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

[Matt Gushee]

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.

> 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?

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.

> 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 ;-)

> 3. What order of calls did you make: preferred ISP, and then Qwest, or vice
> versa? 

I called the ISP first. I'm not sure it matters.

-- 
Matt Gushee
Englewood, Colorado, USA
mgushee at havenrock.com
http://www.havenrock.com/