Slashdot Mirror

I've used the Speakeasy Speed Test in the past. I'm currently on a T1 connection and just got a reading of 1.5 Mbps upload and download speed, which is right on the money.

Also please post some speed tests from these sites:

http://www.speakeasy.net/speedtest/

http://www.speedtest.net/

Don't forget to run more than one test on each to get a better sample.

But TOS is a civil matter. Share your connection and they're entitled to cut you off.

My provider, Speakeasy.net, explicitly allows me to do this.

I know not everyone is in my situation, but I live in a densely-populated US metropolitan area where there are more than enough competing options for broadband. If my provider ever changed those terms of service on me (because of their recent takeover, or a change in management, or whatever) I'd be the first one to cut them off from my money and I'd go elsewhere. I'm the customer. I don't need the aggravation.

And again, I'm not saying everyone has the same options as I do (thought, it's probably worth checking out this site to really make sure you know all your options). I'm just saying that where I live, I actually have ISPs that try extra hard to serve customers like me.

I don't know if I trust those test results. The site they used and others differ greatly on a laptop.
(second one uses Flash)

http://m.ba.net/util/ping/nettools.html

http://www.speakeasy.net/speedtest/

http://www.broadbandreports.com/speedtest

Last I checked, speakeasy didn't do any type of blocking or tampering (e.g. ports 25 and 80 are open), but they are more expensive than the alternatives. Plus their support staff are highly competent.

Seriously. Speakeasy has been doing this for at least the last five or six years, at least with their home service, and nobody's pissing and moaning and calling them evil.

Speakeasy. They rock. No, I don't work for them -- just a satisfied customer...

Funny. Over at speakeasy, I can get a line that is not only faster, but guaranteed bandwidth, and is unregulated as far as what I do with it. No idiot company blocking my ports, bitching about my fileserver, etc. Further, I can sign up for a resell plan and make money on my line, with speakeasy doing all the billing. Oh, and I can have that bundled in with VoIP access too? All for around the same $150? Gratuitous link: http://www.speakeasy.net/home/

Please mr. ISP, tell me again how you aren't a simpering moron?

I was on a Southwest flight that was testing this out about a month ago, where it was free for passengers. I ran speakeasy's speed test on it, http://www.speakeasy.net/speedtest/ , and got about 3000 kbps down, and something like 200 kbps up. I ran the test about five minutes after they announced that we could use the service, and it seemed like more than half the people on the plane had laptops out and were playing with the service, even though none of us knew that the service would be available until we got on the plane.

I have 3 MB/sec DSL, and I get about 50 kbs downloading. Maybe up to 100 on a really good day.

Are you getting that number from your web browser? Both IE and Firefox express speeds in KiB/s (bytes, and in base 2), whereas network line speeds are expressed as bits per second, in base 10. 3Mb/s is 3,000,000 bits per second, 375,000 bytes per second, 366.2KiB/s.

That's still a far ways between your numbers, but it does explain some of the difference. There is some protocol overhead at various levels to deal with, but those are relatively minor. Your best option is to use something like SPeakeasy's speed test, which will test your speeds, and report back in Kb/s (bits, base 10), and take protocol overhead into account, to see if you're actually getting close to advertised speeds. That way you're not comparing apples to oranges.

(If you are actually getting 50 kilobits per second, I am sorry, both for making assumptions, and for your sub-56k modem-ish speeds.)

Sorry, better link

Speakeasy.net

Tell them I referred you.

Speakeasy sells Naked DSL as OneLink which is DSL without a separate land line. They charge an extra $6 a month which is cheaper than any land-line service.

Speakeasy DSL is on the pricey side (~$50 a month for 1.5 down, 384 up) but I believe they are well worth it. I have used them for about 6 years and never experienced an unannounced outage. They are owned by BestBuy now but so far I have not noticed any changes.

Speakeasy sells Naked DSL as OneLink which is DSL without a separate land line. They charge an extra $6 a month which is cheaper than any land-line service.

