[CLUE-Tech] Comcast question

[Todd Williams]

Don Collier wrote:
> Hello all.  I am thinking of droping my current provider and moving to 
> comcast as my isp.  Do any of you have your own mail or web servers 
> running with Comcast or do they block access to those ports.  My servers 
> are strictly for my family only so I dont want to shell out the extra 
> cash for business access.  Just curious to see if I have to find a new 
> host for my email. 

Running a mail server in comcast space won't be a happy experience.  Many
places block them, some by domain, some due to various blacklistings.
They have justly earned their reputation as one of the largest spam sources
on the net, and paying them makes you a collaborator in the spamming.
Be aware of the reputation of your provider before you sign up.
If they are part of the problem, then you will be cast in the same light.
If they get blacklisted, it is not the fault of the people who reject
your email.  It is the fault of your provider for forcing the costs of
their incompetence (willful or not) onto the rest of the net.
Those who reject your email are doing what they can to protect their
networks from the massive denial of service attack on smtp originating
from comcast network.  Comcast's response to massive blacklisting has
been to stick a bandaid on a few of the problems, issue a few press
releases, and tell everyone else to f-off and take it.  Based on their
attitude, it is obvious that the problem will go away when their flow
of funds dries up.  So - if you are paying comcast, you are the problem.
You can complain to comcast, but they don't care as long as you pay your
bill.  Enjoy your ever-shrinking private internet.  The blacklistings
will continue and escalate until they really clean up their mess.
</rant>

Before you sign up with comcast - do you have your own domain?
Ask them if they will do proper reverse dns.
Don't expect much email to go through from a *.client.comcast.net IP.
Most cable companies do not allow servers for non-business accounts.
All of the big cable companies suffer from some level of blacklisting.

For what you need, you should look into DSL.  Register your own domain,
run a small linux (of course) server off a DSL with proper DNS and rDNS,
and you won't have any problems - just don't hang any unprotected windows
boxes on the same line...

Good luck.

Todd Williams