[COLUG] Dry Loop DSL

[Robert Grimm]

This is related to the recent AT&T discussion, but I want to focus on  
DSL. I have no interest in TV. I plan on getting a cell phone through  
them when my Sprint contract expires in December, but for now, I'm  
only interested in dry loop DSL. That means DSL with no active voice  
line.

I have Road Runner through Insight. I'm the last house on the node. In  
the six months I've had it, I've had to have technicians come out 4  
times. Today, it is going in and out of periods of being nearly  
unusably slow. I'm ready to drop the service as soon as I find a  
reasonable replacement. I've been considering switching to AT&T DSL  
for a while now. The problem with that is I don't have a phone line.  
They offer dry loop DSL now, so I should be able to get service. Does  
anyone have any experience with AT&T dry loop? Could I expect to be  
considered a Untouchable in the AT&T caste support system? They claim  
6Mb downstream. Is that reasonable to expect?

One problem I have had with AT&T is the SMTP blocking. I understand  
that you can request they unblock it. Does anyone here have SMTP  
blocking turned off with dry loop, or is that a service for their  
mainstream customers? I have a shell script that tunnels SMTP over SSH  
to a machine in a data center, but I don't want to have to do that. It  
is convenient for sending mail from a coffee shop, but it would be  
annoying it I had to use it for all mail from home.

I've also looked into Wide Open West. They want $12 more per month for  
service similar to what I am supposed to have with Insight, so that is  
out. AT&T wants $40 per month for 6Mb down/768Kb up. That is faster up  
than the $58 service from WOW, but slower up that their $64 service.  
Download is the same for both.

--
Robert Grimm
(614) 212-4625
http://www.datablitz.net