Re: [Sheflug] Cable internet access: BlueYonder

["Perry Ismangil" <nospam [at] acm.org>]

> Has anyone recent experience with this company?  Any guesses as to

Since my initial contact 14 Dec 2000 until present I've received 
excellent service. It was installed on schedule on 5 Jan 2001, with 
pre-installation done on 4 Jan 2001.

> whether I will be able to use their service using standard tools like
> the Gnome dialup configuration tool or will it require real expertise?

The service uses ethernet so no traditional telephone modem is 
needed at all therefore no dialup configuration needed. The most 
difficult part would be to install a network  card on your PC if it 
doesn't have one already. If you already have one, then all you 
needed to do after it's plugged in to the cable modem via the 
supplied ethernet cable is to configure the network card as DHCP 
(easily done via Linuxconf, for example), and presto you're 
connected. 

> It does seem that they offer a reasonable service for £33pcm for
> unlimited 512KB/sec downloads/ 128KB/sec uploads --- if those figures
> can be trusted.  I was a bit suspicious when they said there would be no
> or only insignificant contention; that sounds too good to be true.  Any

Well, the real throughput as reported by various downloader 
(Netscape, Gozilla, IE, etc) is around 15-20 kilobytes (not bits) per 
second.

What they suffer from occasionally is not throughput problems but 
routing problems as sometimes routes to .com, for example, would 
disappear. So it's actually an ISP problem rather than access 
problem. However since you can't change ISP that's no comfort!

Other caveats:

To get the install done you have to 'lie' a little and be good Bill 
Gates' boy by saying yes to all 'Do you have Windows installed' 
questions, and when the installer came to show the Windows 
personality of your dual-boot PC!

Further notes:
Since the install, I've decided I am uneasy by the fact my main 
Linux box is connected directly to Internet, so I've since 
commissioned a floppy-only PC to run Freesco 
(http://www.freesco.org). Highly recommended.

In summary: Although I'm sure Blue Yonder is not perfect, I 
certainly think I'm getting good value for money for £33pm. Rumors 
has it they're going to match ntl's £20!


Regards,

--
Perry Ismangil
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