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Your Qwest Leads To MSN
bee writes: "Qwest.net has announced an alliance with MSN that will 'transition' Qwest's dialup and DSL customers to MSN Internet Access. If you're a Macintosh user, you'll be able to continue on Qwest until they figure out what to do with you. Zero mention, of course, is made of Linux or BSD. Here's the FAQ they're pointing their customers to."
Basically I think the "Windows only" thing is probably only an issue for people with internal Intel DSL routers. Since these things actually sit in a PCI slot, they need drivers and if those drivers are only available for Windows, that's what you have to go with. However when you have an external router, it's different. It has a phone jack on one side, and eithernet on the other. It is actually what talks to the equipment and logs you in and so on, the system behind it has no involvement.
I'm additonally unwilling to leave Qwest since they seem to be the only ISP willing to work with me on the static IP thing. None of the other ISPs I talked to had a workable deal for static IPs, and some just wouldn't offer them at all.
At any rate, I'm not staying with their service just ecause it works with my stuff (I also have a Linux server on the network), but rather because they have the best deal right now. If someone else can offer me something equal or better to what Qwest has, I'd consider switching but I'm not going to move to an inferior solution.
Yep. this guy's exactly right. MSN is just another ISP...most of their suburban lines are sub-let through national chains. They're *almost* a virtual ISP.
I have a lil P200 (fine, yes, it's running Linux) that acts as a dialer and dhcp server, and all I have to do is use "MSN/username" in the dialing script. Works like a charm.
Nary a butterfly to be found.
of windows-using Qwest users switching to another provider out of protest?
.. wierder. Still..
I mean, ok, obviously Qwest is happy (or at least satisfied) with throwing out the mac users and the linux users. And clearly the mac and *n?x users are going to have to find something else.
So, my question to the windows-using qwest people: if things turn out the way it looks like they will, and the mac-using and linux-using populace lose their qwest access, will you consider leaving qwest in protest? Or will it just be, hey, they'll accept MY hardware configuration, i'm ok, it isn't my problem?
Microsoft's newest tactic is amazing. In addition to their old tactics, they now have the new and amazing trick of buying customers. That's right, can't get a sufficiently high-quality product (or one that seems solid enough) that you can establish a user base through sheer quality of product? That's alright, you can always buy thousands of users from another ISP, or bribe anyone who is willing to develop for the directx apis or the xbox with gobs of money, so that you BUY an existing user base and create some sort of "momentum" for the platform. (Munch's Odysee will be a strong argument for claiming the xbox isn't vapour. It should be; microsoft paid good money to be able to produce the Oddworld Inhabitants as proof that there is, indeed, third-party support for the xbox. Except if you paid them off, can they *really* be called a third-party?)
Customers are now a commodity, to be bought and sold. Amazing. Customers are now what Labor was 100 years ago. Except this seems somehow
Wait until you start using MSN. You'll be so happy, you'll be leaping from windows. Or is that leaping from Windows? Hmmm...
"Beware of he who would deny you access to information, for in his heart, he dreams himself your master."
Why do you use it? I'll admit that I use it occasionally, but only in order to keep in contact with friends via MSN messenger (i'm trying to persuade them to get ICQ instead). Given the, shall we say, twtchiness of MSN in the last few weeks, I'll be surprised if the number of people using MSN hasn't plummeted due to the spectacular lack of customer service that they have exhibited in recent, and less recent, times.
Given the inherent problems that have been flagged up with regards to Microsoft and MSN in the last few weeks, months, years and decades, I personally have very little Faith in their much-touted security features (or should that be bugs?) in MSN.
Ceci n'est pas une
I hate Microsoft as much as the next guy, but this "article" is pure FUD. It incinuates that all of Qwest's DSL customers (of which I am one..) are going to be forced to switch to MSN, which is total BS. To quote from the FAQ itself:
"Under the agreement, MSN will become the preferred Internet Service Provider (ISP) for some Qwest.net Consumer Internet Access customers."
So what if MSN becomes the "preferred ISP"? And beyond that, its only going to apply to some customers, not all.
Qwest is moving its "Qwest.net" customers to MSN. Thats right, there is a difference between Qwest and Qwest.net -- Qwest.net is Qwest's unprofitable, lousy internet provider service. Qwest provides you with a DSL circuit. Who you choose to have as your ISP is totally up to you. You can rely upon Qwest for that additionally, and become a subscriber to "Qwest.net"..You don't have to.
Beyond all this, if you have another ISP that youve chosen to do business with, such as a local ISP in your home town, Qwest does not have the legal authority to render the contract between you and your ISP null and void. Its only "Qwest.net" subscribers that have to "worry" about anything. I dont subscribe to "Qwest.net", so I don't have to worry about a thing. I use DakotaCom here in Tucson as my ISP, therefore it doesn't affect me.
This entire post should be modded down to -1 Troll.
Bowie J. Poag
When will they stop twisting the jargon!? "Narrowband"? The opposite of broadband is baseband, as in 10Base(band)T. Broadband does not mean "Big fat and fast line to the internet", but rather a single data cable that carries more than one type of a signal. Your CATV line is broadband because it can carry network data AND your usual TV channels. DSL (at least ADSL) is broadband because it can carry your phone (voice and low-frequency sound-based data) signals and your network connection. Ethernet is NOT broadband, even though it's faster than DSL, because it can only carry data signals... unless you happen to be one of those that happens to be using a very unusual kind of ethernet that was hardly implemented... I think it was called 10Broad36, and ran over 75 Ohm Coaxial. (aka, coaxial TV cable.)
Here's my personal fave:
"Easy access to great resources from MSN that help make your life better."
Maybe that's why i'm depressed all the time. No MSN.
... and using linux, or any other PPP capable device on it is not hard... You do not need to use the software at all, the username just needs to be prefixed with MSN/ and you need the, easily accessable DNS server IP's which tech support would give you in a heartbeat.