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DSL doesnt have to cap like cable modems, Its not as much of a shared resource. My friend in Japan is already getting 40Mbps DSL. After market saturation, ISP's will offer more speeds and services. Also with 10Mbps you can offer video on demand, another way for small towns to make a profit.

Bandwidth is the greatest overpriced product besides soda pop and breakfast cereal.

BTW, I won't use a cable modem for an un-aceptable usage policy. Don't see why people would save 5 bux for a high ping, limited service that cable service offers. If its your only choice then yes. Of course, I'm a sys-admin, and expect a little more out of my IP service provider, upload speed, real unlimited service, non-blocked ports, allowed to run servers. Speakeasy offers a sys-admin package just for that reason.

I'm not gonna pretend to be an expert on 802.11 hardware, but I would recommend going with g instead of b. If you want to hold lan parties over this thing, you'll want the extra throughput.

If after setting this up, you want to provide high-speed internet service to the whole appartment as well, you might want to check out Netshare by Speakeasy, which was posted on slashdot a while ago. It should let you recoup some of the cost to spend on more hardware or do something with, or you might be able to use it to convince the landlord to foot some of the bill or something. Good luck!

Speakeasy will allow you to share your bandwidth. However, you remain responsible for it.

Save your $$ and let your neighbors buy their own access!

Or you can become an administrator in Speakeasy's NetShare program. Everyone pays the price you specify to Speakeasy (minimum $20/month), Speakeasy provides email and newsgroup access, and credits half of their monthly fee to your account.

You can now get 3.0 Mbit downstream, 768 Kbit upstream with 4 static IPs from Speakeasy for $110/month. At $20/participant, it will only require 11-12 additional subscribers to reduce your net cost to zero (after taxes).

Speakeasy will allow you to share your bandwidth. However, you remain responsible for it.

Save your $$ and let your neighbors buy their own access!

Or you can become an administrator in Speakeasy's NetShare program. Everyone pays the price you specify to Speakeasy (minimum $20/month), Speakeasy provides email and newsgroup access, and credits half of their monthly fee to your account.

You can now get 3.0 Mbit downstream, 768 Kbit upstream with 4 static IPs from Speakeasy for $110/month. At $20/participant, it will only require 11-12 additional subscribers to reduce your net cost to zero (after taxes).

... if it's available in your area. I have two DSL providers, DCAnet and, of course, Speakeasy. I love them both - they're always great to work with and are very responsive to my needs. I have two lines, a Covad and a Verizon, through DCA and one Covad line through Speakeasy. I've never once had a problem with either, and I've had these lines for a combined total of 5 line-years.

I routinely exceed what comcast calls a "reasonable" limit (30GB/month down and 7.5GB/month up, wasn't it?). Not only do I exceed that, I blow it away - never heard a peep out of either of them...

I have a theory about why Comcast is trying to choke off their Internet users. They recently had to double the downrate to compete with DSL, thinking that offering twice the downstream would make the extra expense worth it... However, they're also trying to ramp up their On-Demand movie service, which is far more profitable to them. So, it makes sense to try to reserve as much of their shared bandwidth as possible for movies rather than for Internet users. I would not be surprised in the least if they lowered those caps at some point, as there is a finite amount of information a single shared cable can carry...

Just a thought..

SpeakEasy.net does IDSL which I know for a fact since when I tried getting their ADSL service because DirecTV shutdown their DSL services I had to find an alternative DSL provider and speakeasy could only afford me IDSL which is 144Kb with quite a few static IPs for around $90/month (IDSL + ISP net service), but installtion was costly I believe. Reason why speakeasy couldn't service me because they didn't have a contract with Bell South so the phone company wouldn't let them use their nearest CO to me. Ohh well luckly there was a new ISP local startup company here in Nashville, TN so now I'm happy. :)

Although I believe there is a transfer limit somewhere around 1GB a month for residential users, they don't seem to police it. I've been using SpeakEasy for over 3 years, have had some months with much more than 1GB used, and never a letter stating that I went over.

Actually, there is no bandwidth limit -- in fact, they are completely OK with customers running servers and similar bandwidth-intensive activities. From Speakeasy's Terms of Service:

Bandwidth: As an ISP, Speakeasy's bottom line is determined partially by the amount of bandwidth customers utilize. Speakeasy can normally balance that cost and utilization while continuing to provide great service to all customers. Customers will not be charged for the bandwidth consumed, nor do we have specific limits or caps on that bandwidth. If you utilize any of your Speakeasy services in a manner which consumes excessive bandwidth or affects Speakeasy's core equipment, overall network performance, or other users' services, Speakeasy may require that you cease or alter these activities.

