Subj : Re: BBS vs. the ISP
To   : Paul Emmons
From : Sniper
Date : Fri Sep 16 2005 09:53 pm

-=> Paul Emmons wrote to alt.bbs.synchronet <=-

 PE> From Newsgroup: alt.bbs.synchronet

 PE> Thanks for all the info!

 PE> A local hacker friend (the good kind) suspects that Verizon blocks
 PE> incoming telnet.

 PE> I have decided to try a DSL account from Voicenet, my dialup ISP for at
 PE> least ten years.  I have been happy with their service and their tech
 PE> support.  Their price has stayed the same all this time.  Re DSL, they
 PE> have assured me that one is free to do anything one wants, including
 PE> servers, as long as it's legal (and presumably not spamming).  The ISP
 PE> address will be static.  The monthly charge is slightly more than
 PE> Verizon, but it includes 20 hours per month dialup service, so I would
 PE> not need to maintain that account specifically.  The net expense would
 PE> be a little lower.

I didn't want to get involved with your earlier post, because I knew what
was going to occur.  <Have had it numerous times>  I was rather busy with
business and all...  Anyway, this account you are using with Verison
DSL... Have you configured your "Router" to forward in the ports needed to
run SynchroNet?  I'm unfamiliar with Verision's setup, and if they give
you this capability or not.  So, the questions are:  What kind of
"Modem" do you have?  Netopia, Westell, etc?  Are you able to enter the
configuration of said modem?  By this, I mean, are you able to access the
web interface?  Do you understand what I mean when I say you need to setup
the "NAT" to forward in your ports?  NAT = Network Address
Translation.  Do you understand what individual ports are for?  21,
23, 80, 110, 119, etc?

I've personally configured a number of different Netopia modems, the
Cayman and the Westell DSL modems... All have a web interface that you
can access... that is in most cases... I ran into a situation recently
with Earthlink, in that they had loaded some "Dummy" BIO's into a netopia
modem.  The only thing I could access in that was the login page,
basically kills any thought or idea of running a BBS or any kind of
service.  No way to forward anything in past the modem...  I believe that
client was sent that modem by mistake, since they were a
"Business" client... Anyway, that's another story.

 PE> Does anyone have experience with this provider?  (They operate in
 PE> Pennsylvania and Califonia among several other states).

 PE> I really look forward to running a BBS again, and the possibilities of
 PE> Synchronet are especially fascinating!

Yeap, been running SynchroNet for a bit over 3 years now... Lots of cool
stuff to play with.  :)

As for switching providers... if your current disallows the running of
"Servers/Services", then it might be worthwhile to switch.

Answer my questions above and we'll see if we can help out.

Sniper
Killed In Action BBS, telnet://kiabbs.org
Home of the Unofficial SynchroNet Support Network.
download the info pack at any of the below sites:
http://www.chcomputer.net/USSNET.ZIP or http://www.ussnet.org

.... Evolution: God's way of issuing updates
--- MultiMail/Linux v0.46
 þ Synchronet þ Killed In Action - telnet://kiabbs.org

.