[ale] BellSouth and ADSL (again)...

[David Heath]

I hope that this question is not too frequently asked.

I currently use Mandrake 6 to connect to Mindspring over dialup
here in Atlanta.

I would like to get something faster, but every potential solution
has problems.

1) Mindspring ADSL. I would like to get this, as I think that
Mindspring has a least somewhat of a clue what they are doing.
For example, they use PPPOE, but their ADSL people at least can
give pointers to linux users to the various PPPOE for linux
packages out there and seem to want linux people to be happy.
Currently, PPPOE support under linux seems to be iffy.

Unfortunately, although Bellsouth claims my line is ok for ADSL,
Mindspring claims it is not "yet." 

2) Bellsouth ADSL. This would presumably be a little easier because
they don't use PPPOE. However, these latest messages about the
internal ADSL modem make me worry that this would not work. Also, I
went without phone service for 2 weeks while bellsouth made excuse
after excuse. Their service for dialtone is the worst I have ever
seen and I don't feel that comfortable relying on them for internet access.

3) Mediaone roadrunner. This appears to be fairly simple to set up. I
have never had any problems with their cable tv service. However, I
have seen on the rrlinux message board that throughput in Atlanta
during peak hours is less than 1KB/sec, which is significantly worse
than dialup.

Because I telecommute, I would like to avoid multi-day outages.

I would be very appreciative if users of the above services
could let me know how reliable you have found them to be.

Thanks.

-dave heath