In other words, just be cool, and they'll be cool. This is one of the reasons I chose Speakeasy as my broadband provider -- they're not jerks about bandwidth, their support people actually know what they're talking about, and unlike Comcast, they don't send me ads in the mail twice a week trying to convince me that I will have an unfullfilled existance if I don't subscribe to cable TV. :-)

Their terms of service aren't totally anti-consumer, like the other big "broadband" providers.

Huh? Since when? I've been a DSL subscriber (on 4-5 different providers) in two states over the past 4 or so years, and have never seen size limitations. In fact, the only limit I've seen, other than the obvious speed limitations, is a lower cost 2-hours-on/2-hours-off plan offered by QWest.

But if you're concerned, get a real DSL ISP who won't cap your speeds, block ports, and will actually believe that you know what you're doing (and still give you tech support) when you tell them that you're running a linux-based firewall with a small server farm behind it.

• Termination Policy
• Moderation of Use
• Acceptable Use Policy
• Service Guarantee

• Termination Policy
• Moderation of Use
• Acceptable Use Policy
• Service Guarantee

• Termination Policy
• Moderation of Use
• Acceptable Use Policy
• Service Guarantee

• Termination Policy
• Moderation of Use
• Acceptable Use Policy
• Service Guarantee

If cox is like rcn, OP meant that they block port 25 outbound as well. I got rid of RCN for just that reason. I access my mail server by connecting to it on port 25, then issuing STARTTLS to encrypt my connection. They didn't understand why I didn't want to send my mails over their server. When I complained, they told me that they weren't doing this to their static customers at the moment, and that I could have a static IP for an extra $20/month. They were unwilling to promise that they would not institute the same policy for static users, though. I told them that for an extra $20/month I could have a good ISP (less than $20, actually!) whose TOS essentially promise to leave you alone, and proceeded to vote with my wallet.

That said, perhaps we should make a geek ISP that fixes these problems, perhaps by charging more and then letting people do what they actually want to do with the access.

It's called SPEAKEASY.NET. Be there, aloha. . .

Actually, speakeasy has a program for people who want to resell WIFI to your neighbors.

Speakeasy does nice things like have a truly "unlimited" policy. For around US$60 a month, I get a 640/128k pipe, and two static IPs. That's it.

The really cool unlimited part is this:

* I can use as much of that bandwidth as I want.
* There are no content restrictions.

And this is the big one...

* I CAN RUN SERVERS. Yes, I realize that a lot of broadband providers don't stop you at their routers or anything, but most of them have it in their AUP that you can't run your own servers. Speakeasy just asks that you don't make money.

Oh, and I get free nationwide dialup. It's not bad.

Oh, and one other cool thing: They even explicitly say that you can set up a WAP and share your access with anyone you want, so long as you don't charge money for it.

People actually pay you money to host their websites in that basement? Please let me know what form of hypnosis you used on your costumers. *sarcasm off* Seriously beyond the basement, how can you possibly compete price wise with any half-decent provider? Are these friends of yours or something? Just no way that you could afford a T-1 and still make money by hosting 3 customers. Unless they are a bit "sheltered" and don't realize what a few hundred dollars gets them on the open market.

Even though this thread is well on its way to death, I wanted to respond to this (currently 0 rated) comment, since I think there's something worth discussing in it. Likely a version of this will go into a "my basement data center" page I should really build.

There are several considerations you're not aware of or missing. There is no shame in this, since all you've had to go on is a paragraph and a picture.

First of all, I am an additional customer along with my other 3-4 customers. I use an awful lot of bandwidth (imagine how much goes out the door on artscene.textfiles.com alone) and so I pay a good portion of the monthly costs, more than anyone else in fact. What opening my basement to others does is turn what would be a crushing monthly recurring charge into a merely indulgent one. Since the vast majority of my work and public face comes through these machines and the network, I think it's a worthwhile expenditure.

I will take this moment to say that my T-1 comes from Speakeasy, and is an amazing bargain at about $520 a month. I've had people say "how do you afford the thousands for one" and the answer is I don't. They give me incredible service and top-level support. I've had a total of 30 minutes of outage in 11 months. They're good people and you should consider them instead of cable companies, who are, in fact, distilled evil.