Speakeasy DSL is on the pricey side (~$50 a month for 1.5 down, 384 up) but I believe they are well worth it. I have used them for about 6 years and never experienced an unannounced outage. They are owned by BestBuy now but so far I have not noticed any changes.

I get my internet (and just internet) from Speakeasy's OneLink service.

I think that's true in many cases. Like I said in reply to the parent, that's why I think the Netshare program my ISP (Speakeasy) runs is cool. The only problems are that a) Speakeasy isn't cheap and b) you then have to get your neighbors interested/convince them it's not some kind of scam.

Interestingly, if your neighbors had their broadband through Speakeasy you could be doing this on the up and up through their Netshare program, because it some cases this probably is a practical solution.

Unfortunately, innovative offerings come through competition, and with high speed broadband moving increasingly toward cable and phone companies' offerings (i.e., cable and fiber) you'll be dealing with local monopolies who have no real incentive to offer you those sorts of options.

I was a Speakeasy customer for about 3 years.

Then they were bought by Best Buy. I learned about it right here on Slashdot. It took me a while but I dropped them by the end of that year. And yes, my decision to drop them was based 100% on who their new owner was.

In my area, Speakeasy had always just been a reseller of Covad's services. So, I went with Covad instead and cut out the middle-man. It's been about a year now and I have no complaints. The only thing I had trouble with was technician incompetence during the installation. I had a similar experience during the installation of my original Speakeasy service (which, as I said, was always just re-sold Covad service, so it came as no surprise to me).

Just like it was with Speakeasy though, once the installation stupidity had been bulldozed through, everything has been fine with Covad.

I will do everything I can to avoid supporting the Best Buy corporation. Hence no more money of mine will go to Speakeasy. They are absolutely not the company they used to be.

It doesn't surprise me at all that a Best Buy employee would post here with praise for their Speakeasy brand. That's what you are, anonymous coward ... a Best Buy employee. Are you wearing one of their shirts when you pick up the phone and answer, "Speakeasy"?

FWIW, I am in Hong Kong and have a 30Mbps DSL subscription. Using the Speakeasy speed test site, I was able to get an average of about 5Mbps download and 1Mbps upload speed. This is testing against US sites (LA, SF, Chicago, NY, Dallas).

Why would you choose a server in Norway to test the speed of a wireless connection in New York anyway? Are we testing the speed of the actual wireless network, or the peering arrangements for each provider across the North Atlantic?

Seems to me that you'd want to pick something a little closer, so as to test the actual speed of the provider's network, rather than the speed of the connection to Norway or South Africa or Mars or wherever. Alken just benchmarked my home connection at 1.6 Mbit down. Speakeasy's Washington DC speed test server clocked me at 23.7 Mbit down - which one do you think is a better reading of my ISP's actual performance?

I use Speakeasy for my service and they actually have a program that allows and encourages you to share your net connection over a wi-fi setup.
They also encourage you to charge for it, but there's no reason why it can't be done for free if you'd like.

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

If you are speaking as an end user I recommend you read your contract and stop acting like it does not allow for shenanigans.

They are usually VERY clear that you are paying for up to a certain number of tubes, and they will arbitrarily take away your maximum number of tubes if they decide you use them too much.

I'm not saying it's right, just that it is a little dis-ingenuous to pretend you didn't sign something that says I'll bend over and beg you for more.

If you really want your tube (and it is only one max all the time) all for yourself with no one else interfering and up all the time, it is available (that's a low price too).

I do agree that it would be nice (and probably should even be required in exchange for the monopoly) if providers had true unlimited, or even limited with the limits spelled out access, but I doubt anyone running into trouble with the current system would like the rates they see.

I agree with this, but I don't think that individuals who have an existing wireless access point should let others use theirs for free.

