[AuckLUG] phone options

[Willie Seabrook]

I tried Woosh for 7 months.

1. It will work fine with linux with the ethernet router/phone box that 
they supply you with. The computer does not have to be on to use the phone.
2. It's a pretty good quality service and improved very noticeably in 
the time (6 months) that I had it in the Newton, Auckland area.
3. Their customer support is pretty good.
4. It is hopeless for low latency applications such as gaming, remote 
desktops and voip. I switched back to jetstream because of my work need 
to access remote desktops and you can't do that on the typical 200 - 
600ms ping times on Woosh. I also tried my voip service on it and that 
completely did not work (I suspect they block it for obvious reasons).
5. Be warned they have a cancellation fee of $99 I think which isn't 
made very clear at all (which I am about to pay). Note that this is 
separate from making up the extra payments for the equipment which they 
let you finance at $10/month for x months. Such that when I disconnect 5 
months early I need to pay 5*$10 = $50 for the equipment (completely 
fair), plus return the equipment (fair) plus the $99 "disconnect fee" 
(completely unfair). This is unless I go onto their adsl service of 
course. Which I btw refused and went to Xtra.

So in summary, IMHO it's a *great* way to save quite a bit of cash and 
get reasonable internet access at home for email and browsing etc, but 
be prepared for their "disconnect fee" if your situation changes.

Cheers
Willie

P.S A mate of mine also uses woosh for his laptop internet access (via 
the pcmcia card). He is quite happy with it.


Anthony Winter wrote:
> Following the last lug meet at the viaduct (which I thought was good, if a bit 
> heavy on telecom jargon) I'm thinking about using woosh phone+broadband.
> We're moving in a couple of weeks, but still in the CBD, so we need a new 
> phone connection anyway, but coverage should not be a problem.
> Following questions occur:
> 1	they don't say they support linux. Does it work? Are they actively hostile?
> 2	Could I do something fancy like take the woosh ethernet out to an ethernet 
> port on an existing router and let it do the pppoe?
> 3	the computer doesn't have to be on to use the phone line - right?
>
> Any obvious snags?
>
> cheers
>
> ant
>
>