[wplug] Re: ISP's, was external modem recommendation

[Chester R. Hosey]

On Wed, 2005-06-29 at 20:01 -0400, Michael H. Semcheski wrote:
> On Wednesday 29 June 2005 05:39 pm, Zachary Uram wrote:
> > I have noticed several local and national dialup ISPs that set an
> > automatic disconnect for dialup users which goes into effect after 4
> > hours online. :-(
> 
> Well thats not much of an ISP is it?  
> 
> There is choice to be had if you are willing to look past the big names for 
> ISP's.
> I can't speak about dial-up specifically, but when you're dealing with the 
> Verizon's of the world...

To be fair, at least one local ISP will disable or extend your
connection time limit if you give them a call or email. I doubt Verizon
will do this, but customers of smaller ISPs may have more success.

> My choice is nidhog.com.  Static IP address, SDSL.
> I've used Steelcity Telecom and was pretty satisfied with their service.
> And Speakeasy was good too.
> 
> I just have to laugh when people tell me these horror stories about Verizon 
> customer service.  I would really love to get out from them (for voice) if 
> there were a better choice (if you know of one, I'm listening).  
> 
> Mike

Ha! Nostalgia waits for me in every thread -- for those not in the know,
Nidhog was started by Ed DeHart's son and is hosted at aspStation. I
actually set up the dialup hardware and servers for Nidhog as well as
did on-site installation and testing of many of their initial DSL
customers.

The only "problem" I have with Nidhog is their failure to advertise,
although as I recall we had no trouble keeping the dialup pool at a fair
percentage of capacity. I wish more companies would back off on the
advertising budget, as it seems you can't turn around without someone
trying to push a product. However, I can't say I understand their
refusal to advertise their excellent services, especially when Nauticom
seems to own the sides of half of the PAT buses.

Good guys all around -- they're worth a look for DSL, dialup access,
hosting services, etc.

-- chet