Beck38
07-16-2010, 03:18 AM
Recently, I had to change from (what was for me) super-stable, reliable, and inexpensive (read: CHEAP!) DSL line. To be sure, the speed wasn't anything to really write home about, but as I ran it full-bore 24/7 with ZERO problems for at least the last 5+ years, I wasn't complaining!
But, things change, and my carrier (big red, Verizon) took a hike on my entire state, and that got me to thinking just how well the new operator (Frontier Telecom, that 'invented' 5GB DSL 'caps') would run things. Or not.
FIOS? 2-3 miles in every direction, no further expansion, so unless I sold my home (!?) forget it. Clearwire? Tower is about 1000ft from me, but slow speeds plus eventual caps. Comcast?
That's the only real alternative. But consumer accounts have 250GB/month caps, along with anti-newsgroup and anti-P2P AUP's (acceptable use policies) clearly spelled out.
But, although those policies are also in their 'commercial' accounts, there are no spelled out usage caps (although there is vague language, and their adverts are clear that the service is usable for '8 or more employees'). Yes, more expensive; but less than the price I paid for DSL 'before' Verizon (read: Covad, ~$130/month for 4x1Mb/s)
So, off to commercial Comcast (upgraded last year to Docsis 3.0) I go. But to keep my traffic out of their 'Deep Packet Inspection' snooping, I hunted around first for a good VPN that would have no problem with high-speed transfers and such.
First stop: http://myvpnreviews.com/
Quickly came to the conclusion that StrongVPN was the only company that specifically was set up for high-speed VPN transfers, so got a PPTP account and tried it out.
Second stop: http://www.strongvpn.com/
Now, my 'new' commercial link runs at 22x5Mb/s, and I have no problem 'swamping' either the up or downlink, under PPTP.
Strong also supports the OPENvpn standard, and their are several ways to implement that, including the dd-wrt s/w for routers (which also does PPTP). A company called Sabai Technologies modifies a host of routers for StrongVPN use:
Third stop: http://www.sabaitechnology.com/
The fastest routers (right now the Asus RT-N16) tops out at around 8Mb/s, which is fine if your base ISP connection is less than that. Of course, it handles multiple machines, which is nice.
What I've ended up with is a dual account, PPTP for my main d/l machine, and the Asus router for all the other PC's and such.
So, as far as my ISP is concerned, all my traffic goes through 'reliablehosting.com' in S.F., and that's it. That includes my 'main' machine on the PPTP, with all the others (including things such as Shoutcast internet radio and video-on-demand from other vendors, i.e., non-Comcast) through the OPENvpn (Asus) router.
It all works like a champ.
Price? ~$15/month for both circuits. One could, with a smaller setup, just get a PPTP account for $7/month.
But, things change, and my carrier (big red, Verizon) took a hike on my entire state, and that got me to thinking just how well the new operator (Frontier Telecom, that 'invented' 5GB DSL 'caps') would run things. Or not.
FIOS? 2-3 miles in every direction, no further expansion, so unless I sold my home (!?) forget it. Clearwire? Tower is about 1000ft from me, but slow speeds plus eventual caps. Comcast?
That's the only real alternative. But consumer accounts have 250GB/month caps, along with anti-newsgroup and anti-P2P AUP's (acceptable use policies) clearly spelled out.
But, although those policies are also in their 'commercial' accounts, there are no spelled out usage caps (although there is vague language, and their adverts are clear that the service is usable for '8 or more employees'). Yes, more expensive; but less than the price I paid for DSL 'before' Verizon (read: Covad, ~$130/month for 4x1Mb/s)
So, off to commercial Comcast (upgraded last year to Docsis 3.0) I go. But to keep my traffic out of their 'Deep Packet Inspection' snooping, I hunted around first for a good VPN that would have no problem with high-speed transfers and such.
First stop: http://myvpnreviews.com/
Quickly came to the conclusion that StrongVPN was the only company that specifically was set up for high-speed VPN transfers, so got a PPTP account and tried it out.
Second stop: http://www.strongvpn.com/
Now, my 'new' commercial link runs at 22x5Mb/s, and I have no problem 'swamping' either the up or downlink, under PPTP.
Strong also supports the OPENvpn standard, and their are several ways to implement that, including the dd-wrt s/w for routers (which also does PPTP). A company called Sabai Technologies modifies a host of routers for StrongVPN use:
Third stop: http://www.sabaitechnology.com/
The fastest routers (right now the Asus RT-N16) tops out at around 8Mb/s, which is fine if your base ISP connection is less than that. Of course, it handles multiple machines, which is nice.
What I've ended up with is a dual account, PPTP for my main d/l machine, and the Asus router for all the other PC's and such.
So, as far as my ISP is concerned, all my traffic goes through 'reliablehosting.com' in S.F., and that's it. That includes my 'main' machine on the PPTP, with all the others (including things such as Shoutcast internet radio and video-on-demand from other vendors, i.e., non-Comcast) through the OPENvpn (Asus) router.
It all works like a champ.
Price? ~$15/month for both circuits. One could, with a smaller setup, just get a PPTP account for $7/month.