[NCLUG] DSL questions

[Sean Reifschneider]

On Wed, Sep 10, 2003 at 03:17:29PM -0600, quent wrote:
>From the ISP your packets are routed to the Internet. That's my basic
>understanding of it. Maybe it's not ATM anymore, I don't know.

It is.  Getting a consumer DSL line gets you the physical transport on
an existing phone line, and an ATM virtual circuit to an ISP.  That ISP
then has an ATM line where your virtual circuit terminates.  The ISP
then uses that ATM transport to give you an IP address.

For choices, QWest.net is nice because they are flat-rate.  There was
something about moving users to MSN, but QWest.net still seems to be
around for DSL.  Everyday Joe's has a line with service through
QWest.net.  Anyway, they're flat-rate, so you don't have to pay based on
bandwidth.  You can get static IPs, but you can only get them in blocks
of 5 and IIRC they're $25/month for the block.

FRII has, in the past, offered static IPs much cheaper, but they are
metered.  If you go above 10GB/month, you will have to pay more for it.
I think they've been going down-hill lately.

You can also get service from NeTrack.net in Boulder.  They have two
plans, one where you get flat-rate, but you are behind a firewall
preventing you from running services, the other is not behind the
firewall, but is metered.  I don't recall their prices.

Sean
-- 
 The Bigger, Longer, and Uncut Lebowski: "We've got a man down!"  "They
 killed Donnie!"  "Those Bastards!" -- Evelyn and Sean, 2002
Sean Reifschneider, Member of Technical Staff <jafo at tummy.com>
tummy.com, ltd. - Linux Consulting since 1995.  Qmail, Python, SysAdmin