Slashdot Mirror

Due to ongoing poor service and a sudden speed to 384/128K for no apparent reason

Out of curiosity, did you call them and ask them what was up? What did they say? I'm surprised that someone with your immense clout wasn't able to get this resolved.

Since we're sharing anecdotes, I figured I'd pipe up and mention that I've had DSL service through SBC (in the Southwestern Bell region) for about 3 years now and have had 3 detectable outages, two just after midnight (implying they were doing maintenance and rebooted some equipment) and the third during the day while I was out. I have consistent 1.2 - 1.5Mbit service. So service and reliability is stellar for me.

Support is another matter, though. It's impossible to get through first tier support without connecting a Windows PC to your DSL connection, running through all of your IP and DNS settings, and try pulling up a web page. This makes support worthless to me, but as I said above, I've only needed it a couple of times.

Mainly I want to warn people that even though it's all technically SBC, each region is still being served by what is basically their old pre-SBC telephone company. Service in the Ameritech region can't reasonably compare with service from the Pacific Bell or Southwestern Bell region. Keep that in mind when people are rating their DSL service. I also recommend DSL Reports for a good sense of broadband service in your immediate areas.

Then I remembered that I'm getting mad bandwith/$ (link: fastest ISP's). I've measured 6 Mbps to an OOL server and 3.8 Mbps to the other coast. For $30/month. DSL would be 700 kpbs (about 1/10th) for $50/month.

Also, it's their business and they've had a "no servers" policy since before I subscribed. I wouldn't want anyone telling me how to define my business. If we don't like it we can vote with our wallets. But this compromise is easy for me.

That said, I am an occasional P2P user, and I think sharing is appropriate to the model. I'll be looking into how much usage it takes to draw any attention and if the penalties are temporary caps (vs. being booted). But at this rate and price, I don't want to get booted!

Cable internet services are designed for downstream data at high rates, as are the cable plants (the RF networks themselves). Upstream is a huge problem, and P2P represents a substantial portion of network traffic... scaling to meet the demand placed on the network by a small segment of users (P2P bandwidth hogs) does not make good business sense. Ask any cable operator, look at specs for cable equipment, do a little research and you'll see that limiting upstream, specifically going after P2P usage, is a coming trend that makes sense. This massive upstream used by a small proportion of users is the same as running a high traffic FTP server on a residential service. It is abuse. Whether it is illegal or not isn't relevant, P2P costs ISPs money and hurts other customers by degrading network performance.

Good information can also be found here , here and here.

Basically, their excuse is security related, which is crap since more security problems occur with Internet Explorer, IIS and Windows itself than with P2P software...

As mentioned at DSL Reports, the upload is being capped at 128kb/s, NOT banned... Here's a quote from one of the links above (by HaveOOLnow)

No, it affects all uploads. If you upload at a certain rate for more than a certain amount of time, you automatically get capped [at 128kps]. But all you have to do is call them to get uncapped. The system is just designed to make people aware of the fact that they might have P2P apps running in the background.

The cap seems to be about 6 hours in length. Quite horrendous, but we all saw this coming, right? To be honest, I'd rather this and have unlimited download/uploads, than both... *shrug* Or, maybe if it only happens when the server is being heavily used (evenings and such).

Good information can also be found here , here and here.

Basically, their excuse is security related, which is crap since more security problems occur with Internet Explorer, IIS and Windows itself than with P2P software...

As mentioned at DSL Reports, the upload is being capped at 128kb/s, NOT banned... Here's a quote from one of the links above (by HaveOOLnow)

No, it affects all uploads. If you upload at a certain rate for more than a certain amount of time, you automatically get capped [at 128kps]. But all you have to do is call them to get uncapped. The system is just designed to make people aware of the fact that they might have P2P apps running in the background.

The cap seems to be about 6 hours in length. Quite horrendous, but we all saw this coming, right? To be honest, I'd rather this and have unlimited download/uploads, than both... *shrug* Or, maybe if it only happens when the server is being heavily used (evenings and such).

You can get many references to satellite internet access latency by doing a quick search in google. My numbers might have been a little off, but even at 1/10th of my original numbers, it still makes things like gaming, VoIP, teleconferencing, etc... (and even most VPNs) pretty much unusable (again, there are many references to this already of google).

http://www.t1-t3-dsl-line.com/page/43/
http://www.computeruser.com/articles/2106,2,1,2,06 01,02.html
http://www.dslreports.com/speed

But these guys as many will find oun places like Broadband Reports are, suffice it to say, quite possibly the best ISP in the USA (or at least in the top ten), and considering that Speakeasy Cafe (RIP!) started by just selling peanut butter sandwiches to its cybercafe customers, that's one hell of a comeup. The only thing I regret is that, despite their almost exclusive use of Linux in their shop (a tech tells me they have one W2K box that they use for people who need Frontpage extensions, but other than that it's wall to wall Linux), they don't "officially" support it. They still give you pointers though.

