RE: test

I've had pretty good service w/ the ACS DSL service overall, however, I did
have a problem with my linksys firewall/vpn router after they made some
changes upstream. Initially I had my dsl router working in bridge mode so
that it forwarded all traffic to my linksys firewall/vpn(which actually made
the PPOE connection). This way I could filter traffic on my linksys
device(which I trust much more than the default dsl router ACS gives you)
without having traffic first natted through my dsl router, and then natted
again through my linksys device. However, even after a firmware upgrade to
my linksys device I could not manually enter a custom MTU variable setting.
Turns out that ACS uses a non industry standard MTU setting so I could not
establish a PPoE connection via my Linksys device. According to whomever I
talked to on the phone they will not change this setting due to the fact
that it would be too much of a 'major undertaking'. Dunno if anyone uses the
Distributed DNS application on any supported Linksys device, but because the
traffic is already natted to an internal address, the DDNS service fails to
update my DNS hostname with the correct IP. Easily fixable...I just added a
crontab entry to use the webbased ip detector that dyn-dns.org uses.
Anyway to make a long story short I didn't get my way and had to reconfigure
the speedtouch device to establish the PPOE connection AND nat my traffic
prior to it hitting my linksys VPN/firewall. Not really a big issue but it
might save you some time if you had planned a similar configuration...Anyone
else notice this?

Zach Parish

-----Original Message-----
From: aklug-bounce@aklug.org [mailto:aklug-bounce@aklug.org] On Behalf Of
Leif Sawyer
Sent: Tuesday, April 27, 2004 11:15 AM
To: Adam Bultman; aklug@aklug.org
Subject: RE: test

Adam Bultman writes:
> Ok, I'm going to respond with a few questions.
>
> I'm going to be moving to Anchorage in mid July or late August, and
> since I work from home (but not 'for myself') I need decent
> connectivity.
>
> 1) Is there one provider that is better than another?
> 2) What kind of uptime will I be getting when I go up there?
> 3) Will my connetion go 'down' at times in the winter, etc?

1) ACS and GCI are the major providors in the Anchorage metro area.
    * With ACS, you can get dial, DSL, and dedicated line.
      ACS's DSL uses PPPoE, last I heard, so there may be some issues
      with that, depending on your requirements. Usually not a show
      stopper as there are ways to deal with this for most every OS

    * With GCI, you can get dial, DSL, cable, and dedicated line.
      All options are 'live on the internet', no extra requirements.

    I'll suggest a firewall right now. No matter what option.

    Your best bet, if you want to guarantee connectivity, is to
    have multiple connectivity options. Get a DSL and a cable
    connection. With some of GCI's bundles, there is a free dialup
    option as well, which gives you three options.

2) Uptimes vary. Unless some fool backs his garbage truck into
    a utility pole and breaks the line, or a different fool cuts the
    fiber with his backhoe or shovel, you're probably looking at
    about 99% availability.

3) As in #2, but also depending on the area of town that you are in
    and the quality of the facilities that terminate your circuit.

I've got DSL and cable at my house, and have never had a complete
and utter outage. Nor any weather related outages.

Hope this helps a little.

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Received on Tue Apr 27 22:58:32 2004