This is the third time my DSL provider has ceased operating. I sure know how to pick 'em. It seems that now my only choice is PPPoE and dynamic IPs with Verizon.
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Find someone willing to provide you IP space over a VPN tunnel?

It's no horribly big deal. I use a dyndns.org domain to access my home computers. My router can automatically update my IP with dyndns when it changes. I am just hella annoyed.

Flashcom, Northpoint, and DirecTV DSL. All mofos!

Flashcom, Northpoint, and DirecTV DSL. All mofos!

Wow! Are you by any chance going to go to Speakeasy (Covad) soon? Because I was thinking of switching to them, but with your track record it may be best if I stay put.

I can't get Covad service, so they should be in business for quite some time. If you're thinking of Speakeasy, ACT NOW!

My ISP keeps getting taken over, resulting in enforced email address changes. mediaone, attbi, and soon to be comcast. Arrgh. But at least I don't get service interruptions due to it

Yeah, I'm in the same boat. I'm 90% sure I'll be going the speakeasy route, but first I'm gonna check out the local mom&pop ISPs and see if any are a good deal with local service. To get the free console, you've got to get one of the special accounts which cost $10 more and sign up for 18 months. Not surprisingly, the x-box ends up costing you $180 by the time your finished.

DirectTV has been great for the last year, though for a few months about a year ago they were having major maintenance issues with the main san jose router dieing repeatedly (once a week, four hours down time on average). I'd call, they'd tell me there were no network issues. They also didn't beleive me when my modem died, and I asked for a new one. Three tech visits and numerous phone calls later, they finally mailed me a new modem which has worked well. I was just thinking how they'd finally gotten everything togethter. Anyone know of any good hacking opportunities with the Telocity branded "modem"? I know it's got NAT abilities built in...

Matthew

My ISP keeps getting taken over, resulting in enforced email address changes.

Get yourself your own domain with mail forwarding, then you'll never have to change your address again. It only needs to cost you a few dollars a year.

Well, shit!

How did you find out about this? I've got DirecTV DSL and this was the first I heard about it. I confirmed it at their web site, though.

Looks like I'll be heading to Speakeasy.

I'm nailed by this too... It's almost the 3rd week of December and the XBox info on Speakeasy's site says:

Fine Print:
Offer valid for orders placed from Nov. 29th to Nov. 30th, 2002. DSL installation required.

60 bucks a month is getting a bit pricey too... grrr Dare I say cable?

Speakeasy always has some type of offer for signing up. They extend them often too. Other than charging me too much and being unable to change any type of service (speed or email accounts) and no static IPs, I'd rather not switch since I've had this current account and email since '97. jump.net was bought out by hosting.com (Allegiance Telecom) and they will only change commercial accounts, They make me feel like they're doing me a favor overcharging me and letting me remain a customer, but the service is exceptional... The only downtime I've had (that affected me) in the past 2 years was email for about 6 hours... Bastards! And the fact it could be up to 6 weeks downtime between getting SBCs service terminated and Covad started on my line is another reason I'm in no hurry...

The offer is still good, just go in throuh their main page. Unless you want the gamer/sysadmin pachage, Speakeasy's $50 account is pretty much the same as DirecTVs, with the exception that it's not 1.5 down, which would be nice. What I wouldn't give for the 1.5/784 account though. I can't really see paying $180 for a shell account and an X-Box, unless someone else pays your DSL bill in which case it's a great deal.

Cable is an option for me too, but I live in a college town, which is about the worst thing you can do when it comes to cable. And AT&T@Home did that whole nasty thing to people last year where they wouldn't pay @home to keep the network going while they switched them off of it.

I can't decide if I should switch to speakeasy now and try and beat the crowds, or wait till next week and see what posibile migration deal directv has. They did time this perfectly for me, as I'm going to be gone for the next month for christmas vacation.

Matthew

I've been with Speakeasy for a few years. They had a rough period when they took on too many subscribers but, other then that, have been excellent. I've had almost no downtime that was their fault in the past 18 months. They have lots of local POP's which keeps latency down. I get <15 ms pings to my gateway. Also they have a great system for keeping track of the install process which always seems to be an adventure with DSL.

The biggest problem with Speakeasy is their usenet service. For a long time it was pretty much useless for binaries. Now it's decent but they only give you 1 gig a month. You can pay for more but it's not any better than an independent commercial usenet service.

Anyway, I get a $50 referral bonus if you use this url: http://www.speakeasy.net/refer/ginsburg . I'll split it with anyone who uses it.

-Dylan

Yes, I agree. I have had Speakeasy for a few months now and I am very happy with their service and support. I recommend them.

I just switched and they claim that they shoud be able to make the transfer more-or-less instantaneously, rather than the DSL decommission and recommission that they told me about the last time I was thinking of switching to them. BTW, I was told that I can get the 608/128 service now, which is the same price as my existing Telocity/DirecTVDSL service, and upgrade to either 1500/128 or 1500/384 later just by calling; nothing would have to be significantly reprovisioned for those upgrades.

I hear that they have a more significant cap on their news server than even DirecTVDSL did, though.

[Phil Hartman doing Frankenstein]

CABLE BAD!!

[/Phil Hartman doing Frankenstein]

I have (had) exactly 2 problems with my cable modem:
1) terms of service. I can get one dynamic address, period. There are no levels of service.
2) the cable modem itself died. because i was impatient i bought a new one; i need to return the dead leased modem.

other than that it's been very reliable. i think it's been out less than my power.

I agree with you. I've had cable for over two years and have only encountered one problem. every once in awhile my modem will go off line. unplugging it and rebooting it solves the problem every time. after reading SE_Sport_Driver saying "60 bucks a month is getting a bit pricey too... grrr Dare I say cable?" it just reminded me of Phil Hartman on SNL.

Yeah.

I miss Phil Hartman.

"Hi, I'm Troy McClure. You may remember me from such educational films as 'Firecrackers: The Silent Killer'."

Maybe someone can help me out on this related question: When I connect my DSL modem to my LinkSys router, the speed is lower than if I just go straight to my ethernet card from my DSL modem? Why is this? Also, if I AM connected through the router, and I restart my DSL modem, my speed is back up again for about half a day, and then I have to turn my DSL modem off and back on again. Like I said, if I just connect straight from my DSL modem to my ethernet card, the speed is great and I can just let it be. Weird huh?

Try a new router? I had a linksys switch that exhibited that exact behavior... It's strange that your DSL modem is what has to be rebooted though. Does a reboot of the router fix the speed problem temporarily?

Matthew

A simple turning off and on of the DSL modem cures things. I never tried to reboot the router. Would I have to reset it with a paper clip, or do you mean unplugging it?

It's no horribly big deal. I use a dyndns.org domain to access my home computers. My router can automatically update my IP with dyndns when it changes. I am just hella annoyed.

Flashcom, Northpoint, and DirecTV DSL. All mofos!


Around here (New Orleans) we have access to I-55 which has static IPs, 1.5 mbit/down and 256 kbit/up for $50/month. That is more or less equivalent to DirectTV DSL.

Stu