@Home

[Tony Cota]

I am also an @home subscriber through Comcast in Southern California.
Installation for me was a snap. The installers came out, and did a half-ass job
installing the cable from the point of entry to where my computers are (I have
two of them). One of them was running Windows, but I hadn't put the ethernet
card in it yet, and the second one is my Linux box, which had two NICs in it
already. As the installers were about to install the one NIC which comes with
the service, I balked, and asked them if they would allow me to do the hardware
and software installation. My excuse was, that in hardware, I was likely to be
far better at it than they were, and for the OS configuration, that I had
sensitive work-related information on it, and that I could not allow them
access. In neither case did they hesitate at all in allowing me to do what I
wanted.

Both installers were friendly, and the one who wanted to do the hardware/OS
installation was curious as to what I did. When I told him the truth was that I
had used Linux, he informed me that they weren't trained on Linux, and that I
would have to do the work myself. He then expressed curiosity about the OS, and
explained that though they didn't support it, @home shouldn't have a problem
with it. His experience with previous Linux users had taught him that we
uniformly knew more about Windows and PC hardware than most of their tech
support. He also expressed curiosity - I ended up burning Redhat 5.2 for him
and giving him a book to get him going while we waited for the cable guy to
finish running the cable around my apartment.

All in all, the install was a pleasant and quick experience. I was especially
pleased that they let me do what I wanted myself. They just gave me IP
addresses (static) for my machine, and then gave the gateway numbers and DNS
numbers. Everything was on a handy sheet.

The cable service works well. I use sendmail on my machine for my own outgoing
mail, and I use another ISP for POP, which means I don't have to rely on their
mail system at all. I also have two other DNS servers to fall back on, in case
@home's die. Service has been stable except for two minor outages in a year,
and one outage of 4 days due to my cancellation of my cable television (the
idiots just unplugged me at the curb instead of terminating tv service). I
spent 6 hours on the phone, only to get a measley 10 bucks in credit. I was
pissed.

Upstream has been capped to 128k, which means transferring files to someone
else really blows chunks now, but it still beats a modem, and is on par with
DSL of pricing in the area for upstream. Downloads are still wicked fast. I get
something close to 3mbps from fast sites (T3s with no use). Latency for gaming
isn't bad, but good DSL is better. And I say "good" DSL on purpose. Most DSL
providers couldn't find their ass with both hands.

I take the good with the bad. None of the DSL providers in my area are
reputable and affordable. All of the providers that have decent quality of
service charge more than the telco or local resellers do. I also live near a
college, where students typically have no money for dialup, let alone cable or
DSL. It feels like the network segment I'm on has no other customers. I have
never experienced a decrease in bandwidth, beyond what I expect from other
sites.

All in all, it's been worth what I paid for it. However, do read the lease
agreement carefully. It has some terms you may not like. Also, having access to
a law library (I'm a law student), I'm well aware of the local laws governing
the services I've bought. I don't let them push me around, though honestly, it
hasn't been necessary to call and bark.  Your own mileage may vary.

Hope that helps.



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Tony Cota			tcota at pacificrim.net
http://porthos.mybis.com
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