still have, most of which could go onto cable just fine but don't want to > pay the price). > Force SMTP to something sane, block all the 139, etc. MS ports. Basic web, telnet, and ssh. Set it up like a coffee house. Use a proxy and make them register. It's not like they are chatting 911, ya know. If they have NAT issues, then they need a real account. If they can get to google, wikimedia, or what ever a high school student needs to research papers, then they have what they need for a life-line. Let chat protocols through, that's low bandwidth. I'm guessing that this is done as a favor to the customer that won't/can't pay for a real account. But let them know it's not a real account. This is just to give them a taste of real IP and not a solution to all their problems. Shove them a NATted DHCP address and if they can't figure that out then refer them to the local wizkid or a better plan with support. Let them know up front that this is a basic service and don't expect phone support. If you're a cable company then they can call and say the cable is out. -- Joe Hamelin, W7COM, Tulalip, WA, 360-474-7474