Internetworkers: http://www.ibiblio.org/internetworkers/

["dave AT matusiak.org" <matusiak AT mango.he.net>]

hey Craig --

i was having a great run with DirectTV DSL Internet, but they were givin'
it up too cheap and just went outta bidness.  (no, DirectTV did not go out
of business, just the ISP end).  so, don't sign up with them!  :)

so, i went back to my old provider Speakeasy - who was always quite
good. it seems their support site and call line have *improved* in the
past year, as well.  < www.speakeasy.net > call their 800 # and talk to a
human.  tell them your needs and price range and they'll tell you your
options (and whether they can provide you service or not).  if you *do*
decide to go with them, please tell them that UserName=Matusiak sent you.

i have also heard good things about Durham local BritSys 
< www.britsys.com > but have no personal experience to speak from.

a lot of people delude themselves that "going with Bellsouth" will save
them a whole bunch of problems.  not always true.  i've heard both good
and bad about their service offerings.

1. going "business class" from anyone is probably a Good Idea (tm).
2. you are bound to have some issues with any provider over time; it is
how much help they provide you in fixing it that matters.
3. nothing in life is perfect, not even TCP/IP.

as a side note, i always had great connectivity with TWC.  only problem
was that their DNS servers would "disappear" at random, inconvenient
times. yeah, i coulda run local DNS or used other DNS servers, but hey -
what was i paying them for?  otherwise, i can't say anything bad about
TWC.  (unless we are talking /politically/)...  ;)

good luck with your search!
/drm

On Thu, 9 Jan 2003, Craig Duncan wrote:

> On Thursday 09 January 2003 04:17 pm, Thomas C. Meggs wrote:
> > Out of curiosity, what is your experience with TWC?
> >
> At one point in time I sang their praises, but over the past few months the 
> service has been appalling. Lots of outages and useless tech support. At 
> the 
> end of last year we decided to drop our static IP which meant a change from 
> a 
> router to a modem. Since then, I haven't had a full day of Internet 
> connectivity. When we are connected, the response times are at best 
> sluggish 
> and varied.
> 
> A 56k modem is not really an alternative, our demands are too high, so DSL 
> seems like the only other choice. What I am most concerned about with 
> getting 
> DSL, is that it only became a choice in our area in January 03. So I doubt 
> anyone else in our area has very much experience with it.
> 
> If I don't go through BellSouth, are there really any other alternatives? I 
> do 
> not want to be calling 3 different support centers with them all pointing 
> the 
> finger at each other as Michael described.
> 
> -- 
> Craig
> 
> PS As I tried to send this email, the connection dropped again.
> The technician, told me a lot about her tax problems, but was unable to 
> help 
> in any significant way. Well, she reset my modem and it came back online, 
> but 
> for how long I do not know.