[Klug-general] What Broadband Package Do You Use?

[Mike Evans]

Matthew Macdonald-Wallace wrote:

> I've just switched to PlusNet (http://www.plus.net/).
> 
> I get 8Mbps downloads which are limited to 8GB pcm, however the limit 
> only applies during 8am and midnight, allowing you to use the service as 
> much as you like between midnight and 8am (I see a cron job opening 
> firewall ports here...)
> 
> They will also give you a static IP and their call centres are here in 
> the UK operating 24x7.

I've been a PlusNet (well Force9, but it's the same crowd) user for I 
suppose it must be 10 years now.  No whizzy deals, but given that I'm 
not a heavy user their £14.99 package has been doing me well and I just 
pop them a few quid extra if I download something large in the 'core' 
hours. Really large stuff like distros or updates I can get out of the 
core hours using cron, or just wait up...  They have always been really 
helpful on the phone on the rare occasions I've been experiencing 
problems, and it's never been their fault.  I haven't used it for a 
while, but they used to offer an 0800 dialup for emergency or travel 
purposes.

Hardware wise I use a linksys combined 4-port 100Mb ethernet hub with 
built in ADSL modem and wireless access point.  It's my second one as 
the first one went phut after a couple of years.  Hopefully the new one 
will hold up.  It's got a firewall built in and can do port forwarding 
and DMZ.  Pretty good for about £70 if I remember rightly.  It does seem 
to need re-booting once in a while.  I run the desktop PC off the wired 
network and the laptop off the wireless, although if I'm updating the 
laptop I'll sometimes plug it into the ether net and /sbin/ifdown the 
wireless and /sbin/ifup the ethernet card.

Hope this helps.  I also hope to god that I did the right sort of 
posting and didn't offend too many people and that the weather will be 
nice at the weekend.

MikeE