[Tfug] DynDNS howto

[George Cohn]

christopher floess wrote:
>
> Funny, I thought Qwest was the ISP. I guess they may have rights
> to the phone line, and just direct the traffic to the ISP, who takes
> care of things like dns, ip addresses, port blocking, etc.

This is a little off topic but will provide some history of how the 
telco operates the way they do.

Qwest is generally just a "common carrier" and provides the network 
connection to the ISP.  They have contracted with MSN as well as other 
ISP's to provide the end connection.  Most of the terms of service are 
established by the end point ISP.

Where I used to work, we used Time Warner and they provided both the 
"common carrier" connection and the ISP.  But they are in a different 
regulatory category than Qwest, the incumbent local exchange carrier.

It's all about regulations from the divestiture of the telcos brought 
about by the 1985 DOJ rulings.

As for Cox, I believe they are in the same category as Time Warner and 
can provide both the connection and the ISP service.

I know there is a Qwest.net but you have to realize that the local telco 
has regulated and unregulated sides and those services are governed by 
different agencies.  The corporation commission regulates the side of 
the business that brings the connection to your house.  Technically, the 
revenues generated by the separate divisions are suppose to be kept 
separate as well.

I worked in private telecom for over 30 years and it was pretty 
confusing at times.  There was even a period when the local telco was 
not allowed to sell or rent any hardware to the end user.  After 
divestiture, most large companies had to go directly to companies like 
Nortel Networks, ITT, and ATT to get hardware.

I installed and maintained one of the first large private ITT pbx's ever 
used in Tucson in 1976, some 9 years before divestiture.  That was a can 
of worms when it came time to dealing with telco issues like bad trunks.

They were always quick to say it was your equipment before even checking 
theirs.  It's better now as the unregulated division of the telco can 
now sell or lease hardware and there is cooperation between the divisions.

Where I used to work, we ended up using Time Warner to build a dual 
OC-48 Sonet ring between all of our facilities for voice, data, and 
Internet.  We also used their central office services which are provided 
by a Nortel Networks DMS-500 switch.

They were a pleasure to work with and the service response was within 
minutes, not days like the incumbent telco.

I'm semi-retired now so I don't do this sort of work any more.  ;-)

George Cohn