[Sussex] Openworld goes pingless ....

[Mark Harrison]

Iain,

I think it's true that no-one will _guarantee_ you a seamless handover.
That's just as true of consultants like me as it is of ISPs.

As Nik says - there are tricks and tips, and I'm sure that Phil at 3aIT will
be able to give you good advice.


My advice would be that the bullet will need to be bitten - BT sadly is NOT
a reliable business partner in the Internet space. This goes for BT
Broadband, BT Net (higher end business Internet services), and BT Ignite
(formerly Syncordia, the very high-end integration mob.)

I had to get BT Net out of a client site after they had downtime that cost
said client over £50k in sales :-( Fortunately, I did, rather than just
patching the problem. The same downtime a year later would have cost 3-4
times that.

In terms of ADSL ISPs, I recommend Nildram and Eclipse. (Alas, neither of
these offers me a revenue share.) But these are the two I use with my
clients, and have found them excellent. Broadly, if you NEED a static IP or
range of such, go to Eclipse. If you don't, go to Nildram.

If you feel you NEED more than 8 static IP addresses, then life gets more
complex, and it's also the point at which I start charging for consultancy
:-) There's a trick to RIPE forms :-) :-) :-)

Regards,

Mark


----- Original Message -----
From: "Iain Stevenson" <iain at iainstevenson.com>
To: <sussex at mailman.lug.org.uk>
Sent: Monday, August 25, 2003 4:52 PM
Subject: Re: [Sussex] Openworld goes pingless ....


>
>
> --On Sunday, August 24, 2003 18:58:31 +0100 Mark Harrison
> <Mark at ascentium.co.uk> wrote:
>
> > I have, in the past, got very fed up of people who think that anything
> > with the word Linux in it is automatically an appropriate place to cast
> > stones in the direction of Microsoft.
> >
> So I'd noticed ;-)  ... though how Microsoft keeps its Teflon coating
> continues to amaze me.
>
> > However, when it comes to casting stones in the direction of BT, I am
> > fully behind you :-)
> >
> > Can I ask whether you're tied into a minimum service contract? If not, I
> > would be happy to recommend you a FAR more reliable ADSL provider.
> >
>
> No - it's out of the minimum contract period.   The big problem is the
lack
> of a good handover process between carriers.  Working from home and with
> the Internet having become an essential tool, downtime is an issue.
> Unfortunately the Business 500 service I have (the one with the Alcatel
> modem/router) is not covered by the nascent process for transferring
> service between carriers.  The two alternative ADSL carriers I approached
> both said they couldn't guarantee a seamless handover :-(  This is
> effectively locking me in to BT.  I would, however, be delighted to
change!
>
>   Iain
>
>
>
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>