[ale] BellSouth.net ISP Canceled For Lack Of Linux Support

[jj at spiderentertainment.com]

You are a pretty long patience, by now I would have been suing BellSouth.net for liability
losses.

:P

Gabriel Donnell wrote:

> Hello BellSouth.net Feedback Representative,
>
> I Changed to MindSpring because the authentication
> is configured to work well with Linux. Plus, they
> provide very good references, links and other
> resources to help Linux customers configure their
> system to dial-in to their network.
>
> Even though they do not directly support Linux,
> their technical support still provides as much
> assistance as they can. Also, they have and
> provide documentation on how to configure the
> Linux OS to dial-in and establish authentication.
>
> My experiences with BellSouth.net support was
> very bad, and the support people would shunted
> their support when they found out I use Linux.
> In one case, I had a VALinux (computer vendor)
> technical support rep on the phone line with me
> so he could tell the BellSouth.net technical
> support rep that I needed the default gateway
> address and the authentication protocol. The
> BellSouth.net rep just hung up without saying
> anything when he was not able to find the
> information.
>
> Eventually, some people from VALinux, the Atlanta
> Linux Enthusiasts (ALE) organization, and the
> Linux General Store help me figure out what I
> needed to do to configure my system to establish
> the authentication.
>
> The fix was very simple. The Linux default
> configuration:
> 1. Does NOT send anything to the ISP connection
>    to indicate that the login prompt is desired.
> 2. Expects the "login:" string from the ISP
>    connection for the account name.
>    That is how must Unix-based platforms work.
>    Henseforth, the MindSpring authentication works
>    fine with the default Linux configuration, and it
>    does not require any special knowledge nor
>    changes.
>
> However, for BellSouth.net authentication:
> 1. The ISP connection requires a blank line to
>    be sent to to indicate that the login prompt
>    is desired.
> 2. Sends "username:" instead of "login:" for the
>    account name prompt.
>    Must Unix-based platforms do work this way.
>    Therefore, the BellSouth.net authentication does
>    NOT work with the default Linux configuration,
>    and it requires special knowledge and changes.
>
> I think this type of problem could have been
> prevented in many ways which I described below:
> 1. BellSouth.net should take Linux more serious
>    than they do because it is a very popular OS
>    that has gone beyond the hobbiests community.
>    However, BellSouth.net competition may like
>    that BellSouth.net does not support Linux or
>    Unix because it is more business for them.
> 2. BellSouth.net should research and investigate
>    ways to Support Linux, or at least provide some
>    information. They should not shunt customers
>    who use Linux or a Unix-based OS. Remember,
>    Unix is the OS that the network started on,
>    and it will NOT die off to MS-Windows & Mac.
> 3. BellSouth.net should research and investigate
>    the big momentum Linux has gained. There are
>    many major companies like Intel, Compaq,
>    Hewlett-Packard and several others that wised
>    up and provide resources to assist the Linux
>    agenda. As a former Intel Merced IA-64
>    microprocessor engineer, I am well informed on
>    the efforts Intel provides for Linux.
> 4. BellSouth.net should train their technical
>    support staff to understand the underlying
>    process that occurs during authentication.
>    These are the procedures that are embedded in
>    the BellSouth.net Internet CD for MS-Windows
>    OS. This would have solved my problem a long
>    time ago.
>
> This may not be important to BellSouth.net, and
> the BellSouth.net person reading this may have
> stopped reading before this point. If that
> happened, then it will be a great lost to
> BellSouth.net.
>
> As a contractor for BellSouth International
> Wireless Services and BellSouth Telephone
> Services customer, I attempted to maintain my
> loyalty by using BellSouth.net for my ISP. Even
> after I got the bad support from BellSouth.net,
> I still tried to give BellSouth.net the benefit
> of the doubt and hang in there.
>
> To maintain the loyalty I committed to support
> the efforts of Linux, I choose pay for products
> and services which support Linux. Therefore, I
> switched to MindSpring for my ISP.
>
> Regards,
> Gabriel Donnell
>
> ____________________________________________________________________
> Get your own FREE, personal Netscape WebMail account today at http://webmail.netscape.com.