Well, I guess this isn't really the forum for testimonials and discussion of the quality of different ISPs, but you can go to Broadband Reports (aka DSL reports) to get a lot of comparisons and customer experiences. That will hopefully be a bit more representative.

Briefly, I will say that I've been a Speakeasy customer for over 2 years now and they are great. Our connection (from the DC POP) is almost never down, and we get exactly the advertised speed 608 down/128 up consistantly. Speakeasy is also a cool company, not only for the reason stated in this article, but also because they host an rpmfind server and various other services to the online community. Also, unlike many other ISPs they support multiple computers on one connection (of course you can always have this, but some ISPs at least used to not want to give more than one IP per connection, so you'd be forced to do NAT), and they support Linux as far as I know (I've never called/emailed with any Linux support questions). The only real fault I can think of is that their billing is a bit weird and there have been a mistake or two. On the other hand, they were always quickly cleared up with no trouble.

In short, Speakeasy rocks! You can choose Speakeasy and support all their geek-friendly policies and efforts, OR you can choose the local telco and support monopoly and a future of deminishing freedom and choice online.

Yes, speakeasy charges more than the big telco or cable broadband providers, but for my money they offer a much higher level of service and permit you to use your broadband connection for things that should be basic freedoms with all broadband services but aren't...

Some of the basic freedoms: static IPs, no blocked ports. They'll even provide secondary DNS for up to 5 domains for a one time set up charge, even for ADSL connections.

Fact is the cheap broadband connections are just like any other massmarket product, which is to say that if all you want is to download pr0n, MP3s and warez, go with the cheapest, fastest provider that you can find.

But if you do, don't complain when your provider (or should I say pusher?) imposes caps on your downloads. Or cuts your upload speed to 56k.

Basically it comes down to what you value.

By the way in response to the fact that speakeasy doesn't post their prices anymore: You can always do a price check on most broadband providers (cable, and satellite too) at dslreports.com

1. $20/mo
   1. 60kbps downstream
      
   2. 60kbps upstream
      
   3. Market to current dial-up users
      
   
   
2. $50/mo
   1. 1.5mbps downstream
      
   2. 128kbps upstream
      
   3. Market to most home broadband users
      
   
   
3. $60/mo
   1. 1.25mbps downstream
      
   2. 384kbps upstream
      
   3. Market to other home broadband users
      
4. $100/mo
   1. 2.0mbps downstream
      
   2. 512kbps upstream
      
   3. Market to "power" users and businesses
      
   
   
5. $200/mo
   1. 2.0mbps downstream
      
   2. 1.5mbps upstream
      
   3. Market to businesses using T-1's (no service contract)
      
   
   

Speakeasy is a good service, but expensive, and upload is capped at 128K (Covad) for low-end residential ADSL vs SDSL.

Replace DirectTV DSL with Cyberonic (Worldcom/UUNet reseller)...
1500/768, static IP, no port blocking, $40/$50
http://www.cyberonic.com/int_for_home_dsl.shtml

There are consumer reviews of their service here:
http://www.dslreports.com/forum/

I had Speakeasy for two years, excellent, but pricey. With Cyberonic (dumb name!) I get similar pings to my Speakeasy SDSL, and massive uploads. Teh support aren't as friendly, but I don;t have to stay on hold for 30 mins at a time.

Speakeasy is a good service, but expensive, and upload is capped at 128K (Covad) for low-end residential ADSL vs SDSL.

Replace DirectTV DSL with Cyberonic (Worldcom/UUNet reseller)...
1500/768, static IP, no port blocking, $40/$50
http://www.cyberonic.com/int_for_home_dsl.shtml

There are consumer reviews of their service here:
http://www.dslreports.com/forum/

I had Speakeasy for two years, excellent, but pricey. With Cyberonic (dumb name!) I get similar pings to my Speakeasy SDSL, and massive uploads.

Profit margins for DSL are pretty low. A lot of the ISPs were forced to fit in a small market, so some of them were destined to buckle. I've heard mixed reviews of DirecTV, but if you were with them for the static IPs/power-user benefits, Speakeasy offers much of the same, and it's one of the only growing DSL ISPs in the nation. They're also running some damn nice promotions that make me a tad jealous of our customers (I am an employee).

