DSL question

[Tullphan]

I'm thinking about switching to DSL from cable to save on some monthly expenses.
I was looking at Verizon's site (only provider available in my area) & it said "DSL is not Macintosh compatible". That got me wondering, since i'm running Linux (Ubuntu...Dapper version) on my dual-boot machine.
Will I have any problems?

 

[Slowlearner]

Check it out with a Live CD (Knoppix/Suse..). There should be no problems whatsoever.

 

[jackschmittusa]

I've run SBC DSL on Fedora before without problems. SBC require's that you use that you use IE for the activation site though (which I hate). I had to call, talk to a supervisor, and get them to do the activation. They even screwed that up. I got internet access, but no email. Their tech support kept trying to blow me off because as soon as I answered that I did not use Outlook as an email client, they didn't want to talk to me anymore. It seemed to take forever to convince them to even look for a problem on their end (turns out their manual activation did not include issuing me an email account). But once they finally did their part, Firefox and Thunderbird worked fine.

 

[Tostada]

SBC/Yahoo has this annoying thing where they don't actually give you a login when you get DSL. They want you to install their software to get your DSL working. Then it'll work just like anything else, though.

Depending on how Verizon works, it may be simpler to just use a Windows machine to get your connection setup, but then it should work fine no matter what your OS after that.

I know with SBC/Yahoo you can get around installing their software by just giving your modem a generic login and manually going to the right website to register/activate, but that'll certainly be different with Verizon.

 

[MercenaryForHire]

Just use your router to handle the PPPoE login.

You do have a router/other layer between your machine and the Internet, right?

- M4H

 

[Tullphan]

Originally posted by: MercenaryForHire
Just use your router to handle the PPPoE login.

You do have a router/other layer between your machine and the Internet, right?

- M4H

Yes. Cat 5 from cable modem to router and from router to my pc. I have another desktop w/a wireless card & a laptop w/a wireless card as well.

Something else I was wondering about was the speeds...Verizon has 2 packages to choose from...one w/a max connection speed of "up to" 768Kbps down & 128Kbps up or one w/a max connections speed of "up to" 3Mbps down & 768Kbps down. Can they actually control the speed like that? (I'm a tightwad, but I like my fast internet! )
If I did decide to go one of these routes over my cable, would I be better off staying w/a standalone DSL modem & my D-Link DI-524 (w/the wireless nic on the other machine) or going with their "combined DSL Modem/Home Networking Wireless Router"?

 

[Tullphan]