OK, so the download speed consistently tests at 40Mb/s or a little higher, compared with the 15-20Mb/s of the old service, but there's still some stuff left to be ironed out, and about a week before the "customer satisfaction" back-out option wanes (and I'm "stuck" with this for a year).

I've configured my LAN to use the new ISP for all of the dynamic client, and on-and-off again on my static workstation. So far everything seems to go well. I had to disable the DHCP on my shiny new WiFi router in favor of the DHCP on the new router from the ISP (which does have WiFi, but I disabled that both to use the higher-powered ASUS, and also because I expect once I get static IPs I'll be firewalling with the ASUS and not the ZyXEL the ISP gave me) in order to let the DHCP deliver the right IP for the gateway. Curiously the DD-WRT firmware I'm using wouldn't deliver a different gateway than itself. I'll soon change this all to use a full-fledged DHCP server from one of the other servers 'cause then I can fill it with all kinds of goodness and get DNS working with the .local domain working again, you know, where the DHCP clients advertise their names for easier configuration... I'm not sure what I did before to make it work or recently to make it stop...probably something checked in the replaced Linksys router when I plugged in the ASUS.

Another thing, trying to get some on-line support so that I can create my online account so that I can start doing some things realted to online billing and account management has run into a problem. Evidently, there's a "security code" required as part of the registration process.   The code is supposed to be clearly marked on my first three bills (it is not on the first, the only one I've received), or I can get one by chatting on-line, but their 24-hour on-line chat seems to be closed.

Of course, there's a 24-hour telephone support offered, too, but really I should be able to do just about everything without involving sitting on a phone talking to someone who believes I don't know anything about the service, Internet, or computers in general. I know I'll blow their minds when I tell 'em I'm not on Windows, and possibly cause someone to sit in stunned silence for a while when I point out I'm not on a Mac, either.

So self-service registration is an apparent bust. I'll try tomorrow, you know, when I should be working for my employer, when I'm guessing their chat service will actually be available. I'll probably do the requesting of static IPs at the same time. That's one thing I had hoped to be able to request through the self-service interface.

The last bust is that I swear I was promised 40/20Mb/s, but I'm only seeing 5Mb/s out to the Internet. To be fair, that's the same speed I have now, but part of the intrigue of the new service was that generous pipe out. I understand that your typical residential service customer (which I am not with my current ISP) doesn't usually have high throughput demands out of their residence; they're sucking in web pages and movies and pictures while sending small requests and acknowledgement messages in the process. Heck, this blog page is a simple (conversational) 30-150 byte request, with the URL and a little bit of HTTP header in there for good measure, and then a (conversational) megabyte in response, including all of the text and images. It shouldn't matter, then that the small request goes out slower by an order of magnitude, as long as the bulky request comes in fast.

I'm going to give my current/old ISP a call and let them try to give me discounts and upsell the speed before I have to commit or cancel the new service. My time is ripping by; essentiall the deal will be sealed one way or another by the week end.