[svlug] Pac Bell DSL and PPPoE

[dfox@belvdere.vip.best.com]

> 1.  IPs are dynamically allocated (no more having to
> manage static IPs).

That's a copout for ISPs.

> 3.  Dynamic IPs and automatic disconnects mean fewer
> folks running servers.

What should they expect with a DSL customer? DSL is there
to provide 24/7 connectivity, and gosh darn it, I'm going to
do at least some serving if I'm going to have DSL. 

> 4.  If done correctly, you should be able to reduce
> the number of things you need to configure.  PPP

I can do that as well with ifconfig. How often are things
like IP (static, that is), gateway, etc., going to change? I've
had the same static IP for over five years. If best.com were
doing good service, long-term customers would still stay with
their same IP whilst new customers would go for dynamic IP if
they didn't need static IP.

> 1.  Because your connection is on-demand and dynamic,
> your system should be somewhat more secure (i.e.

I suppose so - a static IP means that everyone will soon
know that xx.xx.xx.xx is a good site to hack. But this is
not foolproof.

> client setting management, but the downsides are
> pretty extreme if you're anything but a casual user. 

Right. If I were a casual user, dialup would be fine. It's
increasingly becoming not good enough for what I want to do.
With a dedicated DSL connection I can do things that are
unpractical over dialups (I used to shovel a bit of news over
UUCP, but usenet is *so* much bigger than it used to be, even
for a small number of groups), smtp mail, where I can *myself*
edit my own /etc/mail.deny etc., files, and keep the spammers
out, without having to necessarily rely on my mail being some
other place, and filtering it down POP3. 

> for PacBell, one for the VPN, and another for the app
> (Citrix ICA, e.g.).  With idle timeouts, that means

Hey I've just started a new temp job that uses openuptime
(Entex, San Jose). :)