[clug] Looking for new ADSL provider

[Rasjid Wilcox]

On Saturday 17 May 2003 14:32, Stephen Peilschmidt wrote:
> My Telstra contact (512/128 3 GB/month) is coming to an end and the recent
> outages not allowing me to log on is pushing me to look for alternatives.
>
> What have others done in a similar situation.
>
> I need to be able to run servers (so no blocking of port 25, 80), fixed IP
> would be nice but I can cope with dynamic.

You do not want to run a mail-server on a dynamic IP unless your ISP is going 
to do some kind of 'store and forward' (ETRN or the like) arrangement.  If 
you use a dynamic IP, you will get bounces.  I know this from experience.

> Also free downloads from a
> download server or a large monthly download allocation would be nice. Do
> uploads get metered. And reliablility - did I mention reliability.
>
> Your recommendations and experience are most welcome.

At the time I signed up (about 18 months ago) the only way to get an 
affordable broadband connection with a fixed IP address was through a 
TransACT ISP.  I believe that that has changed now and that some of the 
non-Telstra ADSL providers offer fixed IP's at a reasonble rate.  I have not 
looked into it as I'm quite happy with my TransACT connection.

Despite the problems experienced by some members of this list, I have recently 
moved over to Netspeed, mainly because I get unlimited downloads between 
midnight and 7am.  I have recently downloaded both the latest RedHat and 
Mandrake distros with this, despite my 'peak time' limit being only 1GB.  My 
usage for this month has been 241MB during peak time, but (for free) 3.3GB 
offpeak, and I must say I'm very happy with this arrangement.  And I have a 
fixed IP and can run my own web and mail-server without any problems.  I 
almost always get a full 512kbs.

The only reliability problems I've had have been when there was an upgrade 
problem with my Set-Top-Box.  I would recommend getting a dedicated DSL 
modem, rather than going through a STB, if you can talk them into it.

OTOH, if you want to stay with ADSL, I don't have any feedback to pass on, 
other than I have found Netspeed okay, and they do offer an ADSL service too.  
I found Webone's support response to be slightly better, but Netspeed's 
prices were just too tempting in the end.  It looks like Netspeed is also 
offering free ADSL connections this month.  I have no idea if Netspeed offer 
fixed IP's on the ADSL connections.

Cheers,

Rasjid.

PS.  I have no association with Netspeed, other than I'm a customer of theirs.  
All usual disclaimers apply. ;-)

-- 

Rasjid Wilcox
Canberra, Australia  UTC + 10
http://www.openminddev.net