Speakeasy hosed?

They're back up now. Seems a switch went down and took with it access to DNS, web hosting, shell access, AND took out Speakeasy's phone system too!

Bear in mind how aggressively Speakeasy is trying to sell VOIP right now: The good news is, they use what they sell. The bad news is, they use what they sell!

Oh, the pain of being on the bleeding edge.

-B

What DO you mean?? After all, just because they let a single switch knock out web services for an entire region and bring down their entire phone system, just because they designed a backup MX architecture that looped hopelessly and had to completely redesign it (after spending weeks denying anything could be wrong), just because they had to re-engineer it again because their first attempt just dumped it on an already overloaded box, just because they backpedalled on their Usenet news server service when they found out the true costs of providing it, just because a database transfer to a new DNS tool screwed up people's email, just because some customer database "maintenance" screwed up people's dial-up account access, is no reason to go calling them clueless bozos... ;-)

Then again, what's the best alternative for affordable biz-class SDSL in NYC? Or even a good ADSL that allows servers, multiple static IPs, etc.?

-B

Being on the edge of anything has nothing to do with this.

Being a bunch of clueless bozos who among other things don't know what a single point of failure can do has everything to do with this.

Billy Y.. An EX-speakeasy customer

I'm in Raleigh, NC. Here there are multiple small local ISPs who offer services. I have several accounts with a block of 16 static IPs, 3/384 for $120 per month. Which is what Bellsouth wants for the same thing but with phone support on the other side of the planet. Plus I can get a T1 for $600 a month.

Just how much do 3rd parties charge for such things in NYC?

Argh, a question answered by a question!

There are some small outfits reselling COVAD ADSL connections here but not offering much in the way of static IP provisioning. And competition at the biz-grade level is horrible with outfits like XO charging an arm and a leg for shit. Speakeasy, all their follies aside, really does seem to offer a competitive deal in this area.

Seriously, to lay this out explicitly so there's no misconception...

I'm spending $169/month + taxes for routed 384K SDSL with a biz-grade SLA, 16 IPs (could've had 32 but no reason to be greedy), DNS and MX2 hosting for five domains, Usenet (pathetically capped at 1GB/month however), nationwide dial-up access up to 150 hours per month, plus a hundred email accounts and a shell account and webmail and whatever that I don't really use because I'm hosting all my own stuff.

The experience hasn't been all bad, and the bad hasn't been all Speakeasy either. For example, Speakeasy stayed up through nearly the entire 9/11 episode even though their NYC POP (Telehouse) was literally next door to the disaster. And I had occasional bandwidth issues for several months because that's how long it took friggin' COVAD to replace a flaky card in their DSLAM.

But now for the reality checks:

When I first signed up for DSL, ADSL was only 128K upstream so it wasn't an option in any way shape or form. Now I can get ADSL with

384K or even 768K upstream. When I first signed up, the FCC hadn't yet figured out how to outright steal from me another $20/month in taxes that don't affect ADSL at all. Sheesh, you'd think with all the money those greedy f****ng outlaws stole from Howard Stern they wouldn't have to rape us folks that couldn't afford a T1. Really, the taxes I'm paying are now as much as other people's monthly DSL connection fees in TOTAL. Time for another tea party...

All I'm getting for this money is an SLA that's been of only marginal use, a larger tax deduction and the warm fuzzy that comes from having a routed connection. Time to get ADSL, use my own router and save around $1500/year!

I can do without the MX2, which seems to be more trouble than it's worth, and I can (and do) get Usenet access through usenetserver.com which for $15/month allows me to bloody near run my own full time feed. And with ADSL I'll probably have to run my own DNS and/or farm it out. Which doesn't bother me much but if I run my own DNS and the connection goes t*ts-up, incoming email could bounce and I would like to avoid that.

The dial-up is handy for travel and also comes in handy by programming the router to use it is a backup in case COVAD fucks up.

So I'm looking for at least a 1.5/384 ADSL in NYC that supplies decent support, a server -friendly (by ISP policy and no port filtering) /28 address space (13 usable static IP addresses), nationwide dial-up and perhaps DNS services.

The only thing that really scares me is that if/when I move to ADSL, my actual connection will most likely be in the hands of Verizon rather than COVAD. There is no service in the world worse than Verizon's. I have one client and one friend both having grief with Verizon DSL at this very moment, and that grief has been ongoing for over two months in both cases.

-B

In that case, you may want to look into the 6.0/768 'onelink' service supplied by Speakeasy (Covad).

True, you have to have a VZ line on which to overlay it, but the 6.0/768 is a value sweet spot.

Agreed on Speakeasy's resilience, especially during the 9/11 period with Telehouse co-located at Ground Zero.

On balance, I've been impressed by Speakeasy's service since 1998, after suffering through RCN, and being spoiled by Interport. Sure, a few hiccups, but who hasn't had them? And not only Speakeasy does learn from experience -- whereas not all do -- but they make it more than right in the aftermath.

Maybe you should look at multiple suppliers. I (and my clients) use Earthlink for dial up. At $22 a month it's a reasonable cost if they really want modem access. And if an "owner" wants home broad band I usually set it up with Earthlink over TWC cable so the dial up is basically free.

As to DNS, for businesses we bite the bullet and pay a local small firm who does their own DNS $30 a month to do it for us. I know them personally and can do things like call them up and ask them to set the TTLs to an hour a few days before we reconfigure our servers and it just happens. And I get to talk to the guy doing the zone files or even look at them over his shoulder when needed. He also gives us backup MX when we want and simple web and ftp space bundled in.

For my home server DNS I use EasyDNS.

So I guess my totals for a business are $120 + $30 + maybe $22. But it all works and I get to talk to real people. The local ISP, gets to deal with Bellsouth, not me, and they have access about 3 or 4 folks deeper than I get if I signed up with Bellsouth directly.

Just asking but aren't there any Manhattan only ISPs? Or is the business climate such that someone just can't make a go of that.

Thanks for the suggestions and all the numbers.

Actually I'm in Queens, not Manhattan. And the DSL landscape in Manhattan is actually kind of interesting. For example not long ago I tried to get a client of mine around west 27th to set up with Speakeasy and found out we couldn't because DSL.net had a lock on that central office.

On a slightly different note, there are buildings where outfits like Eureka have a lock on clusters of buildings with T1, fractionals and DSL setups.

Anyway, I did put in a message to Bway.net to see what they could offer me.

-B

Well, there's Alternet running on the former Rhythms facilities. I know that works well because I used it for some years. You'll have to phone mci (current owner of Alternet) to check availability...

Billy Y..

Hmmm... I didn't think there was any more loathsome prospect than having to do business with Verizon... until you mentioned MCI. But that's because of positively horrifying past experience with their customer "support" for voice service.

A check of their web site reveals little interest in doing DSL business, judging by the lack of details and absence of prices, and "learn more" links that send you in circles.

-B