[geeks] @home has finally done it...

[Kurt Huhn]

It wasn't bad enough that they blocked all incoming HTTP traffic, but now
they've blocked all incoming SMTP traffic.  Firewall logs show it happened
at about 3:50pm yesterday afternoon - that's the last message I got from
Geeks yesterday.

Interesting notes:
They claim it is to block the code red virus.   This makes no sense - Code
Red rarely goes outside it's own class A, their attempts will be futile.
I'm still seeing a Metric Buttload of default.ida requests from 65.x and
24.x hosts.  What SMTP traffic has to do with code red - I don't know.  My
suspicion is that it's an excuse to impose fascist rule...

The level two techs had no idea that this had happened.

The level one techs have no idea what port 80 and 25 do.

Level two techs get a kick out of arguing with me.

Level two techs should never hang up on Kurt Huhn - I have nothing better to
do at 12:30am than to call back and speak to your supervisor.

I can still send OUTGOING MAIL from my IP.  Wouldn't that be a real problem
with bandwidth hogging?

Incoming DNS is still operational.  So I can still manage my domains.

All other ports are unblocked - and that would seem to be the real bandwith
problem.  Doesn't a half-life server use up a shitload more bandwidth than
my *primarily recieve* SMTP server?

NETBIOS IS STILL ACTIVE!  Netbios broadcast storms are the real culprit
here - ever see a Passport switch brought to it's knees by NetBios?  Since
@home decided to bind DHCP to NetBios, bandwidth has never been worse...

They actually get pissed when I say that I have a firewall and use Linux as
my primary OS.
@home: "We don't support that sir."
Kurt: "I'm not asking you too - I manage just fine by myself."
@home: "Well we can't troubleshoot your connection without a supported OS."
Kurt: "Listen greenhorn - I just told you what the problem is.  Don't you
think you should know what the issue is, before some jerk like me calls at
11:00pm and tells you what's wrong with the @home network?!"
@home: <click>

I am sooooo pissed.  I just spent the morning reconfiguring a server at work
to operate as my mail server - I had to unsubscribe from the lists in the
meantime.  I'd just ike to take this oportunity to thank @home - for
NOTHING!

After a brief discussion with my wife, she's okayed the extra expense of
moving to DSL.  Speakeasy.net looks good.  Anyone have any thoughts on DSL
in the Northeast?  No - I'm not going to be using Verizon, from what I hear
they're just as bad as @home.

Kurt
[razafrackin disgusted today...]