[mdlug] Naked/"dry loop" DSL and Linux-friendly ISPs
Joseph C. Bender
jcbender at bendorius.com
Tue Jan 9 09:40:20 EST 2007
Robert Adkins wrote:
> I am being told by AT&T that I am unable to obtain their faster
> services, because we don't have Caller ID, Long Distance and other
> bullshit services that we certainly do not want or need.
>
Wow, you're being lied to. Given it's ATT, this is not a big surprise.
(Disclaimer: part of my consulting practice is telecom consulting and
resales, but the following is not a commercial pitch, nor do I resell
for them.)
You still should be able to get DSL through any ISP that has access to
SBC's DSLAM network. WMIS.net is one that comes to mind
<http://www.wmis.net>. While I have never used their services directly,
I do know a couple of people using them, and have chatted with their
admins in the past. I also think they do not have issues with one
running servers, but you might want to verify that if it's important to you.
> I am considering switching to WOW! Internet, Phone & Cable, as we
> already have their cable service and have been happy with it. I am just
> not pleased with the idea of having slowdowns due to neighbors hogging
> bandwidth. Which is why I prefer DSL.
>
We've been on WOW IP&C for a while now, and I've been extremely happy
with it. The cable modem is also the VOIP-over-DOCSIS ATA[1], and I've
never had a problem with it. It's got a backup battery to provide power
to the modem/ATA and the local phone loop, so if the power's out, your
phone is still up. One fun fact with WOW Phone is that the backend is
actually provided by Sprint as a CLEC[2], so if you get voice-mails from
Sprint PCS users or other WOW users, the VM system uses their voice tags
instead of Caller ID when announcing who the call was from.
As for the DSL/Cable "slowdown" thing, DOCSIS and better routing has
largely made this a non-issue between the two. This is also especially
true since the DSL providers (including ATT) are running very very large
back-haul bandwidth over-subscription ratios to keep their profit
margins up. Conversations I've had with ATT and Covad techs regarding
this brought up some really hairy numbers. Like 10+:1
(end-user:back-haul) ratios. Or far, far worse. This means that if
you're pinging your local gateway, you will have fairly good ping times,
but past that point, you'll be fighting for bandwidth with every other
user past that point.
This being said, DSL still tends to have better local latency than
cable does, again, just because of how the technology works.
YMMV and all that.
[1] Analog Telephone Adapter. The device that interfaces your phone to
the VOIP provider.
[2] Competitive Local Exchange Carrier. What AT&T is not.
JCB
--
Joseph Bender
Bendorius Consulting
P: 248-434-5580
F: 248-434-5581
jcbender at bendorius com
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