[ale] recommended personal DSL provider for Alpharetta ?

[James Sumners]

That sums it up pretty well. The difference between Speedfactory and
Speakeasy is that Speedfactory is a regional ISP (Alabama/Georgia). By
all acconts, the service from each is equal and I've heard Atlantic
Nexus (an Atlanta area only ISP) is on par with the both of them. I'm
not sure why Speakeasy is more expensive, though; their pricing is the
sole reason I have never gone with them. It is possible to get
equivalent service through local DSL providers.

I've recently switched to cable so that I could drop Bellsouth. I got
tired of my internet connection relying on their shoddy management
(every time I expericened and outtage with Speedfactory it was because
Bellsouth had screwed something up) and their overly expensive phone
service. So far, I'm satisfied with my cable service. The downloads
are definitely quicker than with DSL. I haven't really noticed much of
a difference with uploads. It is a bummer that I have to share the
last segment bandwidth with my neighbors, though. That is the nicest
thing about DSL -- the bandwith from the local DSLAM(?) to your
residence is all yours.

In short, if you don't mind dealing with the local telco, or paying
the premium to not do so, and you need dedicated bandwith, go with
DSL. If you just want a high speed connection and want to save some
money, cable is probably the way to go. VoIP is a lot cheaper than
POTS (plain old telephone service), and it is easiest to get it with
cable for the sole reason that you don't have to deal with the local
telco.

On 9/24/06, James P. Kinney III <jkinney at localnetsolutions.com> wrote:
> Hi Courtney,
>
> DSL: your bandwidth is YOUR bandwidth. System doesn't slow down when the
> kids get home from school because they are on the cable modem shared
> bandwidth with you. DSL runs over phone line and is ultimately managed
> by the telco (Bellsouth for most, AllTell for the truly unfortunate).
> DSL is quite reliable and robust as long as the dialtone techs don't
> make a mess. In most cases, DSL will be slower on the download than the
> cable modem will. DSL will generally be a bit faster on the upload.
>
> Cable: Generally faster download. Customer service even worse than phone
> company (service outage will be repaired in MOST cases in days, not
> hours). Cable is geared for non-tech, home consumer mentality. If all
> you want is low-cost high speed download and service glitches won't
> clobber you, cable is a great choice.
>
> If you plan on working from home and you absolutely MUST have a reliable
> access method, DSL is a better choice.
>
> The "naked" DSL from places like Speakeasy cost more that the
> traditional shared line DSL. The signalling is different and the
> head-end connection is different. It is closer to T1 than ISDN.
>
> If you MUST HAVE solid connection for work (or you will be running
> servers), you need a connection package that has SLA's.
>
> Cable modem has no SLA ability (NOTE: I have NOT seen the new business
> cable packages term yet - it may be an option). SLA packages will cost
> more. But it means if an outage occurs, you are not appended tot he end
> of the list. You get inserted near the top.
>
> The general rule is still "you get what you pay for".
>
> I use Speakeasy. I have used BellSouth and Mindspring->Earthlink DSL
> (and ISN and T1 and dialup...). The customer service from Speakeasy is
> fantastic. It is the best customer service I have ever seen in nearly
> every IT/telcom arena. And it does cost me more than what I could get
> elsewhere. But I run servers and I want the upload speed. So I pay for
> 768k upload and multiple static IPs on two separate lines.
> Load-balancing gives me T1 upload for under the price of a 1/4 T1.
>
> Speakeasy speaks Linux quite happily. The wiring infrastructure is
> handled by Covad. I can also recommend Covad with no reservations
> either. The few issues I or my Speakeasy clients have had, Covad has
> responded in record time (compared to the other connection options) and
> the issue was resolved and the solution communicated back to me (not
> just a "service restored" notice. I like knowing what went on so I can
> refer back to that sympton if I see it again.).
>
> On Sun, 2006-09-24 at 09:43 -0400, Courtney Thomas wrote:
> > I'm now ready to move, up hopefully,   :-)   to DSL.
> >
> > What are my choices and the dis/advantages of each, please ?
> >
> > Among the tolerable, who is the least expensive  ?
> >
> > As always, thanks,
> >
> > Courtney
> > _______________________________________________
> > Ale mailing list
> > Ale at ale.org
> > http://www.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale
> --
> James P. Kinney III
> CEO & Director of Engineering
> Local Net Solutions,LLC
> 770-493-8244
> http://www.localnetsolutions.com
>
> GPG ID: 829C6CA7 James P. Kinney III (M.S. Physics)
> <jkinney at localnetsolutions.com>
> Fingerprint = 3C9E 6366 54FC A3FE BA4D 0659 6190 ADC3 829C 6CA7
>
>
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>
>
>


-- 
James Sumners
http://james.roomfullofmirrors.com/

"All governments suffer a recurring problem: Power attracts
pathological personalities. It is not that power corrupts but that it
is magnetic to the corruptible. Such people have a tendency to become
drunk on violence, a condition to which they are quickly addicted."

Missionaria Protectiva, Text QIV (decto)
CH:D 59