[buug] Inexpensive DSL

[Feedlebom]

On Mon, 11 Sep 2000, Zeke Krahlin wrote:

> The Winfire free DSL service just sent me an announcement that they now
> have DSL for my area. They are free w/ad banner plus $199 modem for a
> 144kbps connection.
> 
> But they also offer for $19.95/month plus $99 modem, no banner ads at
> 384kbps connection. I can afford that! Winfire's home page is at:

They also offer full-speed ADSL for around $34.95, which is cheaper than
what's available from PacificBell/SBC and other local (covad) providers.

> Any opinions, pro or con, about this service?

Here's my opinions.

Their AUP is pretty standard, as is their TOS document.  I see no
indications in either that they are data-mining.. in fact, their privacy
document indicates that they collect aggregate information, but not
personally identifiable info (except where required to provide you with
service).

Their Bandwidth-On-Demand service is intriguing.  It might be worth
getting it for that alone.

It would appear that they are providing service through Pacific
Bell/SBC.  By all indications, SBC's DSL service has been acceptable, but
not perfect.  On my circuit, I get about 2-4 hours a month of downtime,
and about 12 hours a month of "funnies" (i.e. routing problems where I
can't exit PB's network certian "directions").  I consider 2-4 hours of
downtime well within the acceptable limits for a DSL circuit.

Let us know what happens.

-Fedl