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Flashcom has moved some of their customers to other ISP's but they haven't shut off their Covad customers yet. The info is here.

I was a Flashcom subscriber because cable was not available at our old apartment. I can say I was pretty satisfied with them. The price was reasonable and the speed was close to what they promised. Installation took about the time they promised (6-8 weeks, don't remember now), while not fast it was at least fair. anyway Covad was the carrier so Flashcom did not have much to do with it. They did not have a cable long enough to reach my PC so I could not test the connection when it was installed and when I bought the cable I found that the modem was defective. It took them about a week to bring me a new modem after which I was pretty happy. There were few outages (maybe 3-4 during 8 months), I can't tell if that was above or below average. Customer support is OK if you can reach it because hold time is enormous - can be up to an hour. They also had some billing problems, but those are mostly in my favor. They finally did not charge me a cancelation fee either by mistake or because I had a good reason to cancel (we've moved), anyway I would not complain about it ;-) So it was pretty much OK but I can tell I was quite happy when we moved to a place where @home was available since it's cheaper and faster, outages happen not more (but probably not less) often and we had it installed the day we moved in (ordered two weeks in advance).

I asked a person at flashcom and they said they really didn't care. But from their Terms and Conditions, it looks like they don't like anyone even using NAT, which I find very hard to believe. It's funny that they didn't mention web servers, but I guess they don't want you providing access to lots of other people (their business DSL is $100/month vs $40 for personal).

6. Restrictions. HomeSurfer Customers agree not to run any servers in conjunction with the Services, including but not limited to, electronic mail, NAT, DHCP and DNS servers. In the event any HomeSurfer Customer attempts to utilize a server on the network

Have you checked Flashcom? I know a few people in the bronx that have xDSL access from them, and the price isn't bad.

Hope this helps.

I think you should double-check the alternatives to BA.

I've signed webforms on a lot of DSL sites indicating interest and just got an offer last week from Flashcom for Internet access (w/ Northpoint as carrier) for cheaper than Bell Atlantic ($39.99/mo, free install, free DSL modem, with 1 year term, all for 410kbps down, 200kbps up.) It was a "special limited-time offer", (through Nov 15th?) but I'd be surprised if it doesn't reappear. On the email I received and web form, they said it was a two-year requirement, but when a sales rep called me the next day, he said I only needed to sign up for one year. So do ask about that.

A little slower than BA's 640/90 plan downstream, but $10/mo cheaper and faster upstream. This was in Westchester County about 45 minutes north of NYC, so you might check to see if that offer is available in your area too. I too have no love lost for Nynex/BA.

After BA said on their website in July that they'd have DSL in my area in "August," then "September, ", then "October-November," and now "November-December", I'm not eager get strung along further. And now especially that I'd be paying more. So I signed up w/ Flashcom on Monday. Provisioning is still problematic: 45 days to install they say, in part because they have to get Bell Atlantic, their competitor, to come to my place to do a line test. Screwy, isn't it?

--LP

I live in Maryland, DC metro area. BellAtlantic ADSL is widely available everywhere around here, and if BellAtlantic does not offer service in your area, there is always Flashcom and CAIS Internet.

I had mine since May. I have yet to see a friend who could not get a DSL connection even though he tried to. And BellAtlantic offers good service, I have a 640K link and am quite happy with it. Now this is the scene with Maryland, I know downtown Dc and Virginia are even better wired with many more connectivity options. Business grade DSL is available almost everywhere in the DC metro area, and the area is home to DIGEX, so no connectivity problems here.

Looks like you're really misinformed about the area. DC area is a great place to live in, when it comes to Net connectivity. No cable modem service yet(at least where I live), but DSL wins hands down since it is very convenient to have a single bill for phone and Net.