[TriLUG] Re: Time To Ditch RoadRunner?

[Ben Pitzer]

Just two links should tell you all you need to know:

http://www.macworld.co.uk/news/main_news.cfm?NewsID=8081

http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,115002,00.asp

Basically, if you aren't regularly checking your PC for zombie, don't have a
firewall of some sort, be it hardware or software, on a PC, Mac, or *nix, or
run a mail server and don't regularly check for an open relay, you could be
part of the problem.  Spam and viruses kill bandwidth, and things are only
getting worse.  Some folks could be having some problems with signal levels
on their cable network, or some other potential plant issue, it's true, but
the vast majority of issues are with people who are unwittingly or
purposefully using massive amounts of bandwidth propagating spam and/or
viruses.  Get an anti-virus program.  Lock down your mail servers.  Get a
firewall software for your PCs (go here for more info on all of this:
http://www.nc.rr.com/security/)

Sorry I can't be more informative, but that's what I know at the moment.  I
can't give you the details on bandwidth usage, but those links above should
provide all the info you really need.

It ain't easy bein' in the ISP biz, so thank you Jon for at least asking for
an informed answer before folks start jumping to conclusions and flaming
away.  As I've said before, I'm happy to answer questions as far as I can
about our service, just so long as y'all don't use me for your personal tech
support contact.  Homey don't play 'dat.

Regards,
Ben Pitzer

---------------------------------------------

"Those that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
 --Ben Franklin--




> -----Original Message-----
> From: trilug-bounces at trilug.org [mailto:trilug-bounces at trilug.org]On
> Behalf Of Jon Carnes
> Sent: Saturday, March 06, 2004 9:02 PM
> To: Triangle Linux Users Group discussion list
> Subject: RE: [TriLUG] Re: Time To Ditch RoadRunner?
>
>
> On Sat, 2004-03-06 at 20:50, Brian A. Henning wrote:
> > > I've done some analysis of their network (since they added the VoIP
> > > offerings) and it looks to me as though the VoIP is given higher
> > > priority at the community router level, but then it has a different
> > > internal path from the data.
> > >
> > > At that point the voice traffic is run across separate
> systems from the
> > > data - so the voice should only affect local traffic, and the effect
> > > should be exceedingly small considering the Bandwidth used by VoIP.
> > >
> > > The Gateway routers and other Internet services should not be affected
> > > by VoIP traffic.
> > >
> > > Maybe Ben can give us a few hints on setup of our Local RR.
> >
> > Heh..  wish this had come about 30 seconds sooner..  oh well, got to let
> > ignorance rear its ugly head now and then and be thwarted by those more
> > knowledgeable than I..
> >
> NP - most of my observations are based on IWAG's.
>
> I'll bet that the loss of Bandwidth is most likely caused by the
> onslaught of current viral activity.  The past two weeks have been worse
> than any in recorded history. They are overloading both web and mail
> servers across the internet.
>
> Now is a really good time to make that jump to Linux on your
> Workstation.  I've been running with nothing but for over two years now!
>
> Jon
>
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