[SWLUG] Broadband

[Telsa Gwynne]

Ar Fri, Jan 19, 2007 at 02:11:51PM -0000, ysgrifennodd Davage, Marcus:
> I would like your opinions on what phone call/broadband provider you have
> and how good they are (and how linux-compatible they are), and what
> modem/router/firewall you have, and how linux-compatible that is.

We had NTL originally. Their domestic stuff was fine. It was cheap
and mostly worked. Their diagnostics and stuff are Windows-based. 
(That includes installation.) So even when you have Linux only, and 
the person at the other end of the phone knows that, you both have
to pretend, and to translate the output into Windows-talk for the
benefit of their system.

We then upgraded to their business service because we wanted the 
fixed IPs and always-on service they offered at the time. It was
a disaster: we kept going offline and there were no fixed IPs!

We then switched to Andrews and Arnold, who are slightly pricier,
but whose idea of debugging involves asking for the tcpdump and
assuming the user knows what they are doing. If you really do
know what you're doing, they are great. I am never personally
sure I do know what I am doing, so I am occasionally a little
nervous. 

For hardware they provided some (optional) magic box, which we
use. We have our own firewall (Linux box with ipchains or something)
behind that.

Someone else in the LUG recommended A+A to us originally, so I
was expecting them to comment in this thread. But since they haven't,
I shall. 

A+A support IPv6, incidentally, should that happen to be a 
deciding factor for you.. 

Our phones are separate from the broadband stuff now. When we
moved the computer stuff from NTL, we left the phone stuff with
it. We've never had a problem with those.

Telsa