[NTLUG:Discuss] Help! I'm under attack by my ISP!

[Courtney Grimland]

> And if any Comcast users would care to comment on the service, and how they
> deal with it, I'd appreciate it.
> 
> Kyle

I've had my cable internet service for almost 5 years now.  Over the 
years it's changed hands from AT&T at Home to attbi and now Comcast.  I've 
been rnning 3 domains out of my home using dynamic DNS with FTP, HTTP, 
SMTP, and POP services to the outside world and have never had a problem 
with blocked ports or TOS warnings.  Granted, these are small-time 
personal domains with a grand total of 2 email accounts and 2 personal 
web sites between the 3 domains, so the servers are not generating 
enough traffic to cause any concern for anyone.

I've never had a problem with p2p services, either.  I won't mention 
details about how much my roommates and I have downloaded and shared 
over the years on various p2p networks, but it's been a lot.  I wouldn't 
have been shocked if Comcast *had* told me I was affecting other users. 
  I don't do much of that anymore, though.  Maybe the occasional tv show 
that I missed or something.

The quality of Tech support is the only thing that has gone down, 
gradually getting worse with each corporate reincarnation.  Though it's 
still not terribly bad.  I can only think of one time when I absolutely 
couldn't get anywhere with the tech without plugging in a Win box.  I 
think I used my roommate's Win2K laptop.  I've had to have my cable 
modem replaced twice due to power surges and it was always done promptly 
and without hassle.  In fact, it's always been kinda rewarding teaching 
both the phone techs and the field techs what a Linux router/firewall is 
and why I don't buy a cheap Linksys, and what a caching web proxy is 
(Squid) and why I use it and why they probably have one on their network 
too somewhere upstream of me.

Speed, on the other hand, has been great and has only gotten better over 
time.  I don't have any hard numbers to give you right now, but Debian 
net-installs are quick and I can apt-get a 12MB package in about 20 
seconds.

Overall, I really couldn't be much happier with my service.