[sclug] Re: Phone and Internet connections for new office

[Graham]

> Date: Thu, 12 Jan 2006 07:45:57 -0500
> From: Patrick <patrick at kirks.net>
> Subject: [sclug] Phone and Internet connections for new office
> To: SCLUG <sclug at sclug.org.uk>
> Message-ID: <43C64F85.1010901 at kirks.net>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
> 
> Hi all,
> 
> cleardragon.com is progressing nicely and I'm renting a 685 square foot 
> office in the Kings Road in Reading.  In it I need 4 phone lines, a fax 
> line and an Internet connection.
> 
> Most of our work is sending and receiving email so a 256/512 ADSL type 
> connection is OK.
> 
> Its been over decade since I looked at phones and Internet for a small 
> set-up like this.  Can anyone make suggestions as to what is best way 
> forward?
> 
> Patrick
> 
> ------------------------------

I connect with http://www.e7even.com
(If you sign up with referrer code 702367 I get 20 pounds!)
If you take their special offers as they pass, they are by far the cheapest.
(In sept I extended the contract by 10 months for 5 pcm)

You get unlimited bandwidth per month, one domain name, perl-cgi hosting
(you use your connection for SQL or https), and web-automated setup.
They MX accept your email for you, VIRUS/SPAM filter it (very well), and
you have any number of pop3 accounts (I bounce one into the other),
upto the storage limit. Companies welcome in the T+C's.
If you want your own SMTP, you will need to ask for DNS records,
but I suspect that you already have that, and fetch with pop3.

In 18 months, they have had one bad outage, which is right now!
Something to do with upgrading their infrastructure to cope with 8meg,
and the new ATM routers having a hair-trigger error detection, and locking
the DSL connection to a failover BT sandpit (fake DNS.98).
It is now working (I stopped power cycling the line, looking for
the increased speed) and they have a POTS 56k-modem failover.

The setup to use is a 4-port ethernet ADSL router (with NAT)
(using only 1 port) The router stops all incoming connections,
so its relatively safe to just plug it in (and everything to it!).
You then build a safer setup, of a Linux gateway with two ethernet cards,
and a second internal ethernet switch-hub. The ADSL line driver
will NAT incoming connections to your server, and all outbound
connections go through the linux GW.

Other providers might/not be better, but they (all) use BT for the
last mile of copper, PPP link and ATM delivery. You might consider
a second connection, through a second provider, using different
routes, different app servers. To get a different local exchange,
you would need not-ADSL, eg NTL cable (but their T+C's are either
non-commercial, or expensive, or both). There is some (expensive)
Reading-Cable loop, but you can always get that next year.

If you are getting 5 individual phone lines, any might be ADSL enabled.
If you are thinking of ISDN (2, 32, ?8?), you might be paying more.
If you are getting an internal exchange, you need to keep asking.

ADSL makes the phone line hiss a bit, which makes my answerphone unusable.
That might be fixed by buying a new anserphone (one designed for adsl era),
or using a different line. I use FAX/MODEM over the home ADSL line,
and get good connections, but it might be better on a quieter line.
The quality of the splitter dongle might also help (voice devices need
a low-pass filter, adsl devices get the raw line direct).
You probably want a second domain name (xxxinreading.co.uk)
which isnt in the racked-up-dockland-dungeon-warehouse,

--
   Graham
   gps @ Information-Cascade .co.uk
   www . Information-Cascade .co.uk