DSL Provider of Choice

[bscott at ntisys.com]

  A few more-or-less random comments...

  Most ISPs (DSL, cable, or otherwise) don't "support" Linux.  Some don't
support Macintosh.  If you check your TOS[1], you'll find they don't support
those off-the-shelf NAT routers, home networks, or Windows application
software, either.  You're free to *use* it, but they won't support it.  
Which makes sense.  Support is the most expensive part of most operations.  
Training their field install and help desk monkeys to understand more than
the absolute basics would be cost prohibitive.  So, just because they don't
"support" Linux doesn't mean you are going to find a SWAT team repelling
down your wall the minute you plug your Debian box into the wire.

  These days, if you get DSL, 95% of the time, you are either getting the
local ILEC's offering [2], or you're getting Covad DSL.  Most "DSL
companies" are just reselling Covad.  I know XO, Speakeasy, and AT&T all use
Covad.  There are some small, local CLECs[3] providing DSL, but they are few
and far between.

  DSL is generally going to use some variant of PPP.  Some DSL providers use
a router that terminates the serial bit-stream on the wire, and also
terminates the PPP channel.  Others use a so-called "DSL modem" which simply
terminates the DSL line, and passes the PPP packets out through an Ethernet
(PPPoE) or USB interface.  For those, you need to run PPP on your equipment
(be it your computer, or a router you provide).  The latter variant has the
advantage of bringing the Internet right to the customer interface without
having to allocate an IP network at every customer site (i.e., it's
cheaper).  Personally, I like it when the ISP provides a router, since that
gives them something at the IP layer they can work with at my end, but for
90% of the installations out there, it is probably an unnecessary expense.

 Another promising, if somewhat immature (in terms of infrastructure),
technology is fixed wireless [5].  ISP puts a tower on a hill.  You hang a
wok on your wall.  You now have high-speed, reliable Internet, without
involving the local telco at all.  (Anyone who has had to deal with the
local telco knows that's priceless.)  We've got a few customers using a
local wireless ISP with good success.  The real problem, as I said, appears
to be infrastructure; it is strictly line-of-sight, and there *always* seems
to be a tree in the way.

Footnotes
---------
[1] TOS = Terms Of Service.  The document where you give up all your rights.
[2] ILEC = Incumbent Local Exchange Carrier.  One of the Baby Bells.  The 
    Local Phone Company.  Verizon, in this area.  They generally are up
    their with Microsoft on the list of everyone's least favorite 
    monopolies.
[3] CLEC = Competitive Local Exchange Carrier.  A company other than the 
    ILEC who has equipment in local COs[3].  A rare beast, these days.
[4] CO = Central Office.  The building that houses the equipment that
    terminates the other end of your phone line.
[5] As opposed to mobile wireless (e.g., cell phones).

-- 
Ben Scott <bscott at ntisys.com>
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