[SunRescue] Real ISPs

[bobk]

WAS RE: Country Kits


On Tue, 22 Feb 2000, Earl Baugh wrote:
> would have checked out this in more detail, and looked to see what Cisco 
> solutions I had, but since I had another issue that was more important, namely 
> keeping my class C address...and finding an ISP who would host it for the 
> STANDARD IDSL price...[repeat, I'm NOT A BUSINESS.  Network nerd, yes, 
> BUSINESS No]

It seems a lot of ISPs will charge you per IP, claiming that IP space is
expensive (if you buy it from ARIN in small chunks it is), but won't route
IP space you own ("we aren't set up for that", or, better yet "no, your
current ISP owns the IP space you have...no you can't possibly have your
own...look, buddy, I've got an MCSE and therefore I am an expert. I have
been doing this for a year now....oh, you're one of those unix nerds eh?
well, we don't support unix"...<click>)

Right now, I have a T1 to the house which we split between different
floors, and have one Class C routed to it. We eventually want to route the
rest of the IP space I have, as well. But my main point is: I wish we had
a list, a sort of pruned-out, geek-friendly version of "thelist.com", that
wasn't hostile to anyone not running Winderz/Mac, would route our IP
space, have reasonable prices, decent service, etc.

For me, a persistant connection and reasonable service is more important
than claimed bandwidth (I'd take 112K ISDN over a cable modem any day).
IDSL looks like a good solution for people that are out of reach of other
DSL services, but I like tradtional DSL in that if you want to ditch your
ISP for another, you just dial a different phone #.

In many places, there's a per-minute charge to use a data channel on
switched ISDN. In mass., however, there is a loophole: you can use the
voice channel to make a data call and eliminate the per-minute charge.
This drops your channel rate down to 56k instead of 64k, but its real 56k
and not what the lying modem manufacturers and ISPs try to sell as 56k.
Also, traditional home ISDN lines (Basic Rate ISDN, BRI) have two channels
for use (and a third swtiching channel that you generally can't use, but
is used for IDSL..), one "data" and the other "voice". For an extra $5/mo,
you can get two "voice" channels. If your ISP supports it, you can
aggregate these channels to 112K. Out here in Boston, pre-T1, we used
shore.net as our provider in this manner. It was about $120/mo, but the
drawback was that they did not allow me to use my own IP space.

Anyhow, you guys get the gist of what I think would be a good resource,
who have you had good/bad experiences with?

-bob
Damned Yankee, etc.