OT Qwest dsl gotchas for linux, F10 x86_64

[Bruno Wolff III]

On Wed, Jun 17, 2009 at 07:01:04 -0700,
  stan <gryt2 at q.com> wrote:
> 
> Qwest makes no secret of the fact they do not support linux, and there
> were some issues that cost me several hours to resolve because of
> that. Several times I just about chucked in the towel and reactivated

In theory it shouldn;t matter.

> First, dsl uses pppoe so you need a userid and password to access the
> internet, unlike cable. And if you use a router behind your modem,

Crappy dsl requires this. If you have quality dsl service, you should get
a static ip and you shouldn't need to use pppoe.

> Second, qwest uses windows live as their email provider.  And while
> tech support will give you the pop3 server, pop3.live.com, and the
> protocols, port 995 via ssl, they don't tell you that the username
> at windows live *includes* the domain name.  So if your address is

This is common for services provided to separate resellers. If you get news
service bundled with your connection provided by one of the main news
providers, you'll typically have to do the same thing.

> somebody at q.com, that is also your username, not just the somebody.
> The pop3 has to be authenticated with the username and the password for
> that username. Every linux client I tried could do this (seamonkey,
> thunderbird, sylpheed, claws).  The account name has an extra domain on
> the end though.  :-o

They shouldn't be doing that. There should be separate passwords. When I
used to have a Speakeasy account we had separate passwords for Speakeasy,
their news provider and their dialup access provider all tied to the
Speakeasy account and settable in your account maintenance page.

> Hope this saves someone a few hours of grief.  

Or convinces someone to look at other options for a provider.
(I actually have qwest involved in my T1 provisioning, but I don't talk
directly to them for that. I also liked that their CEO took a huge risk
in not rolling over for the goverment's request for direct access to
phone call data.)

> This whole incident has me looking into email hosting and private
> domain names.  Both are very cheap right now.  Hosting using someone
> else's domain can be had for $10 US and up per year, hosting with your
> own domain about $23 and up per year, and domain and web hosting for
> $42 and up per year.  Seems the way to go.

If you like playing with that kind of thing, then having quality dsl
access (potentially quality cable access as well, but I don't know of any
for residential use) can allow you to host the stuff yourself. However,
it's a time sink, so you'd better like it. If not, for sure you don't
want to use your ISP's domain name for anything other than talking to them.
Just make sure wherever you host your stuff you have a way to make back ups
that are in your possesion and in a format you can do something with. So
that if something happens you can move your stuff to another hosting
provider.