isp's

[Kevin Buettner]

On May 28,  2:28pm, LARRY GUSTAFSON wrote:

> ...  I need to find an internet service provider in the Phoenix
> area.  More specifically the East Gilbert area.  Does anyone know a
> good provider who supports Linux in this area???

Ahh.  A chance for me to vent a bit...

I've been using Primenet (now GlobalCenter) for several years now.  I
connect to them using an ISDN line and, for the most part, their
service has been pretty good.

BUT...  Friday afternoon, I was experiencing severe packet loss.  It
continued through Saturday morning and I had promised that I would
commit some rather massive changes for gdb on Saturday afternoon (5:00
pm our time, or Sunday morning 12:00 GMT).  (See
http://sourceware.cygnus.com/ml/gdb-patches/2000-05/msg00367.html and
http://sourceware.cygnus.com/ml/gdb-patches/2000-05/msg00424.html if
you're interested in the details.)  So, early Saturday morning, I
called up Primenet customer support and got a less than helpful
support person.  I had experienced similar problems with my ISDN
connection in the past and was 90% certain that US West was not at
fault.  My ISDN router was able to connect to primenet without
difficulty and using voice worked great; crisp and clear with no
crackle whatsoever.  But, I was seeing a 30% packet loss between my
router and their equipment, so I can understand why they might think
it was a US West problem.  OTOH, when I had experienced this problem
in the past and called Primenet's support people, they acknowledged
that they were having equipment problems on their end and that they
were being worked on.

I told the Primenet support guy that I thought the problem was on
their end.  He told me that he didn't think so and suggested getting
US West involved.  At one point he asked me to bring up the control
panel (or somesuch, I forget exactly what he asked).  I asked him what
he was talking about and explained that I was using Linux.  He then
attempted to get rid of me by giving me new DNS numbers to use.  I
told him that I appreciated knowing the new nameserver IP addresses,
but informed him that it wouldn't help with my problem since I was
pinging by IP address and DNS doesn't enter into the picture at all. 
(Also, I had the link where the packet loss was occuring isolated.)
Finally, in an attempt to get rid of me, he told me that my operating
system was not supported!  That got me really pissed.  I've been a
Primenet customer for many years and I *do not* call their tech
support people when there are configuration problems on my end.

He finally did get rid of me.  He told me that I needed to get US
West involved before they could do anything.  I got off the phone
and I was pretty steamed.  I did attempt to call US West, but of
course their business hours are from 9:00 to 5:00 Monday through
Friday (or something like that).

I called Primenet back and got a different support person. 
Fortunately for me, this one was friendlier, more helpful, and more
competent.  He was able to verify the packet loss himself instead of
having to go off someplace to let someone else do it and leave me on
hold for ten minutes.  He too wanted me to get US West involved, but
was willing to try to get things moving on their end to help out.  We
finally agreed that if I could connect to their Tucson ISDN number and
ping their equipment on that end, then he would escalate the problem. 
Well, I did, and he did.  By noon, the problems were resolved (though
I still don't know what was done) and I had good internet connectivity
again.

Okay, so there's definitely a mixed message here.  I got one crummy
support person who really, really ought to be fired (IMNSHO).  And
I got a good one who was willing to work with me and was able to
bring a resolution to the problem in a timely manner.

I used to recommend Primenet to people who were looking for an ISP -
and several signed up on the strength of my recommendation.  But that
attempt to get rid of me by telling me "your OS is not supported"
really, really bothers me.  So, for the time being, I will not
recommend Primenet to Linux users.  I will, however, continue to use
Primenet for my ISP.  As I mentioned at the opening of this message, I
have had few problems with them over the years, and I can only hope
that they'll hire more support people like the second guy that I got
instead of the first.  I can only hope that the day will come when I
will be able to recommend them again.

But, I look forward to reading other peoples recommendations (or
lack thereof) just in case...

Kevin