No, that's against every major ISP's terms-of-service that I've ever read. They don't want people acting as mini-ISPs. I mean, suppose you have a bunch of people in an apartment building who only want email and some Web browsing. A single 6 Mb/sec connection on a WAP could service all of them at considerable loss to the ISP. There are some people who do that: one of them buys access, shares it wirelessly with a couple of neighbors, and they split the bill.

Some choose to capitalize on it - http://www.speakeasy.net/netshare/learnmore/

Unlike many ISP's, Speakeasy allows customers to run servers (web, mail, etc.) over their Internet connections

pay for your own T3 to your house Outrageous costs aside, where do we buy it from? I've never seen T3 advertised. Only T1 from Speakeasy.

Speakeasy. I dare you to prove they screw with their customers' connections.

Switch to Speakeasy. They have a new ADSL2 package with 15mb / 1mb connections check it -

ADSL2

I wouldn't be so eager to welcome your new corporate overlords. Verizon's business model is based on overselling bandwidth just like Comcast (look at the price vs. bandwidth and that's obvious), and in the end that means they're still not willing to really let you use as much as they say they're selling you. If you look in the TOS for that residential FIOS connection you might be eying you'll find that you're not allowed to operate a "server", or use too much bandwidth, which is, of course, never defined. To wit:

The Service may be referred to as, "Verizon Fios Internet Service", "DSL Service", "Verizon Online DSL, "Verizon DSL"...

3.7.5 You may not use the Broadband Service to host any type of server whether personal or commercial in nature...

ATTACHMENT A

ACCEPTABLE USE POLICY

...

3. You may NOT use the Service as follows: ... (n) to generate excessive amounts (as determined by Verizon in its sole discretion) of Internet traffic, or to disrupt net user groups or email use by others; ...

[emphasis mine]

Further, consider that P2P software could be considered a server, which would include the bittorrent client you use to download the latest Linux distro or the Skype software you use to make VIOP calls (something Verizon has reason not to like too much).

My point is simply that if you dislike Comcast because of its unstated caps, traffic shaping, QoS stuff etc. I don't see any reason to think Verizon will be any better in the long term. As for customer service, I've had Verizon as a phone provider and found the customer service poor. Perhaps their better as an ISP, but stories I've heard from others suggest that's not the case.

I've personally been using Speakeasy for years. They seem to be much more honest in their dealings, allow you to run a server, and don't (apparently) block or degrade certain protocols, although their TOS still contain some "excessive usage" weasel words IIRC. The only problem is that it's DSL (and not even cheap DSL), so the bandwidth to price ratio isn't nearly what you'd get from Cable or FIOS. On the other hand, I can't stomach the idea of rewarding those other companies' practices.

Back in 2001 Valve included a hardware survey in one of the Half-Life patches. The results are still online: http://valve.speakeasy.net/survey/

Monopoly issue solved: http://speakeasy.net/home/adsl2/

Some providers in the US also try/tried that, starting as early as 2003, and usually hoping that non-customers would pay $$ to access their network through such user-provided "open" wi-fi APs. I don't think this worked overly well so far though...
http://www.sonic.net/hotspots/
http://www.speakeasy.net/netshare/learnmore/

Yes, they are explicitly trying to block Covad's ADSL2. Here's a link:

http://speakeasy.net/business/adsl2/

Notice that 15 Mbps is far better than what the Telco's are offering. ATT in particular, who will only give you 6 Mbps for Internet access, out of the 100 Mbps that their U-Verse lines are capabable of.

Also note that ADSL2 is only now just being rolled out to select areas, and is for business. Once competition heats up, the price will drop.

Sigh. I wish I had it now.

So yes, keep your copper lines.

Speakeasy might be an option for you. They do voice and data, and I've been using their OneLink service for about two years now. When combined with an HDTV antenna and either an HD TV or a computer HDTV receiver, you can be Comcast and AT&T-free :-).

My answering machine cost like $10. And I pay that once.

Also I have to wonder ... wtf. are you doing for DSL, I need a phone line for that. I guess some people only have the option of Cable, or maybe have some better options.

