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

[Timothy C. Klein]

* Sean LeBlanc (seanleblanc at attbi.com) wrote:
> I may be moving to an area that does not have anything but DSL...so far, my
> broadband experience has been AT&T cable only. 
> 
> What kind of tips on getting set up with DSL and Linux/BSD can you folks
> offer? I'd really hate to get stuck with using Windoze as my connection box
> because Qwest gives me a WinModem for DSL. Also, what's the deal with MSN
> being the provider if you are using DSL? Is that only if Qwest is the ISP?
> If so, can anyone recommend a good ISP to use with DSL?

You should have no problem getting it to work, you will just need to
make sure you don't get one of the internal DSL units, nor the external
USB DSL unit.  I think these are both from Intel.  Neither have Linux
drivers.  The easiest (only?) is probably the Cisco 678.  This works
great, but they will probably charge you extra for it :-(.  You might be
able to find one on Ebay or the like, though.  You might even ask on
this list or BLUG, seems like somebody had extras.

As far as the ISP goes, you are free to choose whomever you like, among
those that are Qwest providers, or whatever they call it.  There are
many, the list is on their web page somewhere.  I am using
Forethought.Net.  If you don't specify who you want, they would probably
just give you MSN, as they have some kind of contract (seems borderline
illegal to me, since Qwest is required to have ISP competition, but who
knows).  So make sure you tell them you don't want MSN, so that you
don't end up with it.

> Also: what is their policy on running "servers"? I put it in quotes because
> the term is pretty dopey given things like P2P serving up (potentially) much
> more content than, say, a static personal web site.
> 

I imagine it might vary by ISP, but most seem to think servers are just
peachy-keen.  Actually, that is the selling point for DSL for me.  I
have 2 static IPs, and I can run anything I want on them.  I am sure if
I started sucking down 10 GB/day, my ISP would give me a call, but
they would let me do it (assuming I could pay the bill :-)

HTH,
Tim
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== Timothy Klein || teece at silverklein.net   ==
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