Re: Comcast Alternatives? Was Re: Why must Comcast's DNS suck?

2006-11-16 Thread Jerry Feldman
Not that I am a real fan of comcast, but I've had cable modem for over
12 years. Since Comcast took over ATTBI, the speed had been upgraded to
6Mbps, and the cable connection is rock solid. With ATT, we had a
couple of outages a year. Same with Mediaone and its predecessor,
Highway1. 
-- 
Jerry Feldman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Boston Linux and Unix user group
http://www.blu.org PGP key id:C5061EA9
PGP Key fingerprint:053C 73EC 3AC1 5C44 3E14 9245 FB00 3ED5 C506 1EA9


signature.asc
Description: PGP signature
___
gnhlug-discuss mailing list
gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org
http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/


Re: Fios. Was: Re: Comcast Alternatives? Was Re: Why must Comcast's DNS suck?

2006-11-15 Thread Thomas Charron
On 11/15/06, Andrew W. Gaunt <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
One thing I noticed about the action tech is a configuration screen forDynamic DNS updates.This is something I'd  been meaniung to do for some time so I created anaccount with DynDNS andthe action tech router sent an update after entered the info into its
config etc. Cool I thought untilrecently when my IP changed. I presumed the router would autonomouslyupdate DynDNS; it did not.It updated when I manually told it to send an update. Seems like an IPchange should trigger an
update. Anyone else notice this?  This happens often with clients that talk to DynDNS.  SO many are broken it isn't even funny, and for automated 'this is my IP'  informative messages, depending on the client, they'll actually block and  ignore the informative message simply becouse the clients spam MUCH faster then they should.  A manual update will often work, as it's a different message.
  Thomas
___
gnhlug-discuss mailing list
gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org
http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/


Re: Fios. Was: Re: Comcast Alternatives? Was Re: Why must Comcast's DNS suck?

2006-11-15 Thread Andrew W. Gaunt


I just recently switched from Adelphia "Power Link" (now Comcast) to 
FIOS and in short,
I like it. I haven't had it long enough to know how reliable it is, but, 
the IP has changed once
in the less that 1/2 month it's been installed. The router Verizon 
supplies is made by "Action Tech"
which seems to be very capable. All I've done with it so far is forward 
ports 22(ssh) and 81(http)
to my linux box. According to the Verizon installer (who was very 
willing to chat about the technology
and seemed to be excited about it personally) other routers can be used 
and there is not problem
with that unless you want support. They will only support the router 
they provide. I was originally
going to replace it with a LinkSYS running DD-WRT but have since decided 
to keep the action tech
as it does pretty much everything I need. I use a linksys wrt54g wunning 
dd-wrt (small version for
ver 5 router) to provide wireless in the house instead of the action 
tech (which has a wireless interface

too).

One thing I noticed about the action tech is a configuration screen for 
Dynamic DNS updates.
This is something I'd  been meaniung to do for some time so I created an 
account with DynDNS and
the action tech router sent an update after entered the info into its 
config etc. Cool I thought until
recently when my IP changed. I presumed the router would autonomously 
update DynDNS; it did not.
It updated when I manually told it to send an update. Seems like an IP 
change should trigger an

update. Anyone else notice this?

Oh, BTW - The Verizon Web page thingy that tells you if FIOS is 
available was not accurate for my
location. It told me it was not available, but, when I called to b*tch 
about something else the verizon
person asked if I was interested in FIOS. I thought about it for 
.1ms and said yes. I had my
doubts until one day later that week there was a fibre drop strung along 
side the copper drop.


_Andrew Gaunt


Fred wrote:


On Tuesday 14 November 2006 11:25, kenta uttered thusly:

 


I'd love to try Verzion's FiOS but they're not offering it in my part of
Nashua. :( If anyone here has it, how is it?  I'm also not sure how any
local DSL providers are stacking up these days.  Feedback is appreciated.

-Kenta
___
gnhlug-discuss mailing list
gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org
http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
   



 



___
gnhlug-discuss mailing list
gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org
http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/


Re: Comcast Alternatives? Was Re: Why must Comcast's DNS suck?

