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Re: [PLUG] DirecTV DSL & Linux
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"Edward M. Corrado" wrote:
>
> Has anyone used DIRECTV's DSL service, and if so how would you rate
> it? Did you have any problems using Linux with it? Also, have you had any
> problems with them blocking specific ports? I really want to use
> speakeasy.net based on personal recommendations and reviews that I have
> read, but they aren't available in my area yet and they apparently have no
> time table for DSL in my area. Basically, my choices are currently limited
> to Verizon and DirecTV dsl services. One thing that I saw on the DirecTV
> DSL website (and appeared to be confirmed by the script-reading
> telemarketer that called me the other day while I was watching TV was that
> they assign you a static IP allow you to run a web server (both plusses in
> my book), but I can't find anything in the actually agreement that says
> that they allow the web server part (or what other services they allow you
> to run) . Any experiences (good or bad) would be greatly appreciated.
I've been quite happy with DirectTV DSL. Had it for maybe a year now
with little trouble. There have been a couple outages, primarily router
lockups in the box they supply on my end, followed by a couple weeks of
off and on DNS service on their end. Other than that it just works.
I'd rate them very well. Tech support is usually helpful, and
mentioning you are using it with Linux seems to be a positive thing.
One it got me bumped to Level 2 tech support automatically. On the
negative side, I find calling them is best in the early business hours
of the morning, otherwise the on-hold time is rather long. I once
called them at 2:00am on a Sun, because that was when the router locked
up, and waited for 10-15 minutes to talk to someone. I have to admit I
was surprised they had anyone available at all...
They do supply hardware on your end. It's a medium sized blue box in my
case, stands on it's side, and provides phone line input, USB/Ethernet
output, and power brick input. No fans, so it's quiet. That box is the
DSL router, and has an internal web server to view the status and info
about the connection. They send you the box for ~$29 shipping, with the
agreement you return it on cancellation of service. I think the charge
if you don't return is $250.
You'll need to run through their setup routine the first time, as the
box is unconfigured and doesn't have an IP assigned yet. The setup
procedure looks easiest if you have a windows box available, but I think
you could do it strictly with a Linux box. It needs to run DHCP once
during setup, and I hadn't done that on Linux yet, so I used a Windows
box to manually set it up. After the first time it learns and saves
your static IP address. After that it's fixed (static IP), even through
power cycles, and you won't need to do anything but point your Linux
machine at it for the gateway and you're connected.
The service agreement seems very reasonable to me, and I felt it was
more reasonable even than DCA when I subscribed. I don't recall why I
avoided Speakeasy at the time, I suspect it was setup costs.
Let's see, what did I leave out...
Cost:
$29.95 to ship router on order.
$29.95 for first 3 months of service
$49.95/mo thereafter. Free month for recommending a friend to sign up.
Anybody want to sign up? I'll split the difference with you :)
I've setup a web server. You can hit my DirectTV connection at
http://www.kevb.net. Please don't abuse it, I don't publish it as my
primary homepage address ;) There are stats up also, but not linked
onto the pages yet: http://kevb.net/webalizer/
You're reverse DNS will look like the top entry in my stats page,
something like 'dsl-64-129-206-57.telocity.com', with your static IP
matching that IP address.
--
Kevin Brosius
_________________________________________________________________________
Philadelphia Linux Users Group -- http://www.phillylinux.org
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