[TriLUG] geek-friendly ISP's

[Alan Porter]

Over the past year, BellSouth has been gradually making
changes to their DSL network.  In the process, they have
started blocking port 25, incoming and outgoing.  For them,
it's a necessity to keep the spam traffic down.  For me,
it solved my spam problem completely... in fact, it cut
off ALL of my email!

Before we get into a discussion about terms and conditions,
I know that they don't want their customers running servers
of any kind (I wonder why they switched me to a fixed IP).

Anyway, THAT IS NOT THE POINT of this email.

The point is: I want an ISP that will let me run services.

BellSouth's solution was for me to upgrade to Business class
DSL, a $90/month package (plus $26 local line).

I have heard good things about Intrex DSL (which is resold
BellSouth service).  Intrex's T&C also say "no servers".
But I hear that their sales staff are happy to help out
TriLUG members by bending those rules.  Their service is
$45/mo for 1.5 mbps.  But I'd have to keep my BellSouth
local service ($26) because BS will not run "naked" DSL.

Time Warner is $45/mo for ~3-5 mbps.  I could dump BellSouth
altogether, but I'd probably want to get some sort of phone
service to replace them, maybe Vonage ($15 or $25) or Packet8
($10).

Then there are cable resellers, like Earthlink ($42).  Again,
add $10-$25 for VOIP.

So there's this complex mix of cost vs services (internet,
phone, TV, etc).  But then there's also attitude.  If I
switch to Time Warner and they block ports also, then I
have not gained any ground.

One alternative that I have been looking at recently is
"sucky local access" plus "an outpost".  I signed up for a
unixshell# account ($8) and now I simply tunnel port 25
from my unixshell# virtual server to my house through SSH.
With this setup, BellSouth could block ALL incoming ports
and I could simply use their line as a VPN link to my outpost,
which has a fixed IP.  It sounds good in theory, but in
practice unixshell# has a hard time keeping their virtual
servers up during the last week while I have been trying
them out.

Just curious, what do other folks run?  Specifically, I am
interested in people who run services (SMTP/POP/IMAP, VPN,
whatever) from their homes.

Are you always one step ahead of the ISP cops?  Or did you
get some free ticket to run what you want?  What kind of
pipe did you get?  How much did it cost?

As always, thanks for the suggestions, comments, and even
the occasional hijacked thread into OT never-never land.


Alan







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