[ot] rant about changing ISPs being ludicrous Re: [Mimedefang] Another silly idea

[Kevin A. McGrail]

David, with all due respect, you are living in a utopia because your
suggestion is not feasible where I live and work.  I must agree with WBrown.

I live in the Metropolitan D.C. area within a few miles of MAE East, MCI and
AOL's HQ's.  I've got a wide choice of Tier 1 companies and technologies
from SDSL, ADSL, Cable Modem, T1's, and collo.  I also have personal
experience with multiple and redundant circuits and hosting of all different
types and I currently coordinate a few dozen circuits for other firms.  I
hesitate to count how many contract negotiations for hosting I've been
involved with since our first T1 in 1994.

However, for 99% of these circuits, switching ISPs is just not an option.
Over the past 10 years, every contract in this area has become a term
contracts for 1, 2 and even higher years.  Even residential service from
cable companies and telephone companies here now have 1 year contracts for
Data Service!  The days of month-to-month ended a long time ago.

Further, most of the ISPs, business or residential, have learned to act like
cellular companies with term contracts and hefty fees (at least
percentage-wise) for breaking the contracts.  In fact, I can't remember the
last contract I've seen in the last 2 or three years that wasn't a minimum 1
year term.

And we have had a large prevalence of mux'd T1's for voice/data in the past
5 years or so being installed for businesses contracts for them are often 3
or 5 years.

So no, voting with your wallet once the ink is dry is not an option.

Further, consolidation has been a nightmare.  Companies don't even know how
to handle stuff from companies they acquired.  Look at this list for the
major tier 1's in my area:

Exodus/C&W/Savvis
UUNet/MCI/Verizon/WorldCom
XO/Allegiance
Level3/Wiltel
AT&T/SBC

Those are a lot of big names and we've essentially seen 13 major players
become 5.  Even when the people want to help you with things like reverse
DNS they don't even know how to or where to make the changes!

Anyway, that's my rant.

Regards,
KAM

> WBrown at e1b.org wrote:
>
> > Congratulations.  You have an ISP that will configure that for you.  Not
> > all will for any amount of money.
>
> In most places, you can switch ISPs if the one you're using is not giving
> good service.  I realize there are some places with virtual monopolies,
> and I also realize that switching ISPs is a hassle, but unless consumers
> vote with their wallets, ISPs won't be motivated to improve their
> services.
>
> I switched ISPs three times until I found a good one.