[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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