Date: Thu, 4 Jun 2009 13:10:17 -0400 From: Bill Moran <wmoran@potentialtech.com> To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: ISP questions Message-ID: <20090604131017.a85fb456.wmoran@potentialtech.com> In-Reply-To: <4096aedd0906040923p6288e319ia083f47c7ccc29e1@mail.gmail.com> References: <4096aedd0906040923p6288e319ia083f47c7ccc29e1@mail.gmail.com>
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In response to Mark Hartkemeyer <hartkemd@gmail.com>: > I'm pretty new to FreeBSD and was reading part of Greg Lehey's The > Complete FreeBSD 4th Edition. I found the section on ISPs in chapter > 18 really interesting. I put some of his recommended questions to my > ISP, Cincinnati Bell's Zoomtown. I think I talked to three or four > people before I even got some of them answered. > > Here are some of the questions and answers: > > 1. What speed connections do you offer? > 5MBps upload/5MBps download (she said bytes, but should it be bits?) If they're doing 5 megabyte per second, then sign me up! > 3. How many hops are there to the backbone? > "It depends on the site you're trying to reach." (I think they > misunderstood what I meant by "backbone"?) I suspect you're correct, although it is possible to have multiple backbones that are different hops away. > 4. What kind of hardware and software are you running? > "Can't provide this, due to security reasons." That's the stupidest answer I've heard today. > 7. Do you give complete access to the Internet, or do you block some ports? > "Cannot provide this info, due to security reasons." After > asking, I was told that I would be able to run a mail server and http > server on my connection. That's the stupidest answer I've heard today (just trumped the previous one). Reminds me of when I was trying to pay my student loan back, and the bank refused to tell me what the monthly payment was until I started paying it back. No, I'm not making that up or exaggerating. "How do I know what to write the check for?" "We'll tell you." "Well then tell me now." "I can't divulge that information until you start making payments." > 8. Do you have complete reverse DNS? > (They didn't know.) Heh. Can they find the bathroom in the dark? > I assume this is a pretty typical response from ISPs. Has anyone > asked their ISP questions like these? If so, what kind of response > did you get? Does anyone know of a really good ISP, or a good > resource for finding a good ISP around Cincinnati, OH? I recommend hooking up with your local user's group. There's probably a LUG in Cinci somewhere, and most LUGs I know are pretty friendly to BSD folks, and there will be someone in the LUG who's already done this research. How 'bout this: http://www.clug.org/ If you meet anyone there who recognizes my name, tell them I said "Hi." -- Bill Moran http://www.potentialtech.com http://people.collaborativefusion.com/~wmoran/
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