LinuxSA Mailing list archives

  From: Daryl Pilkington <u3232@home.dialix.com>
  To  : <drwho@firstlinux.net>
  Date: Sat, 24 Feb 2001 14:52:53 +0930

Re: ADSL & Primus

Hi,

Mike O'Connor stayed at my place in Chatswood & Sydney for the
Linux.conf & sadly his comments about iPrimus ADSL are spot-on.

I've gone for their "poverty pack" 256/64 unlimited plan.

iPrimus have changed to v5.0 of their terms & conditions, whereas I
joined when v4.2 was in effect, so I am covered by v4.2.

iPrimus' workflow is useless, they have almost without exception ignored
my emails & telephone support is close to useless if its not a Windows
box.

Trying to get the required network parameters out of them is near
impossible, so if you are prepared to reverse-engineer things you'll
finally work it out.

I eventually got chatting to one of the few ADSL support person who was
(informally) able to tell me quite a bit about the ADSL infrastructure,
like every 24hours everyone gets kicked off the Access Concentrator.

It is pretty close to PPPoE RFC, but some of the parameters they use are
*not* to the RFC spec.

I've got a problem where the link only stays up for about 8hrs before
becoming brain-dead to IP.
A reboot is required to fix this problem.

I'm not sure if this is an IBM stack problem or something with the PPPoE
client I'm using, (its an OS/2 box).
Once I return to Sydney I'll be doing some problem determination to see
where the problem lies.
I might just end-up running a CRON job that reboots the box every
8hrs!!!

Ian McLeod wrote:
> 
> I would certainly like to see configuration demonstrations as well as our legal rights.  I have recently decided against signing up with Primus.
> 
> They want me to sign a 12 month contract for '1.5Mbs' connection with (at this time unconfirmed) $300 yearly renewal fee at $135 / month.  I think a 12 month contract is unreasonable - 3-4 months would be fine.  I also do not own the modem - I rent it for around $300 / year.
> 
> They never got back to me regarding potential price increases over the course of the 12 month contract (considering that I would be required to pay the rest out if I cancel if, say, the connection sucks) or what the yearly renewal fee is.
> 
> I am wondering if ADSL is worth the bother at all considering the technology has been available for a very long time now and is much cheaper in other countries ($30 / month in the USA I heard).
> 
> When I asked about Linux support or the willingness to provide technical informatiion if required (I made it clear time and time again that I am happy to work things out myself if I just have the right techincal informatin) - Primus literally told me to get stuffed - they told me that I am on my own thank you very much.  All I was asking is if Primus uses standard protocols, set up, etc, and if - I would be fine.
> 
> Any thoughts people?
> 
> The were 'reasonable' on one aspect
> 
SNIP
>
-- 
Regards, 

Daryl  Pilkington 

//// The PC Therapist, Business Computing Integration
O<O  AUSTRALIA
\_/
<O>  OS/2 Warp, Redhat Linux, DB2
     IBM Certified Systems Expert

        email: darylp@pc-therapist.com.au
          ICQ: 91914134
          Tel: +61-2-8902-1300
          Mob: +61-425-251-300

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