One of the problems with a lot of the providers is their failure to differentiate. Its hard to tell the difference between a lot of these ISPs because they don't provide any one thing better than other companies. Most of these companies shot for bill consolidation, which is nice, but hardly something you can sell yourself off of, since so many internet access companies provide it (direcTV dsl, any ILEC ISP, cable broadband, etc.). There's just too many competitors shooting for the bargain/cheap-goods approach.

Having offered a plug for Speakeasy, I must warn you, they're not cheap, because you pay for what you get (or you get what you pay for, depends on how you want to approach it, I guess). That said, you get a lot of things most other ISPs wouldn't dream of offering.

As always, if you want a good medium to get recommendations, DSL Reports is a good place to go. Don't take my word on Speakeasy, their reputation there will speak for itself.

However, there is one thing to keep in mind - being in the DSL business, at the consumer level, is asking for a potentially complicated relationship. Installation can be quite a pain, and this has as much to do with any one of your phone lines, local phone company, and fate, as it does with the ISP itself. Some people aren't aware of this or don't realize it, and they get frustrated, and since the ISP is the front line of service, they're the ones who get the blame.

I dunno why they posted this under "Ask Slashdot", but here's some more info:

DSLReports (forum)
DirecTV DSL (info for customers)
Press Release from Hughes (parent company of DirecTV)

I'm sure glad Speakeasy has Ms. Kat, a Speakeasy-sanctioned representitive from the Communications dept. SBC sucks!!!

Did you read the link [dslreports.com] you posted? On the first page there were several horror stories similar to what I described: overcharged, underprovisioned, horrible speeds and/or latency, rude/lying/unresponsive customer service, etc. etc. Their advertising promulgates an image of them as being a place that caters to geeks by providing a low-fluff connection and great service for a premium, which is 100% A-OK, but as I and other people have observed, they're not very good about living up to their advertising. Sure, there are a bunch of 5 star reviews, but there are also a bunch of 1 star reviews.

And how does that differ from every other broadband provider?

So you had a bad experience with SpeakEasy. Guess what? Lots of people have had good experiences with them. Look at the leader board at dslreports.com . Speakeasy is near the top of its class (the National ISP class). That means they've had far more good reviews than bad ones.

See, every provider has its horror stories, and every provider has success stories. Every provider can get positive testimonials, and every provider has dissatisfied customers. The trick to comparing providers, therefore, is to look at the success rate. Assuming that everyone else had the same experience with them as yourself is not only inaccurate, but also terribly egocentric.

In case you're wondering, I or my family have had SpeakEasy DSL lines at three different addresses, and we've been happy with every one. That explains why I tend to disagree with you :)

Honestly I as a paying customer shouldn't have to care about that though. I was paying for 1500/768, getting more like 300/200, and that with 300-500 msec pings to grace.speakeasy.net (their shell server) or any of the servers where I work (an ad firm/programming shop here in Austin).

This is better -- at least these are specific complaints. Then again, you might also want to explain why didn't you cancel in the first month (aka the trial period) and why you don't downgrade to 768/384 so that you're paying less (that should be free if you're really just getting 300/200). Have you tried any other DSL ISPs? _Can_ you get better than what you've got, or is that the best you'll get from anyone (perhaps you're really far from your Central Office?) If you're going to complain, at least tell the full story.

Did you read the link you posted? On the first page there were several horror stories similar to what I described: overcharged, underprovisioned, horrible speeds and/or latency, rude/lying/unresponsive customer service, etc. etc. Their advertising promulgates an image of them as being a place that caters to geeks by providing a low-fluff connection and great service for a premium, which is 100% A-OK, but as I and other people have observed, they're not very good about living up to their advertising. Sure, there are a bunch of 5 star reviews, but there are also a bunch of 1 star reviews. If i had the time to flame them good, believe me, I'd be typing in pages there and giving them a ZERO star rating if the form allowed it... Maybe, being *very* charitable, it's a case of growing too fast on their part... Honestly I as a paying customer shouldn't have to care about that though. I was paying for 1500/768, getting more like 300/200, and that with 300-500 msec pings to grace.speakeasy.net (their shell server) or any of the servers where I work (an ad firm/programming shop here in Austin).


If speakeasy.net is the cream of the crop, the others must shoot your dog or something. I honestly don't see how an ISP could be any worse.

While your experience sounds pretty negative, most people have very positive experiences with them -- check out their ratings on DSLreports. The Cream of the Crop for DSL providers.

