[geeks] cable modem or verizon DSL (in Rhode Island)?

[Jonathan C. Patschke]

On Tue, 18 Nov 2003, William Enestvedt wrote:

>    I take it that neither of these services offers static IPs, and that they
> both block ports? (I can't find any sort of detail on their supid web sites.)

If you can get Earthlink cable, they won't block any ports.  They,
however, don't offer static IPs.  They do offer static IPs on their DSL.
I highly recommend them.  As a bonus, when you get a high-speel account
with Earthlink, they give you a free dial-up account to use while
traveling, which has already saved me about $60 that I'd have paid to
random ISPs in California when I go out there to visit friends.

>    Yeah, lots of older folks on my block, so I'm fairly confident that the
> link won't be too bogged down.

Gotta love that.  I was the -only- Earthlink cable subscriber in my old
town.  Absolutely no lag whatsoever.  However, that also meant I was
pretty low on the totem pole for repairs...

>    Well, they both offer almost the same price ($40 per month for Cox, $35 for
> Verizon) but I'm hazy on the speeds.

Another thing to consider:  Cable will probably act just like an
Ethernet connection, so there's no fuss.  DSL providers tend to use
PPPoE or some custom 'doze software to connect, and they'll just turn a
deaf ear to Unix (and even some Macintosh) complaints.

-- 
Jonathan Patschke  ) "Earth works.  That's proof positive that Mother
Elgin, TX         (   Nature isn't a suit."            --Dave McGuire