I might have lost you (or others) when I displaced the notion of a profit motive behind the setup of my home. I don't really call these folks "customers", I call them "roommates", with a lot of the needed give-and-take that comes from that. When they need a reboot, they call me on my cell phone and I go do it. I've done part installs and troubleshooting, all part of the deal, just like roommates help each other out. When they need an extra IP or two, I get one to them. If they ask for a reverse lookup change, I go do it. And so on. I answer questions and make myself available. Also, we do things month to month, no contract. If one person leaves for whatever reason, I can swing the cost until I find a new person.

So I don't think it's hypnosis or delusion or sheltering; you will find most places give you "virtual hosting" or charge a lot for rackspace or will not give you the access to a dedicated person that I give, and can really only give if it's a small number of people. Will it ever be a full-on Colocation Facilty? No. Do I want it to be? No. Am I in competition with these places? I don't think so.

The 1990's imbued otherwise-rational geeks with this inherent need to justify everything as a business case. It really sours everything, if you ask me. This is more a little community than anything else. Don't worry, I'm not putting any colos out to pasture.

They also have, by far, the most helpful and knowledgeable technical support service in the industry. They DO cost more than your average "bait and switch" broadband provider. But the support and reliability of their service is worth the extra cost to me. For example, they send out an email several days before they perform any scheduled maintenance to your service, and (so far) they have always scheduled the maintenance for very late at night.

Speakeasy is so much better than my previous provider, who have gone belly up. And I'm actually paying LESS, bit-for-bit, with Speakeasy.

Rob

Being a member of the speakeasy offensive, a professional counter-strike clan, I can tell you that this video does a very good job exploring the depths of professional gaming (specifically, the pro RTCW scene), and reminds me of the last time I was in Dallas competing just like 4K.

As far as professional gaming goes, it's already a reality in Korea, where there is Starcraft on TV and live events in which hundreds of fans are cheering their favorite players on. However, professional gaming has a long way to go before it is able to go mainstream: a game has to be created that is spectator friendly and has built in television functions such as HLTV in Half Life. Counter-Strike is the most popular FPS ever created, but at the professional level, it is sometimes downright boring to watch when players are camping, doing nothing for 2 minutes before they actually make a move and attack a bombsite. A game has to be created where there is constant action, and is watchable by the masses (ie, does not make the crowd nauseus like many first person shooters do), before it can be shown on TV.

Speakeasy encourages you to run your own servers on thier dsl lines, a static IP costs $3 or $5 extra a month, and they'll change your reverse dns for ya too. I have never been happier with an ISP than I was with them.

• Static IP is the default.
• They not only allow but encourage running servers. They're even reasonable about secondary DNS and MX pricing.
• Free reverse lookup changes.
• Encourage sharing your connection.
• Don't block ports.
• Provide NTP services on all their local POPs
• Heck they even host game servers on the local POPs

• Static IP is the default.
• They not only allow but encourage running servers. They're even reasonable about secondary DNS and MX pricing.
• Free reverse lookup changes.
• Encourage sharing your connection.
• Don't block ports.
• Provide NTP services on all their local POPs
• Heck they even host game servers on the local POPs

Speakeasy has been a very Linux-friendly ISP who has allowed me to host all the services I ever wanted. They are pretty affordable, too, with "plus" packages offering such goodies as 4 additional static IPs, or low-ping goodness for gamers.

Speakeasy has been a very Linux-friendly ISP who has allowed me to host all the services I ever wanted. They are pretty affordable, too, with "plus" packages offering such goodies as 4 additional static IPs, or low-ping goodness for gamers.

Check out Speakeasy. I have never come across a single unhappy customer. They allow the customer to use their connection for pretty much anything, even WiFi hot spots. They even offer symetric DSL up to 1.5Mbit.

http://www.speakeasy.net/netshare/learnmore/

Mail server here too.

I picked my ISP, Speakeasy, specifically because they allow servers and the sharing of bandwidth.

The cost is based on my bandwidth allocation and I could get up to a T1 if I wanted

Mostly I picked them to vote with my wallet!
Every other broadband ISP in my area has port filtering and restrictions (pay extra to hook an additional computer up, WTF?). I know that I could technically get around most of the restrictions, but I wanted to avoid even the appearance that I support such draconian rules (If I could!)