Q. Why should I install PhoenixNet solutions for my end-users?

A. Installing PhoenixNet solutions will provide tools and software applications to help your end-users get the most out of their computer. It provides them with a personalized web-browsing experience, essential business applications and special offers from leading online services. In addition, the home and search settings will be customized for consistency with the system settings for country and language, a particular benefit to users located outside of North America.

Q. What are the benefits of becoming a PhoenixNet Partner?

A. PhoenixNet Partners with a Partner ID can participate in upcoming incentive and co-marketing programs and can receive e-mail bulletins on the latest end-user tools as they are added.

Q. What is the difference between installing a PhoenixNet-enabled motherboard and a non-PhoenixNet-enabled motherboard?

A. If your computer is built with a PhoenixNet-enabled motherboard, a portion of the PhoenixNet software resides safely within the BIOS ROM (Read Only Memory). PhoenixNet solutions launch automatically at the initial start-up of your new PC and it sets the home page and search page default based on system settings detected on the computer. If you don't have a PhoenixNet-enabled motherboard, PhoenixNet software is available on the CD-ROM containing the motherboard drivers. If you decide to pre-install PhoenixNet software for your end-user, the home page and search page will be automatically set up the first time the end-user connects to the Internet.

Q. How do I put my company logo and branding information on the Graphic Launch Screen?

A. First you need to ensure that your PCs have a PhoenixNet-enabled motherboard. Second, you need to have a PhoenixNet Partner ID. Lastly, you need to obtain a software utility from PhoenixNet which will enable you to add your logo and company information to the Graphic Launch Screen. [...]

Q. What options do I have for pre-installing PhoenixNet solutions?

A. You have several options to select from during the PhoenixNet solutions installation:

You can change the default settings of the home and search page

You can select which software tools and applications you want to pre-install on the computer. (Note: the end-user always has the option to add items if they register with PhoenixNet and/or they elect to install additional PhoenixNet solutions [that translates to "give me more shitty spyware please" in BIOS-maker-speak -ed.] from the Motherboard Drivers CD-ROM.)

PhoenixNet(TM) invites you to join our other partners in our global valued-added distribution network. Contact us by e-mail, fax or phone, and please tell us about your business, to find out how PhoenixNet can expand your marketing efforts and the value of your systems [...].

According to a document from the Phoenix website:

B. BIOS Security Services
Because external clients must access security information or functionality only the BIOS can provide, PhoenixBIOS provides BIOS Security Services for both internal clients (such as Setup nodes) and external clients not linked with the BIOS. This new technology uses two tables, one that defines security states and the other that defines the permissions under which access to a device is allowed. It is also possible to govern individual Setup items with separate security provisions. The BIOS Security Services provide a mechanism for external clients to extract information from the BIOS or instruct the BIOS to perform a specific function.

From a motherboard manual:
4.1.2 PhoenixNet Online Services
When the PhoenixNet ILS detects an Internet connection, it makes contact with the PhoenixNet server and delivers user-selectable services from PhoenixNet's Internet Partners. These services are delivered to the user as hotlinks on the desktop and in the web browser or, as applications that PhoenixNet automatically packages, downloads and installs.

"Dear EMusic Subscriber,

I'd like to offer a personal apology for some of our recent communication with you and other EMusic customers. Over the past several weeks, we have implemented some new tools in an effort to identify subscribers that are using EMusic in ways it was not intended. It's important for us to do this to ensure the long-term viability of EMusic -- so we can continue to offer our service to you and the rest of our 70,000 loyal subscribers.

Many EMusic subscribers recently received a letter outlining unusual activity in their accounts. After personally reading through every email sent to us in response, it's clear to me that we need to rethink our approach. While we need to identify customers who are not using the service as intended, we do not want to do this at the expense of passionate EMusic users.

I want to be as clear as possible about what we consider abusive activity and how we will manage this going forward. Although EMusic is an "unlimited" service, there have to be some restrictions on this policy.

EMusic is similar to a buffet advertised as "all you can eat." For the restaurant to be successful, it has to have reasonable limitations that apply to people that stay too long, eat more than their fair share -- or waste food. The service is indeed unlimited for the vast majority of the restaurant's customers whose actions never draw attention. The restaurant reserves the right to deny service to any customer.

EMusic was designed to be an interactive service for personal use and enjoyment. Our intent is to allow our subscribers unlimited access to an amount of music that they can reasonably use. We did not design the service for people who want to download music simply to collect it or to fill up their hard drives. This would be not be responsible for us as a business or provide incentive for our label partners to make their music available.

