[sclug] isp

[James Wyper]

I have been using NTL's broadband service for a year now.  For the past
6 months the machine connected to my cable modem has been an old Linux
box running more or less permanently and acting as firewall / router /
proxy server.

Once NTL have done the necessary installations at your house, you'll
need Windows to register your connection (they supply the connection
programs on a CD).  After that, you can connect a Linux machine to your
cable modem and it will work absolutely fine.  The cable modem they
supplied (which I think is the standard one) can be connected via USB
or Ethernet.  I use Ethernet as it uses less system resource and last
time I checked the USB connection wasn't supported under Linux.

I expect you know that you should have firewall software installed.  I
found the combination of shorewall + webmin to set it up easy to us;
it's worth getting the most up-to-date versions of each from the net
rather than relying on your distro's version (if any).

I have the cheapo 160kbps ?18/month service from NTL.  I've never had
contention problems that have restricted my bandwidth and apart from an
intermittent email outage that lasted the best part of a week the
technical side of NTL has worked for me.  The billing/customer
"service"  side was appalling to begin with: I was quoted free
installation, then billed ?25 for it.  When I complained I was told
this had been cancelled but I was still receiving final reminder
letters and telephone calls from a debt collection agency over two
months later.  Eventually it all stopped.  A letter of complaint to
head office went unanswered.

Whether or not NTL is right for you will depend on whether you want to
do things on the cheap (how much bandwidth do you really need?) and how
much potential aggro you're prepared to put up with.  After the initial
problems I've got no real complaints about the service.

James.

> 
> Message: 1
> From: "Peter Titus" <k8ofkind at hotmail.com>
> To: sclug at sclug.org.uk
> Date: Wed, 17 Sep 2003 16:43:35 +0100
> Subject: [sclug] isp
> 
> Hello just a general enquiry as I am unsure where to go for specific 
> problems.
> 
> 1.which ISP will be compatible with Linux (SuSE) dial-up and/or
> broadband.?
> 2. Thinking of buying a shuttle xpc (small form factor) will this run
> 
> Linux.?
> 
> I have had a BT and an NTL connection in the past and it would be no
> problem 
> to reconnect to either
> unless there are other alternatives.!
> 
> These questions are probably asked all the time.! Is there a site 
> specifically aimed at newbies in Linux.?
> 
>          Thanks in advance
> 
>

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