[ale] Cablemodem problems, considering DSL - OT response to OT comments

[Jeff Lightner]

You're incorrect about the libraries.  This was successfully challenged
in court by a group of Librarians and overturned as being too broad in
its scope.

You're also incorrect about the no warrant stuff for telecom.   The
courts concluded that it was a violation of the law to do what was done.
Congress has been trying to work out a deal to allow for making the
spying "legal" and the main sticking point is that the administration is
insisting on a section preventing people from suing the telecoms for
what was done when it was illegal.  Not that it matters much - the one
lawsuit regarding the spying was thrown out because the plaintiffs
couldn't prove THEY specifically were spied on and government security
allowed them to prevent Freedom of Information Act requests to determine
who was.  Nice catch 22 there.

Awful Telephone & Telegraph may get away with it on a legal basis but
there's no reason for citizens to forget who is in collusion with big
brother.



-----Original Message-----
From: ale-bounces at ale.org [mailto:ale-bounces at ale.org] On Behalf Of Jim
Lynch
Sent: Tuesday, January 22, 2008 8:37 AM
To: Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts
Subject: Re: [ale] Cablemodem problems, considering DSL

Ken Cochran wrote:
> Summary, 2 questions:
>
> 1.  What's wrong with my cablemodem Internet service?
>
> 2.  Would the better choice for DSL be ATT/Bellsouth or HiWaay?
>   
Can't comment on the first.

I'm one of the few here that have had good luck with BS/ATT dsl.  
Outages are very rare, only 2 or 3 in 4 years.  They do block port 25, 
but I can live with that.  Once in a great while their mail server go 
unavailable for a period of time, maybe once every 6 months.  I suspect 
that by now the Feds have figured out how to ask for no warrant taps 
from anyone and require that they keep their mouths shut.  I know that's

what has happened when they go to libraries.  The libraries are 
prohibited from ever divulging the  fact the feds asked for anything and

they cannot appeal to any court.  In fact just telling a lawyer about 
the situation will get you jail time.  So I'm sure they have figured out

how to apply that same law to wiretaps. 

Anyway back to ATT service.  The only major outage I had was when my 
original Modem died.  They wanted $100 for a new one and when I 
suggested to the fellow on the phone that I'd sign a 1 year service 
agreement if they'd toss it in for free, he sent it to be for free but I

never saw any agreement. 

I've never been a big fan of BS or ATT 'cause their service overall is 
pretty shabby but they seemed to have gotten DSL right, at least on this

end of town.

Jim
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