[lug] AT&T @Home cable Internet access in Boulder - experiences?

[John Starkey]

Yea. One response here. I've been using it for three weeks now and I'm not
at all happy with it. Too many outages, the modem has to be re-cycled. And
the "no services" policy sucks. BUT I'm a newbie and don't know enough to
always and accuratelly know where to point the finger. I do know that my
mac is working fine (except for the outages) and my linux isn't (until I
ftp something in or out). So it'd indicate it's me, not them. But having
heard about them policing the services I can only find that to be the
cause. I have tried downloading via ftp and the mac, and ftp and linux.
Whenever I plug the linux box into the hub I lose everything. I don't have
any services on the mac.

And the extra addy's I tried to sign up for another one and couldn't get
the server to take. I called them and they said they are trying to fix
that problem. And they can't do it manually. 

No static IPs. And I really got the run-around on that one. 5 people
including 2nd level tech support all gave me different answers before I
connected. 

The installer did an excellent job. 

2nd level tech support asked me more questions about the mac than I asked
him about @home. He did effectively help me troubleshoot the problem.
Which was something I over looked, not their problem. BUT still having
problems that are associated with their end. BUT, this tech did act
humble, didn't pretend he was a mac guy, didn't try to cover things up
(even his breath, heavy breathing on the phone :{, scary).

Linux support. They don't, as far as I know. When I signed up they said
they wouldn't touch it (the support). He set it up on the Windows box
(which was only there for them, it's now a Solaris box.) And I took the
settings, as per a suggestion on this list, and set up linux. A few newbie
problems but it came up after I set the IRQ's (put everything into a
faster box to accomidate the baud, and didn't have a dos boot disk to
run the config).

Oh and the no static IP policy. They won't gaurantee or condone it but you
can use the ip continiously, but don't disconnect or you could lose it.
Although I heard, from an employee that you lease the addy weekly. I've
disconnected several times and still have the addy. As a matter of fact
the first thing tech support did was put me on a static and left it that
way (on this end).

I'll quit rambling now. I will be going to DSL, provided my new residence
will allow. But I need the services, I have a couple domains. And I don't
know enough about linux to use a connection that is still in it's infant
stages. I would definately recommend trying it out. Move everything into a
room that doesn't have a cable outlet so atleast if you don't like it
you'll get a free CATV line outta the deal. 

disclaimer: everything here comes from a newbie. These are accurate
representations from my point of view. I think I may know more than what I
think but may be clueless because I still haven't found out what "knowing
everything about linux" is, nor have I found anyone that will claim to be
an expert. But by no means am anything other than a newbie. Please don't
take this info with too many grains of salt, I've heard several people
that are happy with @home.

And sorry about the length of the message. I'm half venting, half asking
if someone else has had the same problems, half trying to provide info and
half asking if someone can explain these problems for me. :}

John



On Tue, 8 Aug 2000, Neal McBurnett wrote:

> Well, I got a flier from AT&T @Home, and had heard from a guy in an
> @Home truck that our neighborhood (40th and Baseline) was wired, so I
> called to sign up.  They're offering free installation, 2 months free
> service, static ip address for free, and $39.95/month after that
> (perhaps assuming you already have cable service).  Extra static ip
> addrs (up to 5) at $4.95/month.  The policy is supposed to say you
> can't run servers, but she said they don't have time to police that at
> least now.  Downlink 1.5 Mb/s uplink 128 kb/s (sigh) 7 email
> addresses, 70 MB free web space.  "we support linux but don't install
> our software on it for you".
> 
> They say they'll be here on Saturday to do the install, providing
> an additional cable jack for free also.
> 
> No choice of ISP now, but in February she said a new law would
> kick in and they would have to allow ISP choice and the prices
> would drop.
> 
> http://www.athome.att.com/home.html
> config: http://home.excite.com
> 888-824-8418
> 
> Sounds good, especially when it is no cost for 2 months, but there
> always seem to be some gotcha's and misunderstandings.  Any local
> experiences?  Things to watch out for?
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Neal McBurnett <neal at bcn.boulder.co.us>  303-538-4852
> Avaya Communication / Internet2 / Bell Labs / Lucent Technologies
> http://bcn.boulder.co.us/~neal/      (with PGP key)
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Web Page:  http://lug.boulder.co.us
> Mailing List: http://lists.lug.boulder.co.us/mailman/listinfo/lug
>