[RTC List] Unstable Sudden link service?

[William Van Hefner]

Guy,

I don't know that a publicly available DNS server for Humboldt County
(specifically) would really do much good, as every ISP in this area
routes their connections differently. The one thing that they do have
in common is the fact that you have to reach a router somewhere South
of Santa Rosa before you can connect ANYWHERE, including a DNS server
that may only be across the street (phyically). Ironically, you would
get a much faster connection to a DNS server in San Francisco than you
would to one that is in Humboldt County.

There is a solution to this problem. Peering between local ISPs would
keep a lot of traffic that is within Humboldt from ever leaving the
area. Meaning that a website or mail server that is hosted locally could
still be available, even if Humboldt is cut off from the rest of the
world. Even though this would speed-up local Internet connectivity
between ISPs and hosting providers substantially (not to mention let us
communicate within the County the next time there is a fiber cut) this
will most likely never happen, simply because there is no financial
incentive for AT&T to cooperate in peering.

Peering between large ISPs like AOL and Earthlink for example is
common, since both parties benefit from faster and more reliable
connections between each other. In our case, every single Internet
customer in Humboldt County (unless you use satellite or the one
commercial wireless carrier I read about here a few weeks ago) is
getting their service through either AT&T or an ISP/carrier that is
using AT&T's fiber connection to the outside world. That gives them a
near 100% wholesale and/or retail monopoly on all commercial and
residential Internet service, which our state PUC has decided to almost
completely deregulate. Thus, AT&T has no financial or regulatory
incentive whatsoever to improve service or do any type of peering. They
are truly in a "take it or leave it" marketing position, and nothing in
this area will improve until we choose to address that central issue.




-- 

William Van Hefner
President

Vantek Communications, Inc.
555 H Street, Suite C
Eureka, CA 95501
707.476.0833 ph
800.331.4638 fx
email: editor at thedigest.com

