On Fri, 07 Sep 2001, Janina Sajka <janina@afb.net> wrote: > 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 Oh yes, oh yes... I'm not a verizon user myself but a person close to me is, and it is a total nightmare. Their dial-up service is barely decent and their DSL service is anything but decent. I hate to smash a company like that, even though it's a tremendously big one, but just don't deal with them if you can help it, well, at least not in anything that concerns computers. By the way, this is a rather common problem since cheap internet access has come around. Companies can make a lot of profit with relatively small investments; of course their customer pool grows very quickly, often more quickly than they expand, and they, the companies, often prefer to have greater profits than to invest back in their systems as they should. The result is a service whose resources are always strained to the very limit and then things can easily go amiss. So when you consider a service, such as DSL, consider rather the company with which you will deal than the technology itself. Computers still require people to make them work, and if they are managed by incompetent people or people whose sole interest is profit they will grow faulty. Also, the open non-support of linux seems to be a very common practice among ISPs. In my ISP's case it's even worse, I know for a fact that they use linux, at least on their web server, but they won't support it: funny way to pay back the community, don't you think? Just my two pennies. > 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 > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Blinux-list@redhat.com > https://listman.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/blinux-list