2006-11-14 Thread Ben Scott

On 11/14/06, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

  The best results I've gotten, looking at the whole picture (price,
performance, reliability, customer service, etc.) are with local ISPs
doing fixed wireless.  The major advantage is that by eliminating a


Really?!  I don't know this to be very popular.  Is it now?


 Popular?  I certainly like it.  It is not that common, though, which
I suspect is what you're really after.  You need RF line-of-sight and
cannot have more than several miles between stations.  As it happens,
there's a big hill in the middle of Amesbury, covered in radio towers,
so it's convenient here.  Elsewhere in hilly New England?  I dunno.  A
lot of it is luck-of-the-draw.  Find out if there are any ISPs homed
near you and give them a call.


Any local providers you can suggest?


 We're using MVA at work (http://www.mva.net).  I'm generally happy
with it.  We're getting everything we pay for.  It's a symmetric feed
with SLA, CIR, and all those other acronyms.  I'm sure a home user
would be horrified at what we pay for it, but it's a whole different
class of service vs. a consumer feed.  They do offer consumer feeds,
but I have no idea what the terms or rates are like.

 Reliability has been very good over the three years or so we've had
it.  There was one outage due to equipment failure at the tower once.
It went out around 4 PM and was back later that evening.  Said owner
was there, at the base of the tower, in the rain, until the techs got
finished fixing things.  There have been maybe two or three other
times were performance got bad due to upstream circuit trouble, but
those were all resolved within an hour or so.  The NET^W NYNEX^W Bell
Atlantic^W^W Verizon frame relay circuit we had before that wasn't any
more reliable.

 Again, the "local company" factor is huge.  Trouble is always
acknowledged and sometimes proactively reported.  I'm on a first-name
basis with the owner, and I can call right into their NOC if I need
to.  No run around, no recordings, no help desk b*llsh*t.  Even if
something happens, I at least know what and why and when.  That's
worth a lot to me.

-- Ben
___
gnhlug-discuss mailing list
gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org
http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/


Re: Comcast Alternatives? Was Re: Why must Comcast's DNS suck?

2006-11-14 Thread aluminumsulfate
> Date: Tue, 14 Nov 2006 12:26:32 -0500
> From: "Ben Scott" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>

>   The best results I've gotten, looking at the whole picture (price,
> performance, reliability, customer service, etc.) are with local ISPs
> doing fixed wireless.  The major advantage is that by eliminating a

Really?!  I don't know this to be very popular.  Is it now?  Any local
providers you can suggest?

> incompetent monopolies.  If I have a serious problem with the wireless
> feed at work, I can drive to the ISP's office in the next town, and
> beat the owner over the head with his radio.

I find the GNU Emacs manual more effective when used in this manner.
I find it tends to instill more fear in the person I'm beating. ;)
___
gnhlug-discuss mailing list
gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org
http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/


Fios. Was: Re: Comcast Alternatives? Was Re: Why must Comcast's DNS suck?

2006-11-14 Thread Fred
On Tuesday 14 November 2006 11:25, kenta uttered thusly:

> I'd love to try Verzion's FiOS but they're not offering it in my part of
> Nashua. :( If anyone here has it, how is it?  I'm also not sure how any
> local DSL providers are stacking up these days.  Feedback is appreciated.
>
> -Kenta
> ___
> gnhlug-discuss mailing list
> gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org
> http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/

I've been using Fios for quite some time now, and if you search the archives 
I did a write-up on them shortly after the install. 

Well, it's been quite a few months, and the service has been nice and fast. 
Not one outage that I can recall. Just friggin there, reliable, and 
invisible.

There are a couple of caveats -- as there always are -- with it, though. For 
me, who likes to keep ssh sessions open all the time, Fios tends to drop 
inactive TCP/IP connections after a time (a few minutes). Got around this 
problem with enabling keepalive in ssh.

Another caveat with Fios, if you get their dynamic IP offering, is that 
dynamic means dynamic. Every so often Fios will shift the IP, open 
connections or not. Generally about once or twice a month. If your router 
(there is no "modem") gets turned off, you will always have a different IP 
when it is turned back on. 

