DSL and such

[Darth Wong]

But isn't yours a business cable line? Mines is home.

If he's willing to spend the money, he can get a business line at home. Business DSL usually costs more than $100/month, while home DSL typically costs less than $40/month ($45 CDN/mo for basic-rate 1Mbps service around here, which works out to roughly $33 US/mo).

Mind you, this server is currently running off a home DSL connection so it's a viable option; the trick is to use a dynamic DNS service to map a domain name to your dynamic IP and then run an IP check daemon to update your listing whenever there's a reconnection.

[TheArtist]

Yeah, like I said, I've never had a slowdown. I got a 4/1 line here; static IP's and a whole lotta gear.

But isn't yours a business cable line? Mines is home.


EDIT: Ah, whatever. Doesn't really matter anyway.

Its a business line. But its in my home.

[phongn]

RogueIce lives in the Tampa Bay area, so here's some advice:

There are a couple of cheap ISPs in the area that offer ADSL. You have to get the actual line from Verizon, but the 'net connection costs are a bit lower. WebNet and Internet Junction are those two, but they tend to be a bit oversubscribed.

Verizon's own ISP is faster, but more expensive.

Be prepared to wait; Verizon is ludicrously slow with DSL service, and if you need to switch ISPs, be prepared to wait a couple of weeks.

[Durandal]

Mind you, this server is currently running off a home DSL connection so it's a viable option; the trick is to use a dynamic DNS service to map a domain name to your dynamic IP and then run an IP check daemon to update your listing whenever there's a reconnection.

I wasn't aware any of the dynamic DNS services offered *.net domains. Then again, I use dyndns.org's free services, and I get homeunix.com domains for my IP's which are updated automatically at the server-side. What service do you use?

[Darth Wong]

Mind you, this server is currently running off a home DSL connection so it's a viable option; the trick is to use a dynamic DNS service to map a domain name to your dynamic IP and then run an IP check daemon to update your listing whenever there's a reconnection.

I wasn't aware any of the dynamic DNS services offered *.net domains. Then again, I use dyndns.org's free services, and I get homeunix.com domains for my IP's which are updated automatically at the server-side. What service do you use?

They don't offer .net domains. I have a real .net domain on a regular static-IP webhost, but the BBS is on my home LAN and I map a CNAME DNS entry from a subdomain (bbs.stardestroyer.net) to stardestroyer.homelinux.org, which is this machine. If you do an nslookup on www.stardestroyer.net and bbs.stardestroyer.net, you'll see what I mean.

[Durandal]

Ah, I see. It performs rather well for being hosted on a 640 kbps server.

[RogueIce]

RogueIce lives in the Tampa Bay area, so here's some advice:

There are a couple of cheap ISPs in the area that offer ADSL. You have to get the actual line from Verizon, but the 'net connection costs are a bit lower. WebNet and Internet Junction are those two, but they tend to be a bit oversubscribed.

Verizon's own ISP is faster, but more expensive.

Be prepared to wait; Verizon is ludicrously slow with DSL service, and if you need to switch ISPs, be prepared to wait a couple of weeks.

Ah, thanks for the info. I'll have to look into it. But first, gotta see if I'm movin' out for college yet, and what options I can get (dorm, apartment, etc).

[phongn]

Verizon has been adding the needed ADSL equipment around the Bay to the various switching stations, but not all of them have it - or you might be out of range.

[Lord MJ]

Cable is generally faster than DSL. DSL has a theoretical maximum of 8mbs and Cable has a maximum of 32mbs.


However DSL is usually throttled down below a T1s capacity of 1.5 mbps. And cable is always throttled below 8 mbps.


From an Electrical Engineering perspective, Cable makes a lot more sense. It's a lot easier to set up than DSL. In fact from a EE perspective it's a wonder that DSL even works at all.

However as has been mentioned, the path to the switch on cable is shared.

The most important thing to consider is price. Cable companies have gotten into the business of bundling internet access with other cable services, so cable might be the best deal, provided that your nieghbor isn't hogging all the bandwidth.