ubuntu-friendly broadband?

[Gary W. Swearingen]

Patrick Costello <banjo at howandtao.com> writes:

> Are there any broadband providers the support Linux? Can you set up a
> connection with a company like Verizon without a Windows box?

If you go with DSL and your DSL provider hasn't yet taken advantage of
a recent change in law, you can probably find an ISP that's
Linux-friendly or even provides support, perhaps not locally.  The ISP
must have a business relation with your DSL provider and since you'll
be paying twice, the net cost will probably be somewhat higher than a
DSL provider's "bundle", though services differ too.  It IS very
unlikely you'll need (usually lousy) "support", in any case.  You can
usually fix things yourself (with Google's help) or talk them into
helping or even try another ISP.


When I got COMCAST cable, the installer set things up with his laptop
at the wall, hooked up the inside cable, and wished me luck.  Which I
needed because he fed the wrong cable through a noise filter.

When I've got DSL, I've had to do some modem config; these days via a
web browser.  Many ISPs don't require you to run PPPoE or such on your
PC.  You probably can choose to 1) have your PC do DHCP with the modem
or 2) have the modem do DHCP with the ISP (and optionally DNS) and
configure your PC (and opt. DNS) to talk to the modem's fixed address.

I told my hated DSL provider to stick their bundled modem and bought
a (Zoom) modem from a decent company, even though it too was "not
supported" by either the DSL provider or ISP.