The dynamic IP problem was an issue for me since I do development "on the 
road", as it were, but got around this problem by writing a couple of 
scripts to update my name servers with the IP periodically. If you don't 
have your own name servers, you can always use something like DynDNS, I 
suppose. 

But compared to Crumcast, it's reliable, and much cheaper -- something on the 
order of $35 per month for their 2Mbit/5Mbit bandwidth -- their lowest 
offering. For modest increases you can get higher down bandwidth, but they 
are stingy on their up bandwidth, keeping you to 2Mbit for most offerings. 
Also, the bandwidth with Fios stays consistent -- I've not seen slowdowns 
like I have with Comcast. 

Overall, I am happy with Verzion and what they've done. Which is saying a lot 
since I dealt with them back in 2000, where they could barely spell "DSL", 
let alone get it right. Back then, they promised me DSL service, then made 
me wait for months, only to tell me that they "ran out of ports". Sigh. Now, 
they waited on me hand and foot during the installation, including fishing 
wires through walls and the like. And their Customer Service also greatly 
improved, and actually understood my technical questions, which blew me 
away. Usually I have to fight the "is it plugged in" queries, but not this 
time.

Having worked with DSLAMs and the like in the past, when fibre to the last 
mile seemed like a pipe dream, we've come quite a long way. Phew!

-Fred
___
gnhlug-discuss mailing list
gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org
http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/


Re: Earthlink DNS (Was: Re: Comcast Alternatives? Was Re: Why must Comcast's DNS suck?)

2006-11-14 Thread Ben Scott

On 11/14/06, Mark Polhamus <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

http://blogs.earthlink.net/2006/09/more_info_on_dead_domain_handl.php


Earthlink says: "...this isn't something that you'll be able to get
customer support help with..."

 My response would then be: This isn't something you'll get my
subscriber fee with.

 Voting with your wallet is a great form of democracy.

-- Ben
___
gnhlug-discuss mailing list
gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org
http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/


Re: Comcast Alternatives? Was Re: Why must Comcast's DNS suck?

2006-11-14 Thread kenta

On Tue, 14 Nov 2006, Travis Roy wrote:
When I worked at the MediaOne NOC (under my horrible manager there) some guy 
called saying he was going to kill and/or beat one of the callcenter people 
(they worked upstairs).


Now I remember why I paid you less than everyone else.  GOOD TIMES.


(-1 point for me for clogging everyone's inbox, but it just had to be 
done)


-Kenta

___
gnhlug-discuss mailing list
gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org
http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/


Earthlink DNS (Was: Re: Comcast Alternatives? Was Re: Why must Comcast's DNS suck?)

2006-11-14 Thread Mark Polhamus
Travis Roy wrote:
> 
>> On Tue, 14 Nov 2006, Michael ODonnell wrote:
>>> I have no love for ComcCast - I'd drop them yesterday
>>> if I had any better (or even comparable) choices -
> 
> I use Earthlink for my cable service...
> 
> It's from Comcast, and my bill actually comes from Comcast, but I get an
> Earthlink IP, Earthlink DNS, and Earthlink reverse DNS.
> 
> I did this because I have DirecTV. If you have Comcast for TV and
> internet, then Comcast is cheaper, but if you don't use Comcast for TV
> service Earthlink is cheaper (due to Concast's bundle discounts).
> 
> I've been very happy with it.

I'm a long time Earthlink subscriber -- started with dialup but now have
Earthlink through my cable broadband.  Until recently I have been
perfectly happy, but now I have one huge issue with Earthlink:

Remember when VeriSign decided to grab all nonexistent domain names and
return the IP address of  their "helpful" search service called
SiteFinder?  They did it using a wildcard DNS entry.  See
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sitefinder.

Now Earthlink is doing the same thing for users of it's default DNS
servers (from DHCP).  Enter a non-existent DNS domain and you get an
invalid "found" response with the IP address of their search/advertising
portal run by an outfit called barefruit.com.

You can read Earthlink's blog about this "helpful" service and the
furious responses from users here:

http://blogs.earthlink.net/2006/08/handling_dead_domains_1.php
http://blogs.earthlink.net/2006/09/update_on_dead_domain_handling_1.php
http://blogs.earthlink.net/2006/09/more_info_on_dead_domain_handl.php

See also
http://weblog.infoworld.com/gripeline/archives/2006/09/earthlink_tries.html.

