[ale] Latency on my DSL line

Daniel Kahn Gillmor dkg at fifthhorseman.net
Thu Nov 8 15:21:04 EST 2007


On Thu 2007-11-08 13:00:23 -0500, Alex LeDonne wrote:

> I'll throw in a "me too" for Speakeasy... 

i'll fifth (or whatever) Speakeasy also, though my experience with
them is up here in NYC, not ATL.  They're the only ISP i've dealt with
who seems to recognize that they're supposed to provide connectivity.
While they'll gladly do VoIP, host e-mail accounts and web sites for
you (and even give you ssh access to a machine), there's no need or
hard sell to tack that stuff on.

Their big advantages to me are:

 * they don't block ports, or any other network shennananigans: you're
   paying for IP connectivity, and that's what you get.

 * they'll talk to me on the phone like i'm something other than a
   drooling 3-year-old.  Their first-tier support tech knew what a
   traceroute was, for example, when i spoke with them about a routing
   issue a couple years ago.

 * they report relevant maintenance activity to me ahead of time, and
   the activity is confined to the windows they report.

 * their AUP makes no restrictions on the number or configuration of
   machines on my side of the DSL modem.  I've actually seen other
   providers' AUPs specify that you agree to only have "one computer"
   (whatever that means in today's networked world -- no firewall
   device?)  attached to the line.

 * they offer static IP addresses (for an additional fee if i want
   more)

I'm a little concerned because of their recent purchase by Best Buy
(not the most stellar of reputations, there), but they're seem to
holding the course at the moment, from what i've seen.  I'll be pissed
if Best Buy turns them into another shitty ISP.

They're also definitely not the cheapest game in town, at least up
here in NYC.  But i'm willing to pay some extra cash for the points
above.

        --dkg
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