On Sat, 2004-08-14 at 13:42, Michael wrote: > Thanks for your report, Nick, > > I almost posted a question about Woosh last week after I saw their stand > in Cathedral Square. My questions were answered by quizzing the tech at > the Square and by trawling the NZLUG archives, the following is what I > found out and believe to be true: > > - Despite the advertised 250kp/s The Woosh network has considerable > latency and so is no use for interactive activities like gaming and > painful for ssh (for example). But it is fine for http. They claim to > be working to improve this. > - You must have a Windows PC to initially flash your account login and > password to the modem (no USB drivers for linux). Once flashed you can > use the PPPoE with linux, try Roaring Penguin > http://www.roaringpenguin.com/penguin/open_source_rp-pppoe.php . > - You may be able to sweet talk the Woosh people to flash the modem for > you so that you don't have to worry about all that Windows bizzo. > - You get a dynamic IP but you can get a business plan with a static > IP. They are not keen on you operating internet accessable servers but > they won't stop you. I think this could be in recognition of their > latency problem. > > So, workable for linux gurus but not the best option until the latency > is sorted. > > Michael.
Michael's summary is correct as far as I know, although I didn't ask them about server policy. Actually one of them was going to come to my office next week and we were going try and get it working on my gentoo laptop. What is the best way of testing latency? a few pings and an ssh session? What exactly _is_ latency (I know it is to do with responsivity in some way). For download speed test I thought I'd wget a smallish iso from somewhere in nz and somewhere in the US. Not very scientific I know. > > On Fri, 2004-08-13 at 10:22, Nick Rout wrote: > > I was invited to a function hosted by woosh.com to mark their ChCh > > rollout last night. As I was invited on behalf of the CLUG, I'm filing > > this report for the benefit of members. I just re-read this and it > > sounds a bit like an ad, but I was excited by a competing broadband > > product, and I am thinking of giving it a go for my office connection. > > > > There were drinks, and food, and a bit of a spiel from the Chairman Rod > > Inglis, a nice fellow. No powerpoint presentation yah! There were > > opportunities for questions, I'll come to that. > > > > Woosh is based on cellphone technology, therefore they need cell towers, > > same as telecom and vodaphone et al. They currently have 4 towers in > > central chch, with coverage basically within the 4 avenues. This will be > > expanded over time, but there are obviously issues with availability of > > sites and obtaining resource consents. This means you can take your > > laptop and the modem to anywhere that woosh have a presence and connect > > to the net. Or you can take the modem and the installation cd and use it > > on a friend's computer in another city. > > > > The service is delivered via a "modem" about the size of a largish > > cigarette packet, which can connect to your computer via a supplied USB > > cable, and it comes with drivers for all versions of windows from 98SE > > upwards. > > > > I naturally asked about linux support and Rod deferered to his network > > guy, a very knowledgable techo guy. He explained that if you got the > > addon ethernet cable you could connect to any OS that supports PPPoE, so > > that is the path for both linux and mac users. Naturally you get the > > unfiltered real world IP address on your ppp0 network interface, so you > > would want a firewall, I know IPCop does PPPoE, so it would seem to be a > > good mix. > > > > I also asked about fixed IP addresses, they said the home plans were > > strictly dynamic IP, and the business plans could be given a fixed IP > > for $20 per month, I tackled him on this charge later and he said APNIC > > were very tight on handing out IP addresses and he had to convince them > > that he was using them wisely. I guess the $20 is there as a deterent > > mainly :-) > > > > This same techo guy was very enthusiastic about linux in their > > infrastrusture, as I guess is normal with ISP type organisations. > > > > So there we have a competitor in the broadband market in chch at last. > > And its here now in the central city, and will expand. > > > > A summary of costs is something like this, the plans include isp > > services and an email address (@woosh.com I think): > > > > Modem $199.00 > > Ethernet cable: $34 > > > > Plans: > > > > Home, (250 kbs) > > Unlimited (subject to reasonable use) $54.95 per month > > 1G max: $39.95 per month > > > > Business (350 kbs) > > 2G $99 per month > > 5G $179.00 per month > > 10G $299 per month > > > > Business (500 kbs) > > go see for yourself on woosh.com :-) >
