[CLUE-Tech] Qwest, DSL and Linux/BSD?

[Frank Whiteley]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Matt Gushee" <mgushee at havenrock.com>
To: <clue-tech at clue.denver.co.us>
Sent: Sunday, June 30, 2002 10:55 PM
Subject: Re: [CLUE-Tech] Qwest, DSL and Linux/BSD?


> On Sun, Jun 30, 2002 at 10:08:55PM -0600, Sean LeBlanc wrote:
> >
> > 1. How "dynamic" is your IP if you don't pay for a static one?
>
> That really depends on your ISP, I think. Many of them use ... I forget
> what it's called, but it's a method of dynamic address assignment that
> works very much like DHCP. So you have a lease on the IP address, and if
> you're online a lot, you'll probably keep renewing the same address
> indefinitely. At least, I think that's how it works. There are other
> companies that will give you a true static IP if you ask for it, usually
> for a small fee--though foreThought.net provides that as part of their
> basic $20/month package.
>
Depends on your needs.  Some providers charge additional for a static IP but
allow shell accounts, others may not charge but won't offer other items.
Shop around.

> > such...I want it to be always on, if possible. I've heard that with
certain
> > plans from Qwest, they drop the connection after a set amount of time.
Is
> > this true?
>
No longer.  The two hour bump is a thing of the past.

> I don't know, but I'm not sure it's a Qwest issue. I think my base DSL
> service is Qwest's second-cheapest option (640 down/256 up). But I've
> had DSL for about 11 months now, and have had no more than 3 or 4
> service interruptions during that time. I think it can vary widely by
> ISP, and maybe the line quality and other physical network factors can
> play into it, too.
>
DSL outages are about equally split between ISP and Qwest.  I had one
circuit that had card issues in the central office.  Multiple carbon blocks
and finally a replacement.  Many CO's are not manned 24/7 and roving techs
are not all qualified to work on DSL.  Generally, if it's a CO problem, it's
back up within 2 hours.  If you need reliability, then buy the PRO service.

> > 2. Is the Cisco 678 easy to set up for certain incoming services like
SSH?
> > Do you just forward to a box that handle SSH?
>
> Basically, yes. How easy it is may depend on how familiar you are with
> packet filtering in general. I found the documentation kind of hard to
> follow (including the full manual from Cisco, which I expended
> considerable effort to find) --they describe the syntax of all the
> commands, but usually don't give concrete examples or explain what sorts
> of values are appropriate for the various parameters.
>
> In other words, it's easy if you know how to do it ;-)
>
Yep.

Frank Whiteley
Greeley