Best ISP for a home office?

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aw

286 posts

Ultimate Geek

#12941 14-Apr-2007 22:56

Hi all

I'm looking at changing ISPs because I've outgrown my Woosh upload speed. I'm gonna have my landline connected so I can get ADSL going (the landline can go again the day nADSL arrives).

I run a home office here so I will be running services over this connection - a backup MX for a couple of schools I work for, SSH for my own use, and a web server (only accessible from those schools, restricted by IP address) ... and I'm trying to do all this on a shoestring budget.

Any recommendations for best ISP?

The one thing stopping me from going with Xnet straight away is this on their Static IP application form:

Static IP addresses MUST NOT be used for the operation of public information services or e-mail servers.

If you are found to be using the allocated Static IP address for hosting services, i.e. Mail, FTP, P2P, HTTP etc., your Static IP address allocation could be suspended without notice.

It's the e-mail bit that has me worried - a backup MX is an e-mail server.

I've e-mailed their sales e-mail about this, but that won't be answered til Monday and I'd like to see what others think.

Thanks in advance all,

Andrew

freitasm

BDFL - Memuneh
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#67135 15-Apr-2007 09:25

Where are you located? If you are in Wellington or Christchurch, you should explore TelstraClear Cable service.

Wendy

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#67140 15-Apr-2007 09:48

It's the e-mail bit that has me worried - a backup MX is an e-mail server.

I've e-mailed their sales e-mail about this, but that won't be answered til Monday and I'd like to see what others think.

Thanks in advance all,

Andrew

Hi Andrew,

I look after the static IP allocation for Xnet, generally we don't mind too much if you do run services on your connection but just want to cover ourselves in the event that a customer does and then has a security breach because obviously we don't want servers getting owned and having complaints about dodgy activity as a result.

As long as your server is secure then you won't have any issues.

If you have any further questions please feel free to PM me if you have any further questions. :)

Cheers!

Wendy

aw

286 posts

Ultimate Geek

#67336 17-Apr-2007 12:52

Thanks for the replies :)

Unfortunately I'm in Albany, Auckland so that narrows down the choice somewhat. I think the local Woosh base station is getting a little crowded here.

I've just got off the phone to Telecom to get my landline connected this weekend and once that's all done and working I'll give Xnet a call and sign on up.
On calling Telecom to connect the line I got escalated because there was some confusion over the existence of my address (!) but the lady I got escalated up to was very polite and professional which was cool. Despite opinions a lot of us have about the company, it's refreshing to know there's still cool people who work there.

Thanks Wendy for clearing that up. I'm confident the box here is secure, but of course I would say that!! :P
What I think I'll do is block outbound access from this mail server to Xnet's mail server at the router to minimise any potential exposure to you guys should something go wrong.

Hopefully I'll get a good speed - I'm about 200m away from a rather large roadside cabinet (the cabinet is on Georgia Tce) , so as I understand it, so long as it's not a conklin/mini DSLAM in there* I should get a nice fast line?

I just hope after all this that the DSLAM is not full!

A

[ edit: pumping various neighbours' phone numbers through Xnet's line check tool would suggest I'll get 2-4Mbps ]