[SATLUG] need suggestions/alternatives on fast connection

[Donguitar]

We've given our friend Pam, who spends most of her time in SA but has a
place here in Buchanan Lake Village where she spends a few days a week, a
600 MHz P3 with Debian Etch on it.  We've been teaching her to use it for
the last few weekends and she's taken to it very nicely.  In SA her place is
near the intersection of 151 & 410 (also near Sea World she says) and her
telephone service is with AT&T.  She called them to ask about DSL and of
course they insisted that she must have Windows.  When she told them she'd
be using Debian Etch they told her they'd have to send a technician and
she'd have to pay a $200 installation charge.  Pam is originally from
England, very soft spoken, has a gentle nature and is utterly unable to cope
with AT&T but she's not about to pay them a $200 installation charge..

I'm thinking it would be good to sign her up online (while she's here next
weekend), get the $10 a month deal, then, if one of you lives in her
neighborhood and is willing to confront AT&T and assist her in getting the
connection up and running it may be possible to circumvent the $200 fee.  It
might also be fun to report them to the Texas Public Utilities Commission
for deliberately making it difficult for Linux users to get service.  That
smacks of under-the-table nefarious deals with "Big Brother" after all, does
it not?

Anyway,

1.  Can I get a volunteer?

2.   Should we just lie and tell them she has Windows XP to get the service
initiated and the hardware (DSL modem) sent to her?

Suggestions, ideas?

Thanks

Don Crowder
http://www.don-guitar.com
http://www.lockergnome.com/nexus/eldergeek/