Wanna share a WIFI access point with your neighbors? Build your own personal Data Center?

I know I tend to sound like a marketroid, but in all honesty I am impressed with them.

There must be others that are non-restrictive, search them out, and when you switch be sure to tell your ISP exactly why.

Did I mention 2 static IPs standard?

See, one problem is that telemarketers do poor screening. I have an apartment. I get all kinds of call asking if I want to refinance my mortgage.

As a general rule, I've already made my decisions about the things sold by telemarketers. I have 2 credit cards that have managed to not piss me off so far. I don't carry a balance, thus I don't care about interest rates. I already get perks, so I don't need new ones. I have DSL from a provider that lets me do whatever I want with that pipe, and I do pay a premium for that. So I will stop a telemarketer who's trying to sell me DSL simply because I value a long-term relationship with a provider who isn't going to screw with me. It saves me time and annoyance to end the pitch early.

The overall problem is that telemarketers have poisoned the well. Years ago, people might have considered a call from some strange person selling something. But because there are too many callers selling too many things who aren't adequately targeting the right audience, people have declared that entire medium of advertising to be not worth dealing with. Because of overuse of telemarketing, nobody wants to take the time to allow somebody to make their pitch.

A lot of people seem to like Speakeasy (they're geek friendly) and it looks like their low-end residential DSL service starts with 256k upstream for about $50/mo. (not bad!)

My latest column deals with this too. I got a lot of e-mail in response from ISPs talking about how it would be difficult/expensive to implement and that it would violate customer privacy. One said it would be a HIPAA violation. My own ISP (Speakeasy.net) virus-scans all e-mail that goes through their servers; is that a HIPAA violation? A lot of them are also scared of losing customers after offending them by blocking their outbound port 25 access, but does an ISP really want business from someone infected with Sobig?

It is true that since Sobig uses its own SMTP server the ISP would have to do the monitoring via a port 25 monitor. I'm not completely sure how difficult/expensive this would be to implement on a large scale, but there's an opportunity for someone who comes up with a cheap solution. I suppose it could be part of a general IDS, but it needs to be something price-accessible to an ISP.

Larry Seltzer
Security Editor, eWEEK.com
http://security.eweek.com/

Those in the know choose Speakeasy -- 6 out of 7 Speakeasy customers come from another Broadband ISP.

Are you referring to a business that has a monopoly because of regulation? Or is there competition in the DSL market there? There are things to do about it but what that is depends on the particular circumstances. Is SpeakEasy available there for DSL or T1? I've heard a number of people have gotten static IP with reverse DNS from them (but I don't know whether that is delegated or hosted).

I was finally told by a manager that any upload in excess of 35 minutes (size of file or type, etc have no bearing) would result in an automatic capping of the user's upstream.

What they're doing here is preventing their customers from operating servers. It's perfectly reasonable that they should want to do this: why should they provide commercial service for consumer prices? Their solution is pretty procrustean though.

Anyway, if you need unlimited uploads, you need a provider that allows it. Might cost more than you're spending now, but that's how business works.

For smaller ISPs to flourish they need to offer something the Big Boys (ie SBC & co) do not, perhaps better customer support, or some sort of Value Added Service.

As a geek, I'd have to vote for Speakeasy on this one. I wish I could've gone with their service when I had dsl at my last apartment, but they had to set me up with a gateway in Seattle. (I live in Michigan - minimum pings to anything about 150) They offer the largest spectrum of bandwidth options I've seen from an ISP, they're Linux-friendly, and they allow you to do what you want with your line. There was a slashdot article not too long ago on how they encouraged their users to share their bandwidth over wireless routers. (I'm too lazy to go find it tho) IMO, Speakeasy is the geek's ISP. I almost wish I could get dsl in my area, just for their "feature" and geek-friendly outlook.

