[NTLUG:Discuss] OT: Wireless and weak signaly

[Carl Haddick]

On Mon, Jul 30, 2007 at 02:41:50PM -0500, Fred James wrote:
> Tom Owens wrote:
> 
> >On Monday 30 July 2007 10:59:11 am Carl Haddick wrote:
> >  
> >
> >>If the ISP's service is not worth paying for, why is it worth stealing?
> >>
> >>Flame me if you must, this just strikes me wrong.
> >>
> >>Carl
> >>    
> >>
> >
> >A man with INTEGRITY -- woefully seldom seen.
> >
> >I applaud you!
> >
> >Tom
> >  
> >
> Tom and Carl
> Good question.  What is being sold?  A connection with a set rate of 
> transfer, or a connection regardless of rate?  Wireless connectivity 
> does add another dimension to the mess, as in the number of unprotected 
> points of entry (wide open wireless routers) in operation.  But that 
> doesn't change the question.
> 
> My contract with my ISP (and of course, they wrote it, not me), says 
> that I am paying for a set level of service, and that I may share that 
> service with as many computers as I may care to, behind the router 
> (i.e., on my LAN).  I don't use wireless, but if I did that would open 
> up my LAN to a wider potential area of operation, with the possibility 
> of other folks hopping on my connection with or without my permission.
> 
> Perhaps we can agree that those people without my permission would be 
> "stealing", but would those who had my permission also be stealing?  And 
> in either case, who might they be stealing from, me or the ISP?
> 
> I don't profess to know the answer to how that might come down in a 
> court of law - I suppose actually in favor of the most expensive law 
> team - but that may actually be irrelevant to the discussion.  If you 
> think of it as theft, then at least for you it is theft - end of discussion.
> Regards
> Fred James
> 
> _______________________________________________
> http://www.ntlug.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss

Fred, my tone was a little abrupt, and based on no information beyond
your post.

Looking over what I wrote I'm surprised at myself for reading a larger
scenario between the lines.  Surely sharing a connection could be bad,
but on the other hand that's what the wireless router does to the den,
too.  It just all depends on what's being done, and if you are in
acceptible bounds.

I read a post with a technical question and responded with a flame about
contracts.  Mea culpa, and please excuse me.  Perhaps a little of my
history could help explain.  Bored by now?  Your email client's delete
function is your friend! :-)

Personally, I carry some scars with regard to AUP's and contracts.  It
seemed in my former role as an ISP I was cussed when the AUP got in a
customer's way, and reviled when it didn't keep a kid from getting into
inappropriate sites.

When I wanted to start my Internet shop, the first bid I got for
connectivity was from UUNet, back in about 1992, and was something like
$2500 a month for 56K dedicated leased-line service.  That was with full
rights to resell it however I wanted.

The same service for my own internal use was about $800 a month - but
with a contract limitation I could not host outside customers on the
service.

When I asked the rep how any ISP could afford $2500 for 56K service, she
told me the ISPs she dealt with got the 'internal use only' contract and
just went ahead and resold it.  I wouldn't do that, and that put a cap
on what I could offer to prospective customers.  Silly me, I guess, but
I never cheated a vendor.

Instead, for about $700 a month I got 56K frame relay service from a
lower-tier provider with rights to resell.  Ping times would have been
better on UUNet's point to point service, and fortunately by the time I
grew enough to afford T-1 circuits the silly resale limitations were
gone.  Bear in mind that I was small, and in those days many of my
customers still had 2400 baud modems.  The National Science Foundation
still had 56K links in their network, so 56K for a small ISP wasn't
unusual.  I started with six incoming lines - and about three
prospective tire-kicking customers.

As I grew, I finally got the T-1s of my dreams from UUNet. Still the
highest priced bandwidth, but very well managed connectivity.

Of course, always the born loser, not long after I signed with UUNet
they were consumed by Worldcomm.  First, I nobly declined to spoof
UUNet's contract limitations.  Then, when I finally outgrew my high
chair and bellied up to the bandwidth bar, they turned into Worldcomm on
me, and there are more stories there.

They overbilled me, every month.  Every month I paid the overcharges,
protesting and asking they honor the prices they contracted.  For a
while, about six months, I got no invoices at all, but I faithfully sent
accurate payments on time each month, anyway.

Finally, in the last year of my three year contract, they threw me to
their collection department wolves, even though I had never been a day
late on an invoice, and had in fact paid reliably in absense of
invoices.

A full accounting showed I had at that point overpaid by $30,000,
documented by cancelled checks.  I couldn't afford tires for my car, but
I had overpaid those folks by thirty grand - and still ended up in their
collections department.

A vice president, a nice guy held over from the better UUNet days,
credited my account with the overbilled amount, and I didn't have to pay
anything for the last two or three months of my contract.

Then the dunning letters started.  It took another full year to get a
statement from Worldcomm showing I had paid in full.

Four years into a three year contract to get the first correct invoice.

Was it foolish to pay an overcharge under protest?  Probably, but I did
so as insurance my circuits wouldn't be shut off.  That never happend,
but I believe Worldcomm was pretty close to pulling the plug on us a few
times.  I guess I got touchy about communications contracts from the
experience.

Anyway, I can rattle on for hours about life as an ISP.  Most of it was
good times, participating in the community, and working to make things
better.  It was a heck of an adventure.  I wish I could do it all over
again.  I'd almost do it, too, given the chance, but I have a sailboat
now.  Not a big one, and not a fast vessel, but enough for me to spend
the occasional night on the lake at anchor, cramped in a tiny berth, but
at peace.

I flame less when I'm parked in a quiet cove, enjoying simple food and
the 40s channel on XM.  Maybe next weekend, or the next, and I'll be
able to stand myself better after a little lake therapy.

Good luck with your wireless troubleshooting, Fred.  Hope to meet you
someday.

Fair winds,

Carl