[Phpwm] Broadband recomendations

[Andy Cowan]

On 28/07/2011 17:00, Lester Caine wrote:
> Andy Cowan wrote:
>> We for example don't use BT for a customer if there is any alternative
>> becuase OpenReach are impossible to deal with, don't communicate with
>> anyone and in our experience, just outright lie when it suits them.
>
> That is the point we are making ...
>
> First problem, speed on the cable to the exchange. It will be some 
> time before I get the chance of fibre unless I lay out a LOT of money 
> - so my main servers are remote in a datacentre on a direct pipe - not 
> even in this country :) It's more economic.
>
Even with fibre, DSL isn't suitable for hosting. I've got 37mbps at home 
but the way it works just doesn't work well for constant loads like you 
see fomr hosting. Like you say, datacentre.
> I don't mind paying a reasonable amount for a service, but it has to 
> be on the basis that the person I am paying is PROVIDING the service! 
> Not subbing the important parts of it out to a third party?
>
So do you buy all your food from the farmer? Take your car back to the 
factory for servicing? Can't you see that sometimes another layer can 
add value to the bit you see as 'subbing out'? For example, when our 
customers ring us up, they get to talk to someone here, who speaks 
English as a first language, who is highly trained, and more often than 
not knows the customer, their particular set up and usually the customer 
themselves personally, and has done for years. You don't have to explain 
your problem from scratch every time you call. Often we need to talk to 
OpenReach or other upstreams, but we know what to say and who to say it 
to - as a consumer, you usually don't.

We have clients with multiple lines, load-balanced setups, etc. etc. You 
can't do that with BT or some standard commodity ISP - I think we were 
discussing earlier which ISPs can do a static IP.

I don't think it's as simple as 'its a BT line, so go to BT'...

A.