Re: Cable internet

[David Cuthbert <dacut@xxxxxxxxx>]

Bryan Berch wrote:
> It is about I get rid of dial-up and get something faster.  My only 
> other choice is Comcast broadband.  My questions are:
>
> 1.  Has any one used it and is it worth it?
> 2.  What cable modem did you use?

I've been using it for ~3 years now.  I've had two major issues during 
that time:

1. At one point, a crew was doing some work in my neighborhood (back 
when I was in Pittsburgh) and attached a filter to the wrong line (mine).

2. This February, a storm blew through the island (I'm now near Seattle) 
and took power out for five days.  (Comcast, to their credit, brought in 
generators to power their neighborhood relays after two days... alas, 
didn't help me much.)

These incidents aside, availability for me has been closer to 99.9% than 
99%.

Their policies seem reasonable.  They'll get on your case if you start 
serving a lot of traffic, from what I understand.  Many of us at work 
run personal servers (ssh, webmail, etc.) and haven't heard a peep from 
them.  Stay out of their hair, they'll stay out of yours.

I thought they were blocking outbound SMTP connections, but this does 
not appear to be the case right now.  At any rate, don't expect to have 
your mail accepted by anyone if you bypass their SMTP servers (the 
entire netblock is RBLed, and with good reason).

I haven't touched Usenet in years, so I can't comment on their news servers.

My experience with DSL was less than pleasant.  Verizon had the oddest 
routes, and probably borderline 99% availability.  North Pittsburgh 
Telephone (sigh) was down around 95%.  Getting a reliable connection 
anywhere was an adventure.