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Switching from Comcast to Atlantic Nexus

     - Sunday, July 27, 2008

A few months back, Comcast started blocking port 25 on my connection. After a few phone calls, I realized they were not going to lift the block under any circumstances unless I upgraded to a business class service. Within 3 days I had a new ISP through a regional DSL provider, Atlantic Nexus, and was ready to cancel Comcast.

My problems began because I am running my own mail server at home. I just prefer to be able to ensure that my email is under my control. I can add addresses easier that having to log onto some other service. Plus I just feel more secure having my email automatically collected for me on my home machine. I figured as long as the traffic was low it would go unnoticed. And it did, for a couple years actually.

But then I switched to Gmail, and am forwarding all my received mail back out to Gmail. Because all spam is forwarded as well, and I get about 400 messages a day, that's a lot of emailing spam. Almost immediately Comcast blocked me.

I switched from Comcast to a small regional ISP here in Atlanta with DSL service. Atlantic Nexus' service couldn't be better, they do NOT block any ports, and don't mind that I'm running a server. Looking back, I can't believe I resisted the urge to go back to DSL from Cable for so long. Yes, paying for the home phone like completely sucks. You get ripped off by the phone company for the cost of a basic line with no long distance (can you believe they still charge for that!). BUT, DSL service is much cheaper than Comcast, so it's really only about 10 bucks more a month.

And that's a small price to pay for the freedom from the shackels of Comcast!

What's your experience with either Comcast or a regional ISP?

posted by Kevin Watts |  Permalink |