It could mean that your installed DSL line could have several different choices of ISP's instead of just the ISP officially supported by the telephone company

First of all, this is already the case. In my last apartment, I had dsl, and when I was shopping around, I must've browsed through twenty different ISP's. I originally tried to go with Speakeasy, which was just getting rolling, but as they didn't have a Chicago POP at the time, and I'm in Michigan... It caused a few problems having my gateway in Seattle. (minimum ping to anywhere of 150) In the end I went with Telocity, which later became DirectTV DSL, and was quite happy with the service. I had 1 Mbit down and 384 Kbit up; enough to run simple services such as my webserver, an ftp server, and ssh.

which will lead to price competition and eventually monthly pricing more akin to dial-up pricing (e.g., US$20 to US$22 per month unlimited access)

Secondly, this is highly unlikely, at least not anytime soon. I would guess (and it is just a guess, IMHO, disclaimer, etc, etc.) that most DSL ISP's are already operating at a loss, and still paying for the infrastructure they had to setup. Until that overhead goes away for the company, they can't in good faith to their shareholders drop their prices. As it is, I don't feel broadband prices are too out of line; I paid $55/mo for that dsl connection, and $60/mo for my cable right now. While this may be a bit much for casual users, I definitely get my money's worth.

I always appreciated Speakeasy's broadband tests (choose the location nearest you) Boston Chicago Denver Dallas LA NYC San Francisco Seattle

I always appreciated Speakeasy's broadband tests (choose the location nearest you) Boston Chicago Denver Dallas LA NYC San Francisco Seattle

I always appreciated Speakeasy's broadband tests (choose the location nearest you) Boston Chicago Denver Dallas LA NYC San Francisco Seattle

I always appreciated Speakeasy's broadband tests (choose the location nearest you) Boston Chicago Denver Dallas LA NYC San Francisco Seattle

I always appreciated Speakeasy's broadband tests (choose the location nearest you) Boston Chicago Denver Dallas LA NYC San Francisco Seattle

I always appreciated Speakeasy's broadband tests (choose the location nearest you) Boston Chicago Denver Dallas LA NYC San Francisco Seattle

I always appreciated Speakeasy's broadband tests (choose the location nearest you) Boston Chicago Denver Dallas LA NYC San Francisco Seattle

I always appreciated Speakeasy's broadband tests (choose the location nearest you) Boston Chicago Denver Dallas LA NYC San Francisco Seattle

Speakeasy has always allowed you to share your connection with whomever you wish... If you are sharing to people you trust will keep up with their share of the payment, then there is most likely not a reason to use this program

Actually, it is a requirement to use NetShare if your line is residential and you are collecting fees. So, yes, you can share with whomever you wish, but you'd better be using NetShare if they are paying you! From the NetShare FAQ:

Use of NetShare is mandatory if broadband circuit is residential and you intend to collect fees from third parties accessing your network.

They'd better give some kickass router with bandwidth monitoring and a good firewall, otherwise, why, on god's green earth, would I agree to admin for a bunch of strangers who can get my service shut off if they spam, or don't pay their bill, or whatever.

the FAQ is here . or some highlights below:

Q - As the Admin, it is your responsibility to provide support for:

* Customer support: for initial setup, signup and troubleshooting. Speakeasy will work with you to resolve issues related to circuit connectivity, and will forward any technical issue communicated by a NetShare Customer to you. You can then work with the Customer to resolve the issue in a diligent fashion.
* You are also responsible for the security and integrity of their shared network. Speakeasy may recommend, but is not responsible for enforcing specific network security measures.

AND

Q - I don't use WiFi but still want to share my connection (Ethernet, carrier pigeons, free-space optics, whatever). What's your policy?

A - Speakeasy believes that shared wireless networks are in keeping with our core values of disseminating knowledge, access to information and fostering community, provided this usage does not have an adverse impact on the services of other customers, does not involve any illegal activity and is not otherwise in violation of any aspect of our existing Terms Of Service. Please remember that the Speakeasy account-holder is responsible for all activity originating from their DSL line, even if it is the result of other users on a shared wireless connection.

They're not really splitting the cost. You, the neighborhood admin, can set whatever price you think your neighbors will bear.

"Who sets the NetShare customer pricing?
We put the power in your hands! As the Admin, you can select any retail price from $20 to $50, in $5 increments, and from $60 to $100 in $10 increments."

Your bill gets cut in half, they get new customers, they do all the billing, and you do all the local footwork and admin. Signing up people who would otherwise not have gone to DSL.

I asked the same question of them recently, and was sent this in reply:

http://www.speakeasy.net/pricing

[rant]
This reminds me of my ISP - they only support Windows. If there's a cable fault, then to prove it I have to take my Linux firewall down, power off, shove my Windows 98 caddy into the machine, reboot, and go through fscking winipcfg with them until I can convince the idiot behind the helpdesk that it's their fscking problem
[/rant]

Old Glory: For when the metal ones decide to come for you. And they will.