Obviously, the definition of "reasonable" varies by user and many of the responses I have read are simply requesting some definition. Based on our current analysis of typical subscriber behavior, we believe that downloading more than 2,000 tracks in a 30-day period is not reasonable for personal use. Using a 12-track album as the average, this represents more than 165 albums and over 10,000 minutes of music. Less than 1% our subscribers ever approach these levels.

If, for any reason, you do not find this explanation satisfactory, please use the following link: http://help.emusic.com/cu/index.cgi to cancel your

account. We'll immediately end your subscription - even if you are still in your commitment period - and provide you a refund for the current month.

Again, I apologize for any inconvenience or frustration we may have caused. I can assure you that our team is extremely passionate about continuing to provide you with the best MP3 subscription service possible.

Best regards,

Steve Grady

General Manager, EMusic.com"

If this fellow had been a professional (earning money from these hacks), then he'd be living in a secret compound provided by his employers in Iraq/Korea/China. True, the internet bandwidth isn't that great there, but a good hacker doesn't need it.

Dsl reports has a nice article on how "South Korea has been officially crowned broadband champions of the world."
http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/18147

This site also has another one...
http://www.nua.ie/surveys/?f=VS&art_id=905358189&r el=true

i also read somewhere that 2/3's of korea has at _least_ a 6mbps line into their homes.

Im just assuming whoever was paying him forgot to buy him his secret compound

What happens when they get hungry inside that compound?

Actually, Louisiana has relatively good broadband access, especially when compared to other states. Most cities larger than 15k have cable modems and the majority of COs are DSL ready (see green dots at DSL Reports). The shrimp and crawfish are just an extra advantage.

Many DSL providers operate over the PPPoE protocol. Bundled with Verizon's was their crappy support software that I really didnt want or need.

Typically, the implementation used by the DSL provider (my experience was with Verizon), is not nearly as good as other versions available.

If you're a tweaker, bandwith whore or just generally care about your connection's performance I recommend heading over to DSL Reports.com and grabbing a copy of RASPPPoE and Dr. TCP. Packet size and receiving window settings can make a world of difference.

You may also find this page, CAN THE INTERNET TAKE THE PLACE OF A PAIR OF COPPER WIRES?, to be germane to what you want to do.

One other thing, I can tell you from sad experience that whenever you try to do something that's a bit non-standard, and ask for advice in a forum like this, you will always get responses from a certain contingent of people that will tell you that it either can't be done, or that you will be putting yourself/your computer/your company in danger if you do it the way you want to. Without going into all the details, I asked for a solution to a problem (that was in some ways kind of similar to yours, although it involved data rather than voice) and I was told that what I wanted to do could not be done reliably, blah, blah, blah. I got about a dozen messages telling me why it couldn't be done, and one that told me how to do it. Guess who was right (Hint: It's wasn't the people who started out by saying "I'm a professional and I've been doing this sort of thing for several years now...")

(That discussion did NOT take place on /. but rather in a Usenet newsgroup - still the principle may apply here).

If a company like Vonage can provide phone service via the Internet fairly reliably (note I did NOT say 100% reliably, but it seems to work for most users that have commented in the BroadbandReports.com VoIP forum), then I cannot see any good reason that you can't do what you need to do, except for the fact that finding the right equipment to do it may be a challenge.

I wish some company would understand that there is a market for a simple device (or pair of devices) that would let people extend THEIR OWN home or office phone lines to other locations using broadband Internet connections. A lot of people want to sell phone SERVICE via the Internet, but no one seems to want to sell the hardware so you can "do it yourself" easily.

but really AOL is always going to try to fight reverse-engineering attempts of their proprietary protocols. face it, they suck.

With all the alternative ISPs out there, why would anyone subject themselves to AOL for connectivity? My guess is many families have had their AOL accounts for a while now, and more educated children of those households attempt to cope with the lameness by using this cool dialer.

I'd say there will come a time when people will have to bite the bullet and give up those AOL screennames. They suck at broadband, they're heavily tied into dial-up, they spam the crap out of you, and shove content down your throat all the while confining you to their obnoxious sandbox and screwing-up your network settings. They do everything in their power to abstract the Internet back into AOL. I find that eeevuuuhl.

