[ale] ISPs

[Michael H. Warfield]

Hello all...

John M. Mills enscribed thusly:

> On Sat, 3 Oct 1998, Tri wrote:

> > I'm getting ready to change isps. Can anyone suggest a good, cheap(under
> > $19 a month)and linux friendly isp situated in atlanta? I don't care if
> > they are a small company, but they have to be situated in atlanta.

> > Tri

> Tri -
> Please post a summary of your replies. I'm about to sign up with some ISP.
> "Linux Friendly" is nice, but "Linux Tolerant" will due, particularly if I
> can set the account up directly from Linux.  This could be a useful
> Local-FAQ, and might encourange Linux-litteracy among ISPs.

	Hmmm...

	Some on this list already know, my ISP requirements are "somewhat
unique".  In town (Atlanta) I have a dedicated service to which I'm commited
(and they to me...).  I have had need for and ISP when "out of pocket" though.
While dialing back into the system here at the house has been acceptable,
I ran up an $80 long distance bill in one week a few years back.  After
that, I signed up with Sprintlink.  The deals they were offering then
were either unlimited time for $19.95 or $1.50 an hour.  That was into
any of their POP's anywhere in the US.

	They recently merged, or switched over, or something, to Earthlink.
These guys also offer the same deals plus some ISDN service, plus a 1-800
number (at a premium for the premium services).  The coverage, for my
purposes, is incredible.  I had a choice of three local POP's when I was
out in New Mexico recently.

	When I got the Earthlink software, I shot them a message
complaining "Hey, what about Linux?" (the instructions were all for
Windblows).  Later that day I got detailed PPP setup instructions back from
them, right down to what files to edit for what information.  I would call
that better than Linux tolerant.  I would call that Linux ready, willing,
and able.  Instructions worked perfect, even though I did have to call back
to get some user-id information straight.  Performance was pretty damn
good too.

	Because I'm not out of town that often, the $1.50 an hour worked
best for me.  That's, what, about $0.025 per minute.  Beats the bejesus
out of any LD service.  My bigest bill for a single month has been less
than $5.00.

	As I said, my requirements are rather unique, so this may not
be useful to anyone else.  OTOH...  If you are on the road a lot, this
seems to be a dream.

>   John M. Mills, Senior Research Engineer -- john.mills at gtri.gatech.edu
>   Georgia Tech Research Institute, Georgia Tech, Atlanta, GA 30332-0834
>          Phone contacts: 404.894.0151 (voice), 404.894.6285 (FAX)
>              "Lies, Damned Lies, Statistics, and Simulations" 


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 Michael H. Warfield    |  (770) 985-6132   |  mhw at WittsEnd.com
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