[ale] Inexpensive broadband recommendations

[Michael D. Hirsch]

On Tuesday 18 February 2003 10:49 am, Jason Day wrote:
> On Tue, Feb 18, 2003 at 08:56:25AM -0500, Michael D. Hirsch wrote:
> > On Monday 17 February 2003 09:47 pm, Transam wrote:
> > > On Mon, Feb 17, 2003 at 03:59:04PM -0500, Mike Lockhart wrote:
> > > > I get my cable tv / internet thru comcast for $40 and some change
> > > > a month, good service overall too.
> > >
> > > I suspect that Mike has been fortunate to not have had any problems.
> > >  I have and their customer service and competency is (in my opinion)
> > > one of the worst I've ever experienced.  If you manage to get beyond
> > > the hour plus hold times and get a human, the first question they
> > > will ask is "What OS?"
> > >
> > > Even if you explain that the problem is unrelated, such as "I think
> > > you keyed my MAC address wrong during the initial install," they
> > > will insist on an answer.  Answer other than "WinBloz" or "Mac",
> > > they will hang up.
> > >
> > > Their service goes out for 48 hours at a time every few months.
> >
> > Here's another data point: I've used them for about 4 years, now, and
> > never had a problem with the service.  The only time I've ever had to
> > deal with them was when I change routers and need to provide a new MAC
> > address. I've done it by phone and via on line chat and never had a
> > problem with my OS.
>
> Do you have a business account?  Or do you know the right people? ;-)

No to both, unfortunately.  I'm just a common peon user, to them.

> Comcast/AT&T's TOS specifically prohibits using linux.  They also
> prohibit running a server, such as ssh, telnet, ftp, or http.  They also
> block port 80 inbound, so if you want to be a rebel and run a web
> server, you have to do it on a non-standard port.

That's pretty rude.  The only thing they blocked back in the MediaOne days 
was NETBIOS, but I guess things have changed.  I sit cowering behind my 
firewall and don't try to open up any ports, so I never noticed whether I 
could get in or not.

Michael
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