I for one have been using EarthLink for years on a slew of operating systems, starting from dial-up up to DSL (over 2 1/2 years now), and it's always been a breeze. They'll send you a CD that'll handle the whole sign-up and installation process, or you can just get an account on-line within minutes, and at the end of the web-based process they'll show you a secure page with your username, password, dial-up number, mail and dns settings with which you can manually configure your OS. And BAM you're done. That's $22/month vs $25/month. And if you are craving spoon-fed content, you can always access your account's "start page". Note that each earthlink account actually comes with uhh i think 7 additional accounts or was it 8 additional? forgot. Each account has its own e-mail box, home page address (10MB quota, not bad) (http://home.earthlink.net/~youraccount), and start page. Oh, also the EarthLink DSL account also gives you .. uh .. i think 20 hours of free modem dial-up access, so you can get on-line while travelling through hotels and what-not. They *will* bill your ass if you go over 20 hours though. careful.

Anyway this was just an example of what i find to be a really good nationwide alternative to AOL, but there are other local ISPs all over the place. I'd stay away from local phone companies for DSL service, and go thru a re-seller of their service instead. Phone companies might give you connectivity but they won't give you nearly as many "on-line" perks as other true ISPs will, make sure you comparison-shop. For example verizon assigns you some obnoxious cryptic email address when you get their DSL package. *lame*.

Also keep in mind that any time a local phone company advertises their DSL service to you, i'm pretty sure there has to be at least one other company that offers you similar service, typically with more features for about the same price albeit potentially slightly different service terms. I know EarthLink is pretty-much everywhere, but you have other companies such as speakeasy dsl or something that offer cool plans for gamers.

DSLReports.com is always a good place to look for competitive offerings from various providers in your area.

DSLreports Broadband Security Forum

So the actions to take are:

1. temporarily disable the service with NET STOP messenger
2. block UDP 135
3. permanently disable the messenger service in your Services control panel

NYLXS and NYFairUse! went down to Washington DC on July 17 to protest against the big hollywood and big media "roundtable" discussion on drm. The meeting being held at the Commerce Dept. was so lopsided it was a joke. At one reporter's count, it was about 22 big media/big entertainment/big tech against 1 consumer voice, and one half consumer/half tech rep voice, both of which kept their mouths shut for nearly the entire four hour discussion.

NYLXS and NYFairUse members came prepared. We had buttons that said DRM is theft, flyers, handouts, etc. We stood up, and made our voices heard at the meeting. Although the organizers at the Commerce Dept. attempted to shut us up, we persisted, and got the attention of others in the room. Some of the IT reps conceded on the record that more consumer voices needed to be heard on this issue.

As a fallout of NYLXS and NYFairUse actions, the Commerce Dept. was forced to schedule a meeting with consumer groups on the issue. They scheduled a private, off the record, meeting of two hours for 17 groups invited to attend. Do the math.

Thanks to the efforts both in the Commerce Committee hearing room, during the simultaneous demonstration held outside the Commerce Department headquarters, and at the NYLXS and NYFairUse impromptu news conference held outside the Commerce Committee headquarters after the meeting, enough publicity was generated that the Commerce Committee was forced to recognize that consumers are the real stakeholders on this issue.

Expect more action on this issue from NYLXS and NYFairUse.
The members of Congress cannot exclude the consumer when it comes to Fair Use rights, drm (is theft) restrictions, or anything else that restricts consumers from exercising their Fair Use rights. NYLXS and NYFairUse will be there to protect these important rights. From attacks on libraries and librarians (check out some of the notable quotables from Mr. Jack Valenti on the Fair Use web site), to expiring electronic books (also on the web site) for your higher education, to restrictive technologies like Palladium, drm firmware being silently placed in MPAA member hard drive manufacturers, and more, NYLXS and NYFairUse will be there to defend Fair Use, and the right to use your computer and other property that you paid for in any manner you like that helps society move forward, and not in a manner that restricts speech, allows ideas to be kept under lock and key or expire into oblivion, etc.

I'm making a list of legislator positions on Fair Use, and which side they choose, the public they represent or entertainment and media cartels, so that the public will have information to take to the polls with them this November. If NYFairUse accepts it, it will be up on the NYFairUse web site prior to the elections. If NYFairUse doesn't accept it, do a google search on the topic, with relevant key words, and you'll find it at another site.

before somebody brings up how Canada has DSL "everywhere" with their larger land mass and smaller population ... Maybe because the Canadian population isn't as dispersed as the American population?

DSLreports.com is the only site you'll EVER need for that purpose. Just go to the tools section. It will tell you your up and down, how it compares to other types of connections, and you can enter what city you live in and your ISP so that it can compare your speeds between other people all over the country with every type of connection. It's really an awesome, quick little tool, go check it out.

Odds are it's running over the same circuits. But that doesn't mean it's going to be the same service.

