[kwlug disc.] Rogers ISP - cost competitive?

[Andrew Kohlsmith]

On Thursday 14 June 2007 7:59 pm, Unsolicited wrote:
> - If you, or your provider, has a really big file you can ftp down
> (temporarily) from _their_ server, do so and check the final stats.
> Say +30MB. If you don't get the promised speeds, say, within a few
> hundred Kbps, the problem lies entirely within their network.

In theory, yes.  But it doesn't get around provider apathy.

> - It is exactly these sorts of questions that makes "Cedric's" OpenWRT
> so very attractive. With it you can run (I assume) appropriate tests.
> Particularly during the test above. This then gets the excuse of "it
> must be your equipment in the home" out of the equation.

OpenWRT doesn't verify that your DSL or cable modem's crapped out or otherwise 
not working well.  The only real test you can get done to prove that it's not 
your equipment is to get them to send Bell out to test the line with their 
provisioning equipment (basically a nifty portable DSL modem+computer) in the 
case of DSL, or, in the case of cable... to get them to come out (yeah, 
right!).

Honestly, all consume broadband is "best effort" and honestly, most provders 
don't have much of one.  The best you can hope for is to talk to your 
neighbours and see what kind of speeds they're getting for DSL or cable and 
choose appropriately.

-A.