Well, it had to happen sometime to me: my DSL company is toast. I signed up with Telocity about 2 years ago, and was just thrilled about it. Static IP, 1500/384, and they didn't get panicked about someone putting a domain to their IP.
DirecTV took over the company, and to their credit, didn't change much and kept everything up to speed. I wasn't unhappy with DirecTV; I got what I was paying for, and I was happy with the service.
Naturally, they are going under and require me to go somewhere else. And naturally, the reason it took me a *year* to get DSL at my place is now leaving me with little or no choice.
Part of what's necessary for DSL is a switch for your DSL carrier -- not the ISP -- at your local office, called a central office (CO). If a carrier doesn't have a switch, you're toast.
My CO has only BellSouth as a carrier, not Covad. God knows why -- if they had, I'd be there in a second, using their lines and Speakeasy in a second. But no, I'm stuck with BellSouth's lines, and I can't really afford SDSL, which Covad would offer at my CO. Which leaves me the suckiest choice of all: should I go with BellSouth (the ISP), or Earthlink, as my ISP.
Let me tell you, I hate both. BellSouth *actively* pursues people using their systems as servers, and Earthlink uses, God help us, PPPoE, putting them one step ahead of cavemen. Both reduce my outgoing speed, and neither is all that great at service or speed at getting systems up.
But Earthlink offers a static IP, so into the depths I go. Earlier this week, I asked them about this, and I got told -- get this -- that I couldn't get it because *they were out of static IPs for my area*. Literally, I had to wait for a static IP.
Today, though, I found that I could get one again today. So, I signed up. I don't like it, I'm not happy about it, and Earthlink has a *loooooong* way to go to prove they're worth anything.
Pray for my access, good people. I need it. More on this saga as I go.
Posted by Ted Stevko at December 18, 2002 05:21 PM