Where are you located? I have Sprint's "Broadband" service at my house, and it SUCKS!!! ICMP echo times to the first router are always 800ms+, their DNS servers (2 for the entire Phoenix area) are so overloaded that queries timeout, and it randomly stops functioning at all (almost like my first router is powered off).
The high latency makes it impossible to use any type of VPN protocol (PPTP , IPSec, ESP, whatever). The only way they achive any kind of speed is that they specifically burst http and ftp transfers. So you can download a 50MB file at 250KBps, but don't bother dealing with anything that isn't an extended data stream (querying an IMAP mailbox, doing anything across a VPN tunnel, etc.).
Their technical support is even more of a joke. I spent 20 minutes holding for a rep, afterwhich I spent 50 minutes of them telling me nothing useful. During that time, my service intermittently stopped functioning and came back online 4 times. Finally, the rep tells me that the NOC is looking into it, and that I should call back in about 3 hours to check. Realizing what was happening, I asked: "So do I ask for you?", and he returned exactly the response I expected: "Well, my shift ends in 2 hours, so I won't be here." No wonder he told me to call back in 3 hours.
I use the Watchguard SOHO. It's a small, modem sized box that runs a modified version of Linux with a web interface. The biggest drawback about this unit is it's lack of rule configuration options (by default it allows everything out and nothing in), and you can only specify 5 or 6 port forwards for things like http, DNS, SMTP, etc.
Since when does "doing something for the money" automatically negate its authenticity? I'm not saying the guy bends spoons with his mind, but I hear that argument all the time: "He's just doing it for the money." Somehow I doubt that all the working stiffs of the world go to work each day thinking that they're building a better tomorrow. I'm more inclined to believe that they're just "doing it for the money."
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Where are you located? I have Sprint's "Broadband" service at my house, and it SUCKS!!! ICMP echo times to the first router are always 800ms+, their DNS servers (2 for the entire Phoenix area) are so overloaded that queries timeout, and it randomly stops functioning at all (almost like my first router is powered off).
The high latency makes it impossible to use any type of VPN protocol (PPTP , IPSec, ESP, whatever). The only way they achive any kind of speed is that they specifically burst http and ftp transfers. So you can download a 50MB file at 250KBps, but don't bother dealing with anything that isn't an extended data stream (querying an IMAP mailbox, doing anything across a VPN tunnel, etc.).
Their technical support is even more of a joke. I spent 20 minutes holding for a rep, afterwhich I spent 50 minutes of them telling me nothing useful. During that time, my service intermittently stopped functioning and came back online 4 times. Finally, the rep tells me that the NOC is looking into it, and that I should call back in about 3 hours to check. Realizing what was happening, I asked: "So do I ask for you?", and he returned exactly the response I expected: "Well, my shift ends in 2 hours, so I won't be here." No wonder he told me to call back in 3 hours.
DO NOT GET SPRINT BROADBAND DIRECT.
I use the Watchguard SOHO. It's a small, modem sized box that runs a modified version of Linux with a web interface. The biggest drawback about this unit is it's lack of rule configuration options (by default it allows everything out and nothing in), and you can only specify 5 or 6 port forwards for things like http, DNS, SMTP, etc.
Since when does "doing something for the money" automatically negate its authenticity? I'm not saying the guy bends spoons with his mind, but I hear that argument all the time: "He's just doing it for the money." Somehow I doubt that all the working stiffs of the world go to work each day thinking that they're building a better tomorrow. I'm more inclined to believe that they're just "doing it for the money."
Why should he be any different?