[plug] School Web Page

[Craig Ringer]

>
>
>>I've been looking at ADSL plans and it
>>looks like since I last checked a couple of months ago iiNet has gone to
>>new plans (crap, a few gigs of data then shaped to 56k, plus blocks
>>ports of services I use like https and smtp) and westnets aren't as good
>>as last time I checked either.
>>    
>>
>
>Eh? $80 a month buys you 3G during daylight plus static IP, free WAIX, free 
>midnight-to-dawn and no throttling (6c/MB over). What more could you want? 
>(-:
>  
>
OK, I've got 4 _heavy_ 'net users here, 2 of whom (not myself) are 
gamers. 3gigs probably won't cut it. Which means (with WestNet) taking 
the 6gig 512k plan at some $139/month. Last time I looked at WestNet's 
plans we could've got 8 gig 512k for less... hence my extreme 
irritation. iiNet had decent plans for a little while too (ie unmetered 
off-peak etc) but have since gone to Bliink (Biin iiT) plans. Yay, 3 
gigs per month, a dynamic IP, a bunch of blocked ports and throttling to 
56k? Woohoo. The others are all worse. WestNet doesn't offer the option 
of throttling to 56k after going over limit (one of the few things about 
iiNet's I like, as I like to _know_ what my bill will be) and any decent 
download allowance is a bit pricey plus its attached to a higher speed 
link than we need. More importantly, by the time I sign up it'll only be 
a month before the next change-of-plans, going by the current pattern - 
or so it seems.

>Interesting footnote from WN's FAQ: WinXP may power down your USB hub to save 
>power, disconnecting your ADSL link!
>
*lol*
Why bother powering down a USB hub anyway (unless the system is entering 
standby)? they draw so little power its just silly.

>I'm currently running 64k DoV to ArachNet, and they've only booted me off 
>twice today (once was an accounting stuffup), which would work out at around 
>$50 total per month. With a dual link (128k) add $22 and double the call 
>costs, so $84 a month. Expect to drop off once or twice a month with a 
>`permanent' account ($77 one channel, $99 dual).
>
We need 128k really (ok, want). That means 2 phone lines plus a third 
for real phone, yes? One of the main reasons for getting DSL is to end 
the stupid situation we have here where nobody can contact us. BTW, is 
that un-capped (no byte charge) or something? If so, even 64k ISDN 
sounds pretty good. Otherwise it doesn't look so good for 64kbit per 
second. The multilink idea was born of absolute, raving frustration with 
"broadband" that isn't broadband (you could use VNC - if you could 
afford it. Ditto 'net radio. Grr bytecharges grr).