Seeking reliable Internet access for the New Year
December 20th 2005I finally decided I would have no more of Comcast Cable Internet. When things were good I was getting 4 down and 368 up and staying connected to my work VPN; when things were bad, I was cut off with no help or concern from support staff who wanted nothing to do with me.
I decided Speakeasy was the way to go. I had heard good things, and they offer OneLink, a data line like DSL without the need for phone service. I talked to Matt on the phone and told him when I needed it installed by and I was off and running.
First off, the support is top notch so far. Not only did I get Matt’s direct number, I was also given an Install Coordinator named Travis who would be my direct contact until the service was installed. When I couldn’t meet one of the engineers to verify the line, Travis re-scheduled the appointment. When I’ve had questions, he’s responded within the hour. So far, I’m very pleased with the support staff; they’re courteous and really do they’re best.
Since I was having a new line installed, I decided it was time to overhaul my firewall. I decided that with my new static IP addresses that I would want to setup VPN (to be able to backup or access files on the fly from anywhere) and a DMZ (just because I had an extra network card). I was simply going to upgrade to the newer version of Bering LEAF, but instead tried M0n0wall. I’ve got to say, it was easy to install and has a slick interface. It’s based on FreeBSD and uses PHP for boot-time configuration and stores system config in an XML file. Of course, I setup the firewall to boot to either hard drive, so I could switch between Bering LEAF and M0n0wall.
But why stop at the firewall and Internet? I ran new cable into my living room for one of my notebooks (and possibly a Slingbox if I go that route). Wireless you say? Bah, that’d be too easy. I completely rewired the whole office to be a little bit more friendly and so that I could hook up the final data line connection next week.
What features is the new data line supposed to have? 6 down/768 up with multiple static IP addresses and a shell account for kicks. I don’t even have the service running yet, but I’m already loving the support people. I can only hope the service lives up its reputation.
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