If you have Earthlink or some other ISP service your DSL instead of the phone co. then you are relying on the ISP for switching and routing. The ISP may have better tech support, may have better bandwidth (e.g. - 10 customers for every T1 instead of 50-100 customers for every T1), better services (static IP, more mailboxes, more webspace, etc.).

Then again, the ISP may be worse than the phone co. But, at the very least, you're helping to break the monopoly at least a bit. So yes, it is competition. At least some competition.

I have Earthlink service currently and while I only occasionally have problems, I know that their tech support is pretty useless (which wasn't true back in the Mindspring days). No real issues with bandwidth, but your mileage may vary.

If you want to see a list of local broadband providers, go to DSLReports -- they've got some nice tools and a good listing of ISPs (and even show who the ISP uses for circuits -- if you find an ISP that uses Covad or anyone-but-the-RBOC then that's as close as you'll get to real competition -- the circuit provider is still leasing floor space from the RBOC).

Go to DSLReports and run the tweak test - it will give you an easy way of setting up a larger receive window on your machine which will give you a quick perfoemance boost.

yeah, i know im a bitch, but this NOTHING to do with TCP sparky. it's the underlying DSL technology. I will bet a cold beer that this guy has ADSL, which along with all the other caveats it has, dynamically changes your amount of upstream/downstream bandwidth. and please dont cry, it's in your TOS. That's what you get for the 49.95/mo special. The solution: SDSL. A much stronger technology that uses a symetric transfer mechanism, as opposed to ADSL. why do i pay 109.99/mo for SDSL, 4 static ip's, and GAURENTEED LEVELS OF SERVICE?(uptime, bandwidth, etc) so i never have to cry like this....

teknopurge

... has a Tweak Test that tests some connection settings such as your RWIN. I had the exact same problem as you and it turned out that my RWIN was set wrong and once I fixed it, the problem pretty much went away. Try it and I bet it helps.

ATT BI is blocking game ports in the Chicago area as well as file sharing progs... check out this link for more details...http://www.dslreports.com/comment/1900/2 8460

Here's an article on ripping to pieces what's left of fair use rights.

Cost of living = high

It really depends on where you live and what you buy, but in a lot of cases (even factoring in exchange) things are often cheaper in Canada. Burger King, last time I checked, comes out to $0.50 more (USD) for a whopper meal. A lot of other things are more expensive south of the border. The economy is, by some people's standards, 'slower' than the US's, so prices (for some things) get adjusted accordingly. As for things like rent, it depends on where you live. You can rent a house in New Westminster for $650/mo, or buy one for $120k and up. In the praries and the far east (maritimes) where jobs are less common (theoretically), houses start at $80k, and I've had four job offers in three months, including three interviews and two jobs taken. I've basically had my pick of the employers I've applied to. Not bad, if you can stand the small-town atmosphere, isolation, cold winters, and mosquitoes.

Taxes = high (15% combined federal/provincial not counting hidden taxes or income tax)

I love it when people quote without indicating they have any idea what they're talking about. In BC, the sales taxes come out to 14.5%. In Saskatchewan, 13%. In Alberta, there is no provincial tax, so it's 7%. Income tax and federal tax are higher, but then you also don't have to pay (or pay as much) for health care, education (my tuition next year is a 'staggering' $4000 CDN, which is expensive). In fairness though, I think it comes out to 15% in Ontario, but you don't have to live there. BC is nice too, and they've recently slashed income tax.

lack of jobs = high (8% unemployment)

7.5% in June actually, down from 7.7% in May. I read that during my break today thanks to AvantGo. These guys rule.

One persons connection != anothers

Check www.DSLreports.com and listen to what people have to say. People in the Surrey area, which was closer to metropolitan Vancouver than I was when I lived in BC, were getting faster tranfer rates than I was. I figure there had to be something wrong with my setup at home that I wasn't getting what they were (some guys have hit 680 KB/s on numerous occasions).

Another note, rogers has started capping almost everyone @ 1.5Mbit/192Kbit. And has notified NONE of their customers.

This is the same Rogers whose video stores do not share accounts even within the same city, and do not honour their 'VIP packages' that you can get with your cable bill. Rogers has their hands in dozens of pies, and only one, the cable company, is making any money. Of course they're capping people, they don't own their own national data pipeline and have to pay for their bandwidth. Shaw, on the other hand, has no such restrictions, and could care less.

Ontario got shafted by switching from Shaw to Rogers. BC residents have never been happier. Either way, I'd never recommend moving to Ontario anyway. Too polluted, crowded, and busy. Move to Vancouver.

