[NCLUG] Linux-friendly satellite modem service

[mike cullerton]

on 12/17/00 9:54 PM, Matt Taggart at matt at lackof.org wrote:

> 
> mike cullerton writes...
> 
>> on 12/17/00 1:12 PM, Matt Taggart at matt at lackof.org wrote:
>> 
>>> CWX is very Linux friendly. It's also going to be cheaper and have better
>>> latentcy than any of the satelite solutions.
>> 
>> ya, but if you actually use bandwidth, they ask you to leave. i've got two
>> friends who were CWX members who were asked to leave because they created
>> too much traffic playing online computer games.
> 
> <rant>
> No, if you're not being a good network citizen you are asked to be. The coop
> buys our bandwidth from FRII on a 95% percentile basis. All it takes is a
> couple bad apples to drive our bandwidth bill through the roof. As a
> cooperative we can't afford to have our bandwidth bill double due to a couple
> users. The people in question were asked repeatedly to cut back for several
> months and failed to do so. These two customers were using more bandwidth than
> the other 30 combined. IIRC, after they did not cut back there was talk of
> increasing rates for people who were contributing more that their fair share
> of the bandwidth. Then these users dropped out. I may have things mixed up but
> that's how I remember it.

i was wondering who was gonna pounce on my comment. kinda figured it'd be
you matt :)

anyway, it's really interesting how there are two sides to every story.
let's see if i can remember what it was that my friend said. oh ya, "... if
they had only talked to us about it. all of a sudden one day they sent me
this letter." he then showed me the letter that rather matter-of-factly told
them they were no longer welcome as customers...

i'm sure the real story is somewhere in between. it's been my experience,
that in general, coops are better suited for folks who don't really need
full bandwidth. usually, if you need lots of bandwidth, you're gonna have to
pay for it.

> 
> BTW- they we're consuming a very large amount of bandwidth. I have 4 systems
> here and run serveral web/mail servers and that's not a problem. IIRC these
> guys had 3-4 gamers in the house playing 5-6 hours a day plus game servers
> running a lot of the time. We were still willing to have them in the coop but
> not if they weren't going to pay their own way and spoil it for the rest of
> us.
> 
> FRII also has limits as to the amount of data you can pull on a monthly basis.
> If you go over the generic amount they start charging you more. This shouldn't
> be a surprise to anyone.
> </rant>
> 
> As one of CWX's longest customers, I've been very happy with the service. The
> bandwidth and latency are very good and I can do things I couldn't do with
> cable/dsl like have extra static IPs, run servers, etc.
> 
> Plus for a lot of people, myself included, its the only option.


 -- mike cullerton