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Rolling Your Own Internet Connection?
budGibson asks: "Recently, I have become interested in rolling my own Internet connection using a T-1 or T-3. I realize this means maintaining my own DNS, routers, etc. A quick trip to the local phone company's web site suggests this is possible, as does a tour around ATT's data services division . I know that Slashdot at one point in time was going over a T-1 before co-location. Are there any non-vendor resources on what I need to set up my own on-site connection? Are there any tips on what to avoid? What to ask for?"
We just installed a T1 at work through Qwest and we tried to do everything we could by ourselves that we could. We were pretty successful. We were just insistent that we didn't want to use their VPN, management, DNS servers, and domain registry. We would have wanted to go with a more major player like UUNET or Genuity, but Qwest offered us the best 1 year contract at about $800/mo for a site pretty far away from their POP downtown. Qwest did handle all the wrangling with the local telco, but this was welcome. Dealing with the telco is voodoo magic sometimes. From our research we found it's just as much to get a T1 from a major bandwidth provider than from a local ISP, so whatever floats your boat..
Something that we used to save a bundle was using a WAN card with an integrated CSU/DSU in our existing Linux router machine. We ended up spending just $250 on a Sangoma S508/FT1 on eBay! The card is just ISA but I doubt we'd be upgrading the current routing machine to something with just PCI anytime soon. Not only was it cheap as hell, it was a piece of cake to set up to boot. I wouldn't do a T1 any other way. Sangoma rocks and has been supporting Linux for years (they also support BSD, Windows 9x, NT, Solaris, etc etc.) Check out their website for their goodies. Of course, I have no affiliation with them other than dealing with their great stuff. There are other WAN cards out there of course.
Ian