[plug] Warning! Rant ahead

[Kim Covil]

> Anyone got an opinion of WestNet?

I am torn as to whether to say what I really think or not... Oh well
here goes... I am really happy with them... especially now with the
unlimited downloads... I originally chose them after hunting in vain for
an ISP that would host my domain name WITHOUT me having to pay for a
virtual mail server and virtual web server (I have them hosted on my
machine)... It seemed ridiculous to me that most ISP wanted anywhere
from $100-300 pa for a static IP address and domain hosting... Westnet
were happy to charge me $55 for a static IP and a domain name
delegation... with some MX records to point at my machine...

I have found that with what seems to be a large portion of their clients
outside the metro area the Perth POPs are pretty empty (my record is
396 hours for one connection)... My gateway machine has dialed up 3 
times this month so far... at least one of those was because the dodgy 
hard drive in it failed...

Now of course everyone is going to switch across to them and the Perth
POPs (there are two of them) will fill up and I will get disconnected
more often... I knew I shouldn't have opened my mouth...

Cheers

Kim

PS Their help desk have been friendly and helpful too... though I get
the feeling they are trained for Windows clients... they in no way say
"Linux, no sorry we don't deal with that" they are happy to get one of
their more knowledgable staff onto the problem... and more often than
not a problem I have had has been due to the machine at my end (did I
mention the dodgy hard drive...?)

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Kim Covil - CSIRO Exploration & Mining   E-mail: kimc at ned.dem.csiro.au
            PO Box 437, Nedlands,        Tel: +61 8 9284 8425   ,-_!\
            Western Australia  6009      Fax: +61 8 9389 1906  /     \
                                                               *_,-._/
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   Please direct all personal e-mail to kimbotha at covil.com.au