DSL Provider Recommendations

[Charles Steinkuehler]

Thanks for the feedback.  They seem to have gotten more funding since last
year, and have been 'collecting' various other defunct DSL providers.  Your
reports about their DNS support are not suprising, which is why I run my own
DNS, and mail services...all I really need is a solid link to the 'net.
I've had problems with SWBT's DNS and mail servers 'disappearing' (I think
due to mis-configurations in routing), but my link itself has been pretty
solid.  It sounds like they'll probably work out well for me as long as they
remain a going concern...

Since my choice for SDSL appears to be DSL.net or Birch, and Birch is new to
the game with reports of routing problems and charges more, I'm going to try
the DSL.net folks and see how they do.  I can get a cable-modem installed
with about 10 days notice, and I may migrate my existing ADSL service (only
to cancel it if the DSL.net folks come through) as a backup.

Charles Steinkuehler
charles at steinkuehler.net

> I have DSL.net. You may want to think twice about them as they made the FC
> website last year so are apparently not doing too good financially (like
> that is any surprise!)
>
> The line itself is good. The DNS guy they had last August when I switched
> to them is a bozo so be prepared to do a lot of complaining - took him a
> week to do something that should have taken him 5 minutes. Plus his "I
> will call you back in 15 minutes" has now turned into an eternity.
>
> On Tue, 5 Jun 2001, Charles Steinkuehler wrote:
>
> > I'm just down the road in Topeka, and in the process of moving my ADSL
> > service, which is currently with SWBT.  Apparently, I can't simply
transfer
> > the DSL line, it has to be completely re-provisioned (ie a new order
from
> > the ground up), so I'm considering switching to SDSL.
> >
> > The two providers I've found so far are Birch Telecom, and DSL.net.
Does
> > anyone have experience with either of these providers?  I realize their
> > service in Topeka won't be exactly the same as in KC, but it should be
> > generally similar (I'll likely be a couple hops farther from the 'net
than
> > anyone in KC).
> >
> > I'm running a website devoted to LRP (a tiny floppy-based firewall...see
> > links below) that typically uploads around 7 Gig a month over my current
> > 128K ADSL uplink, so even slow SDSL would be an improvement.
> >
> > Thanks in advance,
> >
> > Charles Steinkuehler
> > http://lrp.steinkuehler.net
> > http://c0wz.steinkuehler.net (lrp.c0wz.com mirror)
>
> Randy Rathbun, NV0U                      randy at randyrathbun.org
> nv0u at arrl.net       Elecraft K2 #1981 ARS #895  QRP-ARCI #10776
> http://randyrathbun.org http://quitequitefantastic.org
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