I was a Verizon DSL customer when the company was still called Bell Atlantic and when consumer DSL service was still very new beginning in February 1999. In those days, DSL customers were assigned static IPs. My personal experience was that the service was great when it worked, which wasn't quite enough of the time. I had long periods of down time--about two weeks every three months or so. Calling tech support was a nightmare. First, I would sit on hold listening to the same clip of Vivaldi for tens of minutes. A half-hour wait was common, and the Vivaldi never changed--always the same snipit from the first movement of Spring. Once I got first level tier support my problems only got worse. Clearly, it was my fault because I wasn't in Windows. Clearly, when I rebooted into Windows, it was the screen reader. Once I pushed up to second, and even third tier support, it was, of course, never my fault. At least twice they moved me to ppoe without even telling me they were doing it. Mostly, they just couldn't explain it--system upgrades at the CO, please call back if the problem persists. I will not be a Telco DSL customer again, mostly because of their terrible track record with me, but also because they've moved away from DSL technology I care to buy. They have indeed found ways to provision DSL in ways I don't fully understand--and don't care to. It's more than dynamic IPs. I was surprised recently when a friend was installing Verizon DSL on his Windows computer--surprised to learn that the install added an icon to his Dial Up Networking program group. In essence, I suspect the telco's judge ip space and general network resources insuficient to support the millions of customers they want to sell. They want the customers money, but expect they will not use persistent connections any more than they use dial up connections. My friends DUN based DSL would disconnect on inactivity. Voice phone service network capacity is based, as I understand it, on the expectation that the average phone call will last four minutes. I'm sure they also have a number of calls per month in mind as an average. Of course, they have to make those kinds of predictions in order to build out adequate infrastructure. But, I have no desire to be part of a broadband service that expects casual and occasional web surfing. So, no more telco DSL for me. My advice is to seek a quality provider. My answer, for myself, was speakeasy.net for two crowning reasons: 1.) They actively support linux. In fact, I believe their servers run Redhat; 2.) They actively have no problem with home networks; Most providers have problems over linux even if their technology doesn't, and have fine print that prohibits multiple machines accessing the service. So, I choose to go with the provider that supports the OS and features I want and support. On Thu, 6 Sep 2001, Karl Dahlke wrote: > For what it's worth, and it isn't worth much, > I used Ameritech dial-up service for almost a year, > and was very happy with it. > I left only because I wanted a cable modem. > > Of course I was happy because everything worked for me straight away, > and I didn't have to ask their technical department for help. > > I'm a bit confused by this whole thread. > I thought dsl was a static always on connection. > Why ppp? > Why pppd? > Why ppp0? > Don't they give you a box that looks like a cable modem, > with a nic interface, > and don't you just plug into that, like an ethernet? > Don't you just set up for an ethernet connection and go? > I guess I don't know much about dsl, > so I'll stop talking now, > before I do more harm than good. > > Karl > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Blinux-list@redhat.com > https://listman.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/blinux-list > -- Janina Sajka, Director Technology Research and Development Governmental Relations Group American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) Email: janina@afb.net Phone: (202) 408-8175 Chair, Accessibility SIG Open Electronic Book Forum (OEBF) http://www.openebook.org Will electronic books surpass print books? Read our white paper, Surpassing Gutenberg, at http://www.afb.org/ebook.asp Download a free sample Digital Talking Book edition of Martin Luther King Jr's inspiring "I Have A Dream" speech at http://www.afb.org/mlkweb.asp Learn how to make accessible software at http://www.afb.org/accessapp.asp