Cable Modem

Kirk Wood cpt.kirk at 1tree.net
Tue Nov 20 01:27:45 EST 2001


On Mon, 19 Nov 2001, Amanda Lee wrote:
> Okay good enough.  I was a little suspicious when he offered to rent us a
> second "static IP" for an additional $6.95 per month.  Go figure!  A
> little mixing of terminology to obscure the real truth.  Another complaint
> I have about excite at home is that they won't allow you to use it for
> telecommuting and I find that to be an accessibility issue especially for
> those who are persons with disabilities because we all pay for our own
> broadband service no matter what we use it for.  But that's not an issue
> we  need to discuss here.  DSL providers don't care or seem to want to
> prevent  you from using your broadband connection for accessing your
> employer's network.

First, the second IP is just that. You can then put two computers on the
internet. Second, there is nothing to keep you from using your @home
connection to telecomute. They do not block any ports nor do they
routinely monitor anything. As for the Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) I just
checked it. The only thing that could possibly be construed to prohibit
using your service for telecomuting is that "The service may not be used
for comercial purposes." I have never heard of such being used to say you
can't connect to your corperate lan via vpn.

Key thing here: relax and breath. If you don't cause harm, they don't give
a rat's ass. Technically, I am hosting a server. But nobody has said
anything over the past three years I have been doing so. I telnet to my
home computer from work regularly. In the next week I will telnet from my
brother's pc. Nobody cares. Just protect your machine and don't let it be
a platform for someone to launch an attack. Don't try to run some
industrial grade server. Not only will performance suck with 128Kbit
upstream, it will piss someone off.

Do use your internet connection for any person (including doing your
personal work) thing you want. Just don't think you have a colocated
server.

=======
Kirk Wood
Cpt.Kirk at 1tree.net

"When I take action, I'm not going to fire a $2 million missle at
a $10 empty tent and hit a camel in the butt. It's going to be decisive."
	- President George Bush





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