Re: [tlug] FTTH providers

[Edward Middleton <edward@example.com>]

Joe Larabell wrote:
> Depending where you are, you could have other options. I have Usen's
> Broad-gate-01 service right now. They don't work through ISPs so you would
> not run across them if you started by calling DION (or some other ISP)
> first. But as of the time I signed up (3-4 years ago) they only offered
> service in certain areas (Suginami-ku, Nakano-ku, maybe others). Check
> their web site to see if you're in their area.
>   

That is another option. What type of plan are you using? I looked at the
USEN site and they only offer *ãGyaO å with ããããããããããã in
the area I am in.*

> In the case of Usen, their box doesn't have any set-up. The glass goes in
> one side and 100Base-T comes out the other. The connection is raw net with
> five IPs (basically a 3-bit block with one address reserved as a gateway
> address). I can hook any kind of router/firewall/etc to the 100Base-T that
> I want. It so happens I have a Linux box hooked up to that port acting as
> a router. All five IPs are static.
>   

DION wants to supply the router/firewall/etc and they won't provide the
details so I can determine whether it is possible to setup an
alternative router.

> I don't know for sure how the other providers work. I have heard that
> B-Flets may require s/w running on the local machine (like a dial-up
> utility but working over ATM or IP instead of a modem). If that's the
> case, it could be a problem hooking a Linux box directly to the port.
>   

B-Flets uses pppoa to connect to the provider and that works fine. It
appears DION doesn't like having to give technical support for users who
don't know how to setup their own routers/computers to connect to the
ISP so they are providing router/firewall/NAT boxes.

> You can ask the provider if you can run multiple computers from the same
> connection. If the answer is: 'yes, but you need your own router', then
> they are probably providing a raw net connection.
>   

Almost all can run multiple computers over a single IP, i.e. NAT. The
problem is whether you can have multiple global IP's and whether the
machine even has access to the global IP.

Edward