[Cialug] Question about going broadband in Des Moines...

[David Champion]

I think we're blessed by having 3 DSL ISP's on this list that are very 
Linux Friendly:

Freese-Notis - they also host the CIALUG server for us
InternetSolver.com - Dave Weis's company, he's also VP of the LUG
Marshallnet.com - Jon Clemons, who's a long-time member of this list

All of these guys run linux servers themselves, and none will "freak 
out" if you're running linux. I'm sure any one of them would be glad to 
have you as a customer.

I've used Qwest.net, Freese-Notis, and now InternetSolver for DSL.

With Qwest, I had to lie and tell them I was running Windows when we 
went thru the setup - he'd tell me "click on your Network Neighborhood 
and go to Properties..." and I'd be typing. He asked my what I was 
typing so much for, I told him I was taking notes... :) That was several 
years ago, so they may have changed their tone since then.

As far as the cable vs. DSL thing goes - it depends on what you want. 
Cable has a better download rate - about twice the fastest DSL speed. 
But upload speed is capped at 256k. I have 1.5m down and 1.0 up on my 
DSL, which is nice if you want to do hosting, or you frequently copy 
data back & forth. And technically, it's against your TOS to host web 
sites, ftp or email servers on your Mediacom cable service, even though 
some people do.

-dc