[TriLUG] telocity->directvdsl->bellsouth

Jeremy Portzer jeremyp at pobox.com
Sat Jan 25 16:52:37 EST 2003


On Sat, 2003-01-25 at 15:39, Rodent of Unusual Size wrote:

> i've always been leery of tbe cable solution due to the
> shared-bandwidth aspect (among others),

The "shared bandwidth" thing is really a red herring.  All bandwidth is
shared.  Sure, with DSL you're the only one on the line from your house
to the CO (or mini-DSLAM), but from there you're shared with all other
DSL customers.  This slight difference in the "point of sharing" has no
impact on performance whatsoever.

> but i'm wondering
> if even that would be better than bellsouth.  afaics, bellsouth
> is losing the added-value items that caused me to select
> dsl over cable in the first place.

Remember there are quite a few other DSL providers -- Speakeasy, Britsys
(coming soon), other covad resellers (?).  Check the newsgroup
triangle.online-access for a good discussion.
 
> however, looking at twcnc i'm seeing other objectionable
> things.. like 'rental' of the cable modem (anyone remember
> when all telephones were the *property* of the telcos?),
> special software (my home gateway machine is linux), required
> 'installation', on-premises inspections, et cetera.

I highly recommend Earthlink cable internet through TWC.  It's cheaper
than Road Runner, and plus you get unlimited dialup access (unlike Road
Runner which only gives you a few hours).  I wouldn't worry about the
rental thing -- it would take QUITE a long time to pay for itself if you
use your own cable modem.  But if you do want to use your own, they're
on the shelf at CompUSA and will work fine, and you might be able to get
a slight credit on your bill.

The required installation is for the hardware -- they've got to put the
cable outlet somewhere!  What do you have against that?  No software
installation is required, no special software is needed.  It's straight
DHCP with an Ethernet connection; much simpler than DSL.  I hooked up a
Linksys gateway and then a DHCP-configured computer behind that; it was
all "plug and play".

> bugger directvdsl for not being able to stick with it, and
> having to throw us to these dogs.. :-)
> 
> of course, maybe someone here will tell me that all my concerns
> are bogus, and either bellsouth or twcnc/rr rocks in their
> socks..

Basically, yep!

Please let us know what other questions you might have.

--Jeremy




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