[UFO Chicago] Speakeasy questions

[Nate Riffe]

Just now Jesse Becker made 15 LEDs in my apartment flash with this:
> Well, my dialup service just went down the tubes (old
> account from a previous job), and I'm looking at Speakeasy
> for service.
> 
> A few questions:
> 
> Is RADSL worth it?  I don't really plan on running any sort
> of fancy services, other than remote email for myself, and
> SSH'ing into my home systems.  However, a static IP would
> be nice.  Also, how often does the IP address change if you
> go the dynamic route?

I have RADSL *and* static IPs (two of them).  If you don't plan on
serving stuff up, then you might as well go with RADSL, and if you do
plan on serving stuff up, you can get away with RADSL if you pick a
package with a respectable uplink speed.  However, it's not a choice
between RADSL and static IP.  If you do decide on dynamic addressing,
I can hook you up with stable DNS via dyn.movealong.org if you want a
way to ssh in.  No problem there, either.

> What sort of hardware do they sell you?  Modem? Router? 
> Can you supply your own hardware, or do you have to use
> theirs?  

You can supply your own hardware, but then the standard warning about
breakage and keeping the pieces applies.  They'll let you know whether
a particular modem is compatible with the service, and they *may* sell
you one down the line if you request (I am not sure of this.  My
hardware *was* "customer provided" -- from my old apartment where I
had Covad as provider -- and Worldcom at first wouldn't exchange mine
or even sell me a replacement, but then later actually exchanged it at
no cost to me).

The hardware that I have from Speakeasy functions as an ethernet to
DSL bridge, but the same hardware can be configured as a router (by
Speakeasy, not you).  All of the residential packages from Speakeasy
are bridged.  Some of the business packages are routed, and some are
bridged.

> The nifty comparison page,
> (http://www.speakeasy.net/main.php?page=res_allpricing)
> implies that there is port/protocol blocking on all
> packages except the "SysAdmin" package.  Is this actually
> true?  Are there any other substatial differences between
> the packages, or are they just marketing things?

I don't believe that they block anyone's ports, but I'd have to check.
I do know that other parameters, for instance the lower ping times on
Gamer lines, are customizations that apply to that particular series
(the ping trick is accomplished by playing with the parameters of the
DSL signal and ATM network -- deep magic as far as I'm concerned and I
don't know the details).

-Nate

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pub  1024D/05A058E0 2002-03-07 Nate Riffe (06-Mar-2002) <inkblot@movealong.org>
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