I'm an Earthlink subscriber (a reluctant one after this "SiteFinder"
stunt) but I've configured alternate DNS.


-- Mark Polhamus

___
gnhlug-discuss mailing list
gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org
http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/


Re: Comcast Alternatives? Was Re: Why must Comcast's DNS suck?

2006-11-14 Thread Travis Roy



If I have a serious problem with the wireless
feed at work, I can drive to the ISP's office in the next town, and
beat the owner over the head with his radio.


Just don't call first..

When I worked at the MediaOne NOC (under my horrible manager there)  
some guy called saying he was going to kill and/or beat one of the  
callcenter people (they worked upstairs).


We were in lockdown for a few hours and couldn't leave the building..  
Not that there was much to do at 3am, but it still sucked.

___
gnhlug-discuss mailing list
gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org
http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/


Re: Comcast Alternatives? Was Re: Why must Comcast's DNS suck?

2006-11-14 Thread Ben Scott

On 11/14/06, kenta <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

That being said, does anyone have experiences with other residential high
speed providers that are in the same price range as Comcast?


 At that price range, your options are always going to be fairly limited.

 The best results I've gotten, looking at the whole picture (price,
performance, reliability, customer service, etc.) are with local ISPs
doing fixed wireless.  The major advantage is that by eliminating a
dependency on local wired infrastructure, you also eliminate large
incompetent monopolies.  If I have a serious problem with the wireless
feed at work, I can drive to the ISP's office in the next town, and
beat the owner over the head with his radio.

-- Ben
___
gnhlug-discuss mailing list
gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org
http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/


Re: Comcast Alternatives? Was Re: Why must Comcast's DNS suck?

2006-11-14 Thread Cole Tuininga
On Tue, 2006-11-14 at 11:25 -0500, kenta wrote:
> That being said, does anyone have experiences with other residential high 
> speed providers that are in the same price range as Comcast?

I've used Worldpath (http://www.worldpath.com) for home DSL for several
years now and couldn't be happier.  The service has been reliable, the
rare occasions where I've needed to talk to a tech have been pleasant
with knowledgeable (and local) individuals.

I get about 4.2Mb down and about 768Kb up.  I get that and a static IP
for about $50/month.

-- 
Cole Tuininga <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
http://www.code-energy.com/

___
gnhlug-discuss mailing list
gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org
http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/


Re: Comcast Alternatives? Was Re: Why must Comcast's DNS suck?

2006-11-14 Thread Travis Roy



On Tue, 14 Nov 2006, Michael ODonnell wrote:

I have no love for ComcCast - I'd drop them yesterday
if I had any better (or even comparable) choices -


I use Earthlink for my cable service...

It's from Comcast, and my bill actually comes from Comcast, but I get  
an Earthlink IP, Earthlink DNS, and Earthlink reverse DNS.


I did this because I have DirecTV. If you have Comcast for TV and  
internet, then Comcast is cheaper, but if you don't use Comcast for  
TV service Earthlink is cheaper (due to Concast's bundle discounts).


I've been very happy with it.
___
gnhlug-discuss mailing list
gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org
http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/


Comcast Alternatives? Was Re: Why must Comcast's DNS suck?

2006-11-14 Thread kenta

On Tue, 14 Nov 2006, Michael ODonnell wrote:

I have no love for ComcCast - I'd drop them yesterday
if I had any better (or even comparable) choices -


That being said, does anyone have experiences with other residential high 
speed providers that are in the same price range as Comcast?


Comcast has actually been pretty good to me.  To be honest I can't 
remember the last time my Internet service was out.  My IP rarely changes 
(once in 2 years) and for the most part they still seem to have a "Don't 
Ask, Don't Tell" policy when it comes to having a server type box at home.


I'd love to try Verzion's FiOS but they're not offering it in my part of 
Nashua. :( If anyone here has it, how is it?  I'm also not sure how any 
local DSL providers are stacking up these days.  Feedback is appreciated.


-Kenta
___
gnhlug-discuss mailing list
gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org
http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/