ARK Systems Newsletter March 2000

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IN THIS ISSUE: DSL MODEMS
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Lately, many of you have asked for information about adding a high-speed, Internet connection to your network. Some of you have made the switch already, and now wonder how you ever lived without it. In either case, here are a few suggestions, warnings, helpful tips, and other things that we have discovered (the hard way, of course).

Recently, the price of DSL service and installation has come down considerably. Pacific Bell has led the way by waiving installation and hardware charges (usually around $200-$500) - if you sign up for a one-year contract. They offer a basic service for $39.95 per month for the 1st year and a more advanced service for $79 per month. Be aware that these rates will go up slightly after a year, and that there is an early termination penalty. Other vendors are quickly following suit, so it may be worthwhile to shop around. Likewise, it’s probably not wise to change providers just because someone has a lower rate this week. Setting these systems up is a big job.

Even though the vendor doesn’t tell you, we can successfully share these inexpensive connections amongst the users on your network. We use a modem-sharing program called iShare (list price $179 for 10 users). IShare allows up to 32 internet ‘tasks’ to be performed at once by various users. If you use Exchange Server, Microsoft Small Business Server 4.0, or have other sophisticated email queuing, the basic accounts will not work. You will need a DSL account that supports ETRN. These start at $89.95 and up.

When you install a DSL line, you do not have to move your Web site from the current host. In fact, we would strongly advise against it! Some ISPs do not support CGI scripting, which your site may have, and there will be a disruption in service while the Domain is moved to the new host.

And lastly, be sure to use a firewall on your network. Hackers are constantly searching the Internet for a security hole to load various nasty programs or to store information. After loading a firewall on my line, I found that I was getting several attempted attacks A DAY! Not all were serious, but you never know. An inexpensive software solution we have tested is blackICE ($39.95). Download from: http://www.networkice.com/Products/BlackICE/default.htm

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