--Dan

What's the news?.... I live in Carroll County Maryland. My provider is Adelphia... I've had 3Mbps down and 256 Kbps up since I got it. While I seldom really hit those speeds, I get close on most occasions. I don't remember ever being as slow as 1.5 Mbps down and they consistently provide well over 200 kbps up

speed test results

It still can't compare with the 8 Megabit downloads the Optimum Online people get. Check out the speed tests at DSL Reports.com if you want to see proof.

First, test your modem to find out the up/down speed: http://dslreports.com/stest/

Next, if you're a Windows user, there are registry tweaks you can make:

http://www.cable-modems.org/articles/speed_tweaks/

Mac and Windows tweaks:

http://www.dslreports.com/tweaks

Note, however, these are all legal -so far!

Uncapping a 3Com cable modem (what AT&T uses)--

http://online.securityfocus.com/news/353

First, test your modem to find out the up/down speed: http://dslreports.com/stest/

Next, if you're a Windows user, there are registry tweaks you can make:

http://www.cable-modems.org/articles/speed_tweaks/

Mac and Windows tweaks:

http://www.dslreports.com/tweaks

Note, however, these are all legal -so far!

Uncapping a 3Com cable modem (what AT&T uses)--

http://online.securityfocus.com/news/353

Try DSL Reports's forum. Look at the news headlines on the top of the Web page.

Here is a pretty map of the US. The dots are phone company offices (CO's), green ones with DSL equiment and red ones without DSL equipment.

The dots are 1 pixel, and the map is 1000 pixels wide. The US is about 3000 miles wide; therefore the dots are about 3 miles, which is coincidentally the same as the region of service for DSL around the dot.

• So in order to get DSL -- now or sometime in the future -- you have to actually live on one of the colored dots on the map.
• If you live on a green dot, you can get DSL.
• If you live on a red dot, you can't get DSL today, but could if they installed the equipment.
• If you don't live on one of the dots, you cannot get DSL ever, unless the phone company builds a new building or puts in a repeater.

Here is DSL Reports (scant) commentary on the image.

Here is a pretty map of the US. The dots are phone company offices (CO's), green ones with DSL equiment and red ones without DSL equipment.

The dots are 1 pixel, and the map is 1000 pixels wide. The US is about 3000 miles wide; therefore the dots are about 3 miles, which is coincidentally the same as the region of service for DSL around the dot.

• So in order to get DSL -- now or sometime in the future -- you have to actually live on one of the colored dots on the map.
• If you live on a green dot, you can get DSL.
• If you live on a red dot, you can't get DSL today, but could if they installed the equipment.
• If you don't live on one of the dots, you cannot get DSL ever, unless the phone company builds a new building or puts in a repeater.

Here is DSL Reports (scant) commentary on the image.

Yep. Try the DSLReports speed test. I tried it and indeed, my upload cap has been raised to 256K! YAY! (I'm in the Bay Area, btw.)

--SlashChick

It has an incredible amount of depth on every known DSL provider in the country. And it's by USERS!

Well, no, not specifically, but if you're running windows the default settings may be slowing you down. Go to DSL Reports where they have a number of tweaks and tools to optimize one's DSL connection.

It is awfully tempting to look at the benefits, but with cable being the only high speed connection in my area, I'm not willing to risk losing the service. Going back to 56k would just be torture. It doesn't matter how many people do this uncapping thing, as long as people realize that it could result in their broadband connection being terminated, their will never be enough to convince ISP's that maybe it shouldn't be a terminable offense.

I know ATTBI is planning on releasing a tiered pricing system for different speeds, so what I find more likely is that they will start charging you the rate for which you have uncapped yourself to. Could end up being pretty pricey if you've placed yourself in a business class service.

I'm sure most of you have already thought of this but what the hell. Go toDSL reports satellite forum.

Problem with free space optical networks is that the highter the frequency, the more prone they are to weather and LOS issues. Yes, they can offer extremely high bandwidth rates, but only up to a few blocks away and certainly not if a bird or extreme weather is within LOS.

RF's going to be around for sometime:

http://www.bbwexchange.com
http://www.bbwexchange.com/wisps/
http://www.dslreports.com/forum/dslalt
http://www.isp-wireless.com

It could be spammers harvesting addresses, as this page indicates.

On 6.26am the morning of May 13th, 2001, the link is hit from IP 24.1.197.144 - a residential cable modem in Arizona, then on the @home network, now Cox. The browser is identified to the web server as a generic windows 95 version of Netscape. Of course it isn't, its an email harvesting robot that goes from web page to web page.

Tada.