[ale] ISPs: Now It's My Turn!

[Keith R. Watson]

At 09:41 PM 10/26/99 -0400, you wrote:
>I'm going to be re-employed next week up 'round Perimiter-way and we're
>going to be renting a house in Sandy Springs starting sometime in the
>middle of November.  I have been dealing with a single phone line, a
>modem, and Bellsouth.net for Internet access for over a year, and I am
>ready to move up to something a bit more along the lines of DSL or cable
>modem.
>
>As you may well imagine, I'm concerned about the Linux-friendliness of
>ANY offering.  I am likely to incorporate a Linux firewall with IP
>masqerading or something along those lines and have at least one other
>machine in the house.
>
>I would like to have the option of locating an Internet-accessible (by
>public, myself only, or a "select few") system at the house (I realize
>that this implies fixed-IP).  I am not necessarily interested in the
>highest available speed.  I would like the connection to be continuously
>active.
>
>So, I'd be interested to hear about your thoughts and experiences.
>Those of you who work for ISPs, consider this an opportunity to peddle
>your wares to me.
>
>- Jeff
>
>

Jeff,

There are two xDSL ISP's in Atlanta, that I have found so far, that provide
multiple static IP's and allow you to run servers.

Speakeasy.net

   Speakeasy Network Home Page
      http://www.speakeasy.net/

   Speakeasy FAQ
      http://www.speakeasy.net/faq.html

   Speakeasy Business Services
      http://www.speakeasy.net/busserv.html

   Pricing
      http://www.speakeasy.net/bizpricing.html

   Speakeasy DSL Terms of Service
      http://www.speakeasy.net/dsl/terms.html

   Speakeasy Reviews
      http://www.dslreports.com/r3/dsl/comments/93


I have talked to Speakeasy and surmised the following. If my line will not
support ADSL (according to Bellsouth.net it won't because I'm on an SLC
"slick") it may be able to support IDSL. This costs more and only provides
144k/144k but that's better than ISDN and certainly better than 56k modem.
IDSL is "always on" just like ADSL. They will provide up to 8 static IP's
and will allow me to register my own domain with them for an additional
$14.95 a month. If I register with Internic my self and set up and maintain
my own name server then there is no additional monthly charge. NAT is fine
with them and I found them to be very Linux friendly.


Flashcom

   Home Page
      http://www.flashcom.com/

You might want to read the review of Flashcom at
http://www.dslreports.com/r3/dsl/flashcom/article1 before going with them.


Mindspring

Mindspring won't even discuss the issue of static IP's. Currently their AUP
precludes using NAT to connect a LAN to via their ADSL services.




The big picture looks like this. There are independent xDSL providers (not
Bell) that give you the actual xDSL connection. The xDSL providers market
their services through partner ISP's. The ISP determines the terms of
service (AUP) and costs. So far I have identified about a half dozen xDSL
providers. Speakeasy and Flashcom are both ISP partners with Covad. 

   Covad Home Page
      http://www.covad.com

   Business ISP partners in Atlanta (beware line wrap on URL)

http://www.covad.com/connect/Regional_ISPs-TeleSpeed/Atlanta_ISP_TeleSpeed.h
tml

   Residential ISP partners in Atlanta (beware line wrap on URL)

http://www.covad.com/connect/Regional_ISPs-TeleSurfer/Atlanta_ISP_TeleSurfr.
html



To summarize, this is what I think should be available:

Cost $49 to $99 per month

Speed 144k/144k on the low end to 768k/384k on the high end (down link
speed/up link speed) You can get faster but costs exceed $100/month.

2 email accounts (can run your own mail server with unlimited accounts)

news server (could do this too if you had a burning desire)

multiple static IP addresses

free domain name (you provide DNS)

AUP (acceptable use policy) allows servers (host commercial pages if you want)

No bandwidth limits.



For general information on xDSL

DLS Reports - A web site with reviews of products and providers of xDSL
http://www.dslreports.com/


xDSL.com - Analysis of DSL Technologies
http://www.xdsl.com/home.asp


News group
comp.dcom.xdsl


keith
-------------

Keith R. Watson                        GTRI/AIST
Computer Services Specialist IV        Georgia Institute of Technology
keith.watson at gtri.gatech.edu           Atlanta, GA  30332-0816
404-894-0836