Hosting

[Steven Majewski]

On 21 Feb 2002, Kevin Dahlhausen wrote:

> That's actually not such a bad idea.  I'm only paying $10/month for
> dialup, and looking to pay about the same for hosting.   Does DSL
> require you to continue phone service once it is installed?  That
> would make up the difference and it would be affordable then.
>
> > With the money you pay to ISP, why don't you get DSL with static IP, and
> > run your own server?

Prices will vary, but where I am you'll pay a LOT more for DSL
service with a static IP than $10/month. However, sometimes you
can get a package plan ( w/ phone service and a bunch of extras:
caller ID, etc. ) so it might make sense -- you'll probably still
pay more but the connection is worth it.

I don't have DSL right now -- I'm too far out of town for it to
reach, so I have ISDN instead. I'll probably get DSL when I move
back into town next year.

I don't know if it's a commentary on the reliability of DSL | ISDN,
but they all though it was strange that I wanted digital service WITHOUT
also an analog phone line. You will experience less uptime for
your phone if you go all digital, but we use cell phones for backup.
( It does feel a bit strange when I have to go home and "reboot"
 my phone system when there's a problem because my wife isn't
 that 'technical' ! )


The other thing is that you still might end up paying an ISP :
 For DSL service, it was a package provided by Sprint (my local
phone Co.) and Earthlink, so you HAD to get an account with
Earthlink. ( Somebody told me that since Sprint doesn't know
what they're doing with DSL, that it's really a marketing arrangement
with Earthlink, who really provide most of the "service" )
With my ISDN, I'm paying Sprint for the ISDN lines and I'm paying
our local ISP (cstone.net) for an ISDN to internet connection on the
other end.

 For small to moderate usage, I think an ISP is always going to
be cheaper than paying for a thick pipe and doing it yourself --
but if you want the thick pipe anyway, then it might be worth
setting up your own server. ( But if you do anything "commercial"
with the server, they won't want to let you use any of the
end-user oriented packages and pricing! )

-- Steve Majewski