DSL success!
For anyone who doesn't know, my DSL service has been miserable since it was installed back in the 90's. Hours of sitting on hold with SBC, many truck rolls, etc. I simply have a problem line. It's unreliable, goes down in heat or rain, and slow, I often get only about 5kpbs upload and 75kbps down.
However, as of yesterday, I now have reliable, 3Mbps down, and 512kbps up. It's almost like having... well, a real network connection in my house! :). And my order doubling those rates is already in. My plan is to live with the 6Mbps rate for a while and see what I think about it. Comcast can deliver better rates, but they don't offer fixed IP and they do nasty port blocking and "traffic shaping" (which works out to be the same as bandwidth trottling combined with port blocking). If I go with comcast, it would be as a second line supplementing my DSL.
In any case, for someone who's primary social interface with the world is internet and a professional who works on computer ~10+hrs/day, this is a life changing event on the order of moving AND getting a new car all at the same time.
If you're in the bay area and have any interest in DSL, would like better service, have a problem line, etc, I highly recommend Mike Durkin of Raw Band Width, http://www.rawbandwidth.com He's a one man company who's on the ball and knows his stuff. I've been looking for someone in this line of work to sort my DSL problems out for years and I'm very happy to have found him.
However, as of yesterday, I now have reliable, 3Mbps down, and 512kbps up. It's almost like having... well, a real network connection in my house! :). And my order doubling those rates is already in. My plan is to live with the 6Mbps rate for a while and see what I think about it. Comcast can deliver better rates, but they don't offer fixed IP and they do nasty port blocking and "traffic shaping" (which works out to be the same as bandwidth trottling combined with port blocking). If I go with comcast, it would be as a second line supplementing my DSL.
In any case, for someone who's primary social interface with the world is internet and a professional who works on computer ~10+hrs/day, this is a life changing event on the order of moving AND getting a new car all at the same time.
If you're in the bay area and have any interest in DSL, would like better service, have a problem line, etc, I highly recommend Mike Durkin of Raw Band Width, http://www.rawbandwidth.com He's a one man company who's on the ball and knows his stuff. I've been looking for someone in this line of work to sort my DSL problems out for years and I'm very happy to have found him.