On Mon, 16 Apr 2007 13:17:59 -0700
"G.M.Sturgis" <treypc at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi All
> 
> Although I have ATT's Elite DSL and not Suddenlink, I have been using
> publicly accessible DNS servers from GTE in San Jose for some time
> now.  They have proved to be more reliable in speed and consistency
> than those offered by default from ATT.
> 
> 4.2.2.2
> 4.2.2.6
> 
> The two listed here have proved to be the best and are the fastest
> (15-16ms) that I have found so far.  Roughly 20% faster at the moment
> than the OpenDNS mentioned earlier.
> 
> This begs the question....
> 
> Does anyone know of a DNS server in Humboldt county that is publicly
> accessible?  Sounds like a great project!
> 
> Guy Sturgis
> TreyPC
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> -------- Original Message --------
> Subject: Re: [RTC List] Unstable Sudden link service?
> Date: Mon, 16 Apr 2007 09:57:44 -0700
> From: Scott Joachim <scott.joachim at gmail.com>
> Reply-To: scott.joachim at gmail.com
> Organization: Scott Joachim
> To: 'Winter Faulk' <nox.freak at gmail.com>, 'RTC' <list at redwoodtech.org>
> References:
> <d6ddf6e20704150932s1dcedf1dobda0ba851b8a42b3 at mail.gmail.com>
> <014101c77fa5$b8c8b080$0402a8c0 at Brian>
> <4622a8d3.7f5f6e2a.02b9.4bab at mx.google.com>
> <4d4bb81d0704160823k667ba418i75fb29c6622fabde at mail.gmail.com>
> 
> 
> 
> Great suggestions by Winter and Brian for alternative DNS hosts.
> Thank you!
> 
> -Scott
> 
> I agree.  SL service in Humboldt is significantly better and
> continues to improve.  Hopefully, the West Texas call center will
> follow suit.
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: list-bounces at redwoodtech.org
> [mailto:list-bounces at redwoodtech.org] On Behalf Of Winter Faulk
> Sent: Monday, April 16, 2007 8:23 AM
> To: RTC
> Subject: Re: [RTC List] Unstable Sudden link service?
> 
> Use OpenDNS. I have suddenlink but I only use the OpenDNS servers.
> 
> 208.67.222.222
> 208.67.220.220
> 
> -Winter
> 
> P.S. Everyone talks about suddenlink problems sens the switch from COX
> as being worse as for my self it has gotten a hole lot better. I live
> in Manila and the service was bad when it was under COX control. Sens
> suddenlink took over I had one outage and that was do to a storm that
> pulled the cable down.
> 
> On 4/15/07, Scott Joachim <scott.joachim at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > When talking to  SL customer service, they could not provide even a
> > single DNS host address when requested.  I talked to a customer
> > support representative and supervisor this morning about 0930 and
> > they told me
> they
> > didn't know the DNS hosts for the Eureka segment(or any segment for
> > that matter).  When pressed for any DNS host, SL customer support
> > supervisor (Aaron) told me that they did not have any records nor
> > could provide DNS host information and did not plan to record them.
> >
> >
> >
> > Why keep records of your DNS Servers network?  After all, DHCP
> > makes it automatic ;-)
> >
> >
> >
> > Absolutely, pitiful.
> >
> >
> >
> > Best regards,
> >
> >
> >
> > Scott Joachim
> >
> > C4i Security LLC
> >
> > o. 707.441.0600
> >
> > f.  707.441.0800
> >
> > c.  707.845.5888
> >
> > scott at c4isecurity.com
> >
> > www.c4isecurity.com
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > From: list-bounces at redwoodtech.org
> > [mailto:list-bounces at redwoodtech.org]
> On
> > Behalf Of Brian
> >  Sent: Sunday, April 15, 2007 2:34 PM
> >  To: RTC
> >
> >  Subject: Re: [RTC List] Unstable Sudden link service?
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > I've had problems with Sudden link as well.  I've noticed that the
> > problem usually lies in the DNS Servers.  I've added extra address
> > to my home
> router
> > 208.180.42.68 is Sudden link 206.13.28.12 is sbc and 66.133.189.215
> > which
> is
> > frontier.  Since I've done that, I've not had my light blinking on
> > my voip phone telling me it can't register.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Brian Miller
> >
> > Technical Coordinator
> >
> > Mattole Unified School District
> >
> > (707) 445-2660 ex. 11
> >
> >
> >
> >  ________________________________
> >
> >
> > From: list-bounces at redwoodtech.org
> > [mailto:list-bounces at redwoodtech.org]
> On
> > Behalf Of Matt Koglin
> >  Sent: Sunday, April 15, 2007 9:32 AM
> >  To: list at redwoodtech.org
> >  Subject: Re: [RTC List] Unstable Suddenlink service?
> >
> >
> >
> > Might as well report this too...
> >
> >  My Suddenlink HSI was out this morning when I woke up, the
> > 'online' light on the modem flashing. I power-cycled the modem and
> > computer with no results.
> >
> >  1) I tried to call the toll free number Suddenlink provides for
> > dealing with this. I've called this number before, only to be
> > placed on hold for
> 30
> > minutes. This morning, however, all I've been able to receive is a
> > busy signal for the past 30 minutes.
> >
> >  2) I tried calling the local office. It's Sunday, so I didn't
> > expect anybody to be there. But, I pressed '0' and waited. No
> > answer, no
> voicemail,
> > no way for me to leave a message indicating that my service is not
> working.
> >
> >  3) Finally (hijacking, appropriately, my neighbor's WiFi signal),
> > I went
> to
> > the Suddenlink web site to send them an email. Of course, they
> > don't just provide an email, they force you to input a bunch of
> > nonsense before you
> can
> > submit the form. Then, after writing a short and detailed message
> describing
> > the issue I'm having, I click the submit button and get this error
> message:
> > We are unable to find any match for the zip code you entered.
> > Please try
> the
> > following site for more information: This Is Cable
> >
> >  Suddenlink, if you're listening, PLEASE HELP! I'm unable to
> > contact you regarding my service troubles using any of the lines of
> > communication you provide. What then am I supposed to do? Is there
> > anybody from Suddenlink
> ON
> > this list? Can you respond to this thread please?
> >
> >  -Matt
> >
> >
> > On 4/12/07, Susan B <artglass at blochstudio.com> wrote:
> >
> >
> >
> > My cable modem service cuts out frequently. I thought it was my
> > computer until I saw all the e-mails on this topic.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > I was curious if anyone uses any VOIP companies for phone service. I
> suppose
> > it's a problem if cable service cuts out frequently.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Susan Bloch
> >
> >
> > Bloch Studio
> >
> >
> > custom glass etching, glass sculpture, glass flowers
> >
> >
> > http://www.blochstudio.com
> >
> >
> > 707-442-2280
> >
> >
> > cell:707-496-5048
> >
> >
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> >
> >
> > From: Jill Nichols
> >
> >
> > To: Pat Bitton ; list at redwoodtech.org
> >
> >
> > Sent: Thursday, April 12, 2007 9:27 AM
> >
> >
> >
> > Subject: Re: [RTC List] Unstable Suddenlink service?
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > We also have been experiencing problems at our home. We have a
> > wireless network & haven't had any issues (other than problems in
> > transferring over from Cox) but last week my son's service went out
> > & as soon as we
> corrected
> > it, the service to the main computer would go out. We discovered
> > thru
> trial
> > & error that both computers could have internet but only if the
> > cable
> wasn't
> > connected to the TV. Figure that one out!
> >
> >
> >
> >  ________________________________
> >
> >
> > From: list-bounces at redwoodtech.org [mailto:
> > list-bounces at redwoodtech.org]
> On
> > Behalf Of Pat Bitton
> >  Sent: Saturday, April 07, 2007 8:39 PM
> >  To: list at redwoodtech.org
> >  Subject: [RTC List] Unstable Suddenlink service?
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Hi all
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > My Suddenlink cable modem service has been cutting in and out for
> > most of the past week. Wondering whether it's something in my setup
> > or whether
> it's
> > a broader issue (so I know whether I need to take steps to fix it,
> > since
> it
> > is disruptive to my business).
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Thanks
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Pat Bitton
> >
> > Partner, Euresto Partners Inc
> >
> > Sales & Marketing for Technology Startups
> >
> > Phone (707) 268 8968
> >
> > Cell (408) 464 0829
> >
> > Skype: pat.bitton
> >
> > www.eurestopartners.com