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In the DFW area (Dallas/Fort Worth for all of you foreigners), check out August.Net. There TOS is here. Basically it says "do whatever you want as long as it's not illegal". The thing is that you pay for the bandwidth you use -- though I do believe that with T1 service they do have one unlimited usage plan.

They're geek friendly. Tech support is amazingly good. If you're in the area and are willing to pay for what you use, this is the place to go.

In the DFW area (Dallas/Fort Worth for all of you foreigners), check out August.Net. There TOS is here. Basically it says "do whatever you want as long as it's not illegal". The thing is that you pay for the bandwidth you use -- though I do believe that with T1 service they do have one unlimited usage plan.

They're geek friendly. Tech support is amazingly good. If you're in the area and are willing to pay for what you use, this is the place to go.

One of the other things the article fails to mention is that now ISPs will be responsible for doing the billing / collections for the actual DSL line, not Bell. In other words, your DSL won't be billed on your phone bill, but will be a part of your ISP bill. This sounds good, but it also means that your ISP now holds the Letter of Authority for that service, so you can never call SBC/ASI directly for support again. What will SBC pay your ISP for this service? $0.00, plus tax.

I know at least one ISP (mine) has dropped all sales for new Southwestern Bell DSL subscribers, and may, if SBC decides to convert existing subscribers as well, drop all service to Bell users. Thankfully, their T1 prices are cheap, and I'm in a Verizon area. (Never thought I'd be happy to be served by Verizon-after-screwing-up-GTE)

Oh, and to those who say "quit yer whinin, PPPoE don't suck that bad," I tell them: I don't care what you think about the protocol. It's my choice to pick an ISP who does not use what I consider to be an evil hack, ranking right up there with Network Address Translation. I like having a /28 to my home network, and being able to do whatever I want, and serve whatever I need, without interference from my ISP or a phone company with a pitiful excuse for management. If I'm paying for it and am getting what I want, it's not up to SBC, Verizon or anyone else to tell me to bugger off. There is no technological reason for this change, only a political one: GREED.

Oh, and Verizon, are you listening? These flames, too, can be directed at you. Fortunately, Verizon Online in Texas is DHCP and the former-GTE side has shown no indications of liking PPPoE. Most ex-GTE DSL subscribers still have a frame relay connection. :)

Remember that the vehement complaints are coming from the minority of people who are peeved. There are lots of customers out there, every day, using their service without a hitch or error. Also, most of the complaints are coming from the northeast (i.e. New York) where the phone lines are crap, in short supply, the unionized labour force is lazy, and your only real hope for good service is to go through the pain of a CLEC.

Put simply, I wouldn't trade my service for anything, but North Texas seems to be, based on reviews, the only place who has gotten DSL right (with GTE no less!).

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Heh, you wish. :) I have a Fujitsu Speedport sitting right here, and it doesna do anything except bridge packets from Ethernet to the DSL line. GTE and my provider (august.net, great folks: let you run servers, anything you like) have both told me there are no "smarts" in the box, it just relays back and forth and blinks lights at you when something goes wrong.

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That would stand to reason, and would be expected. What I was concerned with is my connection suddenly being cut without any warning, simply because my ISP got notice of my actions by someone else.

In addition, I have trouble believing that your DSL agreement says that the line is yours and you are free to do with it anything you want. I don't think I've ever seen a service agreement of any kind that doesn't include clauses that 1) stipulate that you will not use the service in any of a whole list of inappropriate fashions, and 2) allow the provider to immediately disconnect the service if you violate any part of the agreement. Also, most residential agreements specifically prohibit running servers, although that clause is rarely enforced.

My service provider is August.Net, LLC (http://www.august.net), and their AUP says, in part:

You agree not to make any Public Contribution which violates or infringes the rights of any other person...

This, according to my lawyer, means that if a court finds you are violating the rights of someone else, you are liable under this section and can have your access terminated. However, if your use is found to be legal, then your connection can't be axed.

Also, about the "no residential servers" limit... Unlike most ISPs who'd like to see the Internet turned into one-way style (ala TV, but that's another posting), my ISP has no restrictions on servers and so forth. In fact, they actively encourage technical users to run their own e-mail and so forth to cut down their costs for servers. See this snippet:

You may access OnLine Services through Remote Access Software supplied by You. You may also use third party software that meets the compatibility requirements from time to time published by Service Provider.

Thanks for the info, though, you make some valid points.

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That would stand to reason, and would be expected. What I was concerned with is my connection suddenly being cut without any warning, simply because my ISP got notice of my actions by someone else.

In addition, I have trouble believing that your DSL agreement says that the line is yours and you are free to do with it anything you want. I don't think I've ever seen a service agreement of any kind that doesn't include clauses that 1) stipulate that you will not use the service in any of a whole list of inappropriate fashions, and 2) allow the provider to immediately disconnect the service if you violate any part of the agreement. Also, most residential agreements specifically prohibit running servers, although that clause is rarely enforced.

My service provider is August.Net, LLC (http://www.august.net), and their AUP says, in part:

You agree not to make any Public Contribution which violates or infringes the rights of any other person...

This, according to my lawyer, means that if a court finds you are violating the rights of someone else, you are liable under this section and can have your access terminated. However, if your use is found to be legal, then your connection can't be axed.

Also, about the "no residential servers" limit... Unlike most ISPs who'd like to see the Internet turned into one-way style (ala TV, but that's another posting), my ISP has no restrictions on servers and so forth. In fact, they actively encourage technical users to run their own e-mail and so forth to cut down their costs for servers. See this snippet:

You may access OnLine Services through Remote Access Software supplied by You. You may also use third party software that meets the compatibility requirements from time to time published by Service Provider.

Thanks for the info, though, you make some valid points.

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OK, so they do. At least in my area, this is an ATM backbone, so the bottleneck is probably going to be either with my link speed, or my ISPs link speed. And, if the phone company's lines start getting backed up, they get to hear from the users AND the providers.

And there's nothing stopping me, as a cable modem user, from switching to DSL if the cable company's lines get "clogged" too. So far, I haven't had a problem. It's fast!

But you can't change ISPs without changing your connection type. A phone call to my new ISP will have it changed in about 2 days. Going from cable to ADSL (and back again if you prefer) involves calling, waiting, install charges, new setup, etc, etc.

That's $55.45/mo for the mathematically impaired.

Yep. And in a town where cable modem access isn't available to all people...and where it is the cost is cable+$29.95 (cable is about $40, so that's $69.95) or $55.95 without cable service.... ADSL's not a bad deal 'round these parts.

For $39.95/mo I get 3 email address, 5MB web space for each email address, access to a loaded news server, and a single static IP address (thank goodness for IP Masquerading!). This is through TCI. They had a $150 installation fee, but they were running a special - free installation and one month free. I couldn't pass it up.

$55.45:

• 8-IP subnet (5 useable after router)
• 2 e-mail boxes, unlimited aliases
• 10M of web space
• Usenet through GigaNews
• $124 install ($99 from GTE, includes modem...$25 from ISP)

As always, pricing and availability vary by area or region. Service not available in all areas. Contact your local service provider for more information.

(This is rapidly turning into a "my pipe is better than your pipe" discussion :) )