[SATLUG] need suggestions/alternatives on fast connection

[Chris Ribble]

While I live too far out (and am too busy) to help Pam directly, I can 
tell you what I would do in this case.

1.) Lie to ATT and tell them you have Windows XP. Let them send out the 
self-install kit.

2.) If you're not good at configuring iptables and a PPPoE connection on 
Debian, get a cheapo Linksys router for like $20. PPPoE is very easy to 
set up on those units. ATT will give you the required information. This 
will be a far more supportable configuration than just about anything else.

3.) Profit

Donguitar wrote:
> 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/
>
>