Confession of the nailed-up

[Doctor Who <drwho@l0pht.com>]

  I have een reading this list for some time, usually staying in the
  background. I'd like to thank Fred Goldstein for his intelligence, wit,
  and determination.
  
  
  I am a nailed-up user of ISDN. There, I've got it off my chest. I guess I
  am one of the ones that is ruining the phone network. Sorry if grandma
  can't get through today to wish you a happy thanksgiving. It's probably my
  fault. I'd like to point out that being "nailed up" has given some people
  great notoriety and respect. However, I don't intend to die for even my
  own sins, never mind those of the rest of mankind. Anyhow, I run a small
  system in my house, connected to the local joke of an ISP through my handy
  Bitsurfr Pro. I have to run it at 56K due to the strange tariffs we have
  here in massachusetts. If I didn't I'd get quite a large bill, as the rate
  for using either data channel is 2.5 - 5.5 cents/minute. So I am stuck
  with my measily 56K, which is quickly getting saturated by the several
  mailing lists and web pages I host on it. I'd like to get the full 128K
  possible, but unless I go to the Centrex ISDN solution, which is very
  expensive, I am stuck at 56K. The sad part is, if I understand all this
  right, that I am sucking up as much switch capacity at 56K as I would if
  it weren't for the sillly tariffs and I could use 64K or 128K! What a
  shame. All that capacity going to waste over silly regulations.
  
  I want a switched system, not a dedicated circuit. I don't want to be tied
  to some ISP that suddenly decides that I am a captive customer and they
  can treat me like sh*t. I've already switched once, and may do it again.
  all I have to do is change where my DNS points, add my new dialup,
  username, and password to me /etc/isdn.dial file and away I go. Even if I
  could afford T1, I wouldn't get this type of flexibility, would I?
  
  WHat I would be willing to deal with is some sort of set-up where, in
  order to save switch capacity, ISPs are on a seperate switch. I can choose
  whichever one I want, or start incurring a per-minute charge if I branch
  out into teh regular public telepone network. This should be an option
  available to all ISPs, not some sort of "deal" with nynex that one ISP
  uses to get a head of it's competition. I'd also want to be able to use
  all 128K of my ISDN. I'd be willing to pay a little bit more in able to do
  that. I currently pay about $50 per month. I'd be willing to pay somewhere
  less than $100 to get my full 128K. No more. no special, usage-based
  pricing. I think I am being reasonable. If I wanted to pay more than $100
  I could just get a second ISDN line, and figure out some way to run both
  lines to the net at once.
  
  I think that the RBOCs want to kill the internet, or harness it. They are
  using their monopoly position to do so. The internet grew because of the
  libertine structure of its youth. Remember what Telcos want to see as the
  "information superhighway" - the per-packet charge structure of the X.25
  networks. Remember how boring and crummy they were? and still are?
  Hopefully you never will have to know.
  
  
  --Dr. Who
  "Nailed Up"