Good residential DSL providers?

[Matt Galster]

On 12/28/06, Scott R Ehrlich <scott at mit.edu> wrote:
> For the Metro Boston (Arlington, Burlington, etc) area:
>
> I've read some reviews on dslreports saying Speakeasy *appears* to be doing a
> bad job as of late.   Again, these could be isolated events and they may be
> doing an outstanding job.
>
> Galaxy Internet Services in Newton also is a possible player, and dsl reports
> claims better performance.
>
> What recent experiences/reports do people have of these players, and any others?
>
> I am looking to at least have a provider that permits servers, and likely
> transfer my domain name from my present provider to the DSL player of choice,
> with the provider hosting my mail.  I would then plan to use Thunderbird at
> home and the provider's web GUI or ssh command shell for remote access.
>
> I'm not looking for ultra high speed - 768/384 adsl works fine for me.
>
> Thanks for any insight/feedback.
>
> Scott
>

I dropped Comcurst this fall and went to Speakeasy, using a (new!) dry
line and migrating my landline to their VOIP service.  Besides the
installation, my only complaint has been that they denied my rebate
application.  They promised a "Complete, professional, in-premises
installation" to the room I want to use.  The guy who came to do the
install wouldn't install to the second floor, and would only have
installed about 15 ft of wire.  I had to do it myself.  They charged
me form the day that DSL was detectable at the demarc, even though
they didn't really do an install and I couldn't use it until I ran the
line myself.  Be prepared to pay an electrician if your demarc isn't
inches from where you want the modem installed, and you aren't up to
doing it yourself.

Subjectively it is as fast or faster than comcurst except when
downloading a large file from a fast service (like a MS service pack)
since most services can't provide files that fast anyway.  Mail has
been pretty solid.  Their spam blocker is spam-assassin based, but
doesn't provide a way to help it learn.  Kinda spotty.

Overall, I'd do it again, except I'd try to bargain for a rebate
equivalent up front.  Their reason for denial was that I "sent the
wrong form."  It is exactly what I printed from their website.

MEG

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