Smaller isps take action also.
I was running an open proxy and forgot to turn off smtp

they sent me an email a day later

Greetings,

We have recently received a report of unsolicited emails originating from your Speakeasy circuit, which is in
violation of our Acceptable Use Policy. The computer in question is at the following IP address:

xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx

A copy of the original spam is included at the bottom of this mail.

Due to the subject and content of these unsolicited emails, we believe the computer at this IP address has been
exploited via an open proxy. An open proxy allows anyone on the Internet to access your broadband connection,
which enables them to mass distribute spam, eluding detection.

This open proxy can result in the blacklisting of portions of Speakeasy's network by various organizations,
adversely impacting the ability of other Speakeasy members to send legitimate emails.

It is vital for the security of your personal network and the Speakeasy network as a whole that you address this
issue immediately. If we continue to receive similar reports about your circuit, we will be forced to temporarily
suspend your broadband service until you have had time to resolve this issue. Please understand that we consider
an interruption in your service only when it is absolutely required to ensure both your security, and the overall
security of the entire Speakeasy network.

Included below is step-by-step information on how to secure your computer and network, along with How-To's on
securing open proxies, securing formmail, general network security and wireless network security.

PLEASE ALSO NOTE:
There will be an open Service Ticket on your account. To ensure that your service is not interrupted, it is
important that you update us once you have resolved this issue. Please call Speakeasy Support at 800.556.5829 or
login to MySpeakeasy (http://www.speakeasy.net/myspeak) and update the open Service Ticket referencing this issue.

We thank you for taking the time to address these Internet security concerns.

Network Security Department
Speakeasy, Inc.
abuse@speakeasy.net

- Speakeasy AUP/TOS
http://www.speakeasy.net/tos

http://www.speakeasy.net/ has allowed this for a long time. Their terms of use actually encourage sharing, and long before FON showed up, Speakeasy facilitated such sharing by finding ways for customers to earn revenue for it. One of the few surviving independent ISPs out there, I think Speakeasy deserves a lot of kudos for their policies. Of course, now that they are Best Buy we'll see how long it all lasts.

FON is interesting for it's dual network access point. I'm running one right now (in Austria) and it does a fine job. It does seem to suffer a bit when both public and private networks are in use, though. It also "phones home" for regular updates that are outside my control. A few weeks ago one such update killed our ability to pick up Google Mail via SSL/POP. The fixed the bug within a couple weeks, but it is still odd to be running my network with an access point so totally out of my control.

Speakeasy got bought by Best^H^H^H^HWorst Buy.

I've had Speakeasy for years. Between my roommates and me, we've used quite a bit of bandwidth and never had any complaint from them. They generally deal fairly and honestly with their customers, so I think they'd be a good bet for getting clear rules and fair treatement. They actually have fair and reasonable terms of service, good reliability, good customer service, etc., but you do pay a bit more for that.

On the other hand, they were recently acquired by Best Buy, so I'm not certain how long they will continue to be good.

Seems like it might be the first form on this page. I talked to Covad today, and the rep said they are getting a lot of interest because of the Speakeasy news. Unfortunately they were not able to price-match the contract I currently have with Speakeasy.

Hmmm ... I'm in Society Hill (for out-of-towners: On a border of South Philly) and my 6.0/768 service has been pretty unreliable.

Also, I think Speakeasy encourages you to share Wifi by billing your neighbors and taking a cut for yourself: http://www.speakeasy.net/netshare/terms/

for speakeasy customers:
https://www.speakeasy.net/myspeak/customer_survey. mpl

This just in: http://www.speakeasy.net/ is being bought by BestBuy. So one of the few other ISPs with a decent AUP will probably turn into another Yahoo! DSL style AUP "looking at webpages and getting email is all you are really allowed to do but there is a secret cap even on that..."

Are you sure $2000 is enough? For example, Speakeasy 3Mbps bonded T1 costs $850. If 3Mbps costs $850, how the heck would $100Mbps cost only $2000?