[X4U] ISPs, DSL, dhcp vs. PPPoE, and VOIP

[Jim Robertson]

Message title sounds like a 21st century equivalent of the "lions and tigers
and bears - oh MY" plaint in the Wizard of Oz!

I'll be moving into a brand new home in two weeks. I'm trying to consolidate
the communications services that come into my home.

Currently, I have 2 phone lines in my house. One carries the DSL signal, and
my dim recollection when I set things up was that I couldn't use that line
for DirecTV's middle of the night phone calls that update the schedule on my
TiVo. In my new house, I'm considering getting just one POTS line that will
bring in the DSL signal, and getting the second line via ATT's VOIP
(CallVantage)service. I'm told there are converters that will allow FAX
signals to run over that service-which will have a second phone number, but
I'm not sure whether I'd be able to get my TV schedule updates if one line
is DSL, the other VOIP. Another concern here is that the max download rate I
can get at this address via DSL is 3 mbits/sec because of my linear distance
from the nearest fiber closet. Anyone able to hazard a guess whether that's
enough bandwidth for one line VOIP (it wouldn't be the primary voice line)
as well as general internet access for 2-5 Macs (typical residential use,
although my son does some bittorrent downloads - no hosting - when he thinks
I'm not looking).

I'd save a bit of money if paid ATT for my DSL service instead of my current
ISP, but my recollection of PPPoE was that it was a nuisance. My current ISP
will sell me four email addresses for $4/month so even if the ISP was
ATT.net, we'd still be able to keep our xxx at sonic.net addresses.

The Mac-relevant part of all this pertains to whether Leopard's "Back to My
Mac feature will work more reliably with my home router having a static IP -
I know, I've asked the question before, but I forgot about ATT's use of
PPPoE and don't know if that would mess things up.

Finally, does anyone have any opinions or knowledge about how happy I'd be
getting 2 voice lines by paying ATT for ONE line capable of carrying DSL AND
paying them for ATT's "CALLVANTAGE" VOIP? Would I be able to send and
receive FAX transmissions on the VOIP "virtual" line? Would my DVRs be able
to update DirecTV's schedules?

Sorry for all the questions. Thanks so much for any opinions, suggestions,
cautions, etc. I know some of this is off-topic, so the listmoms may prefer
off-list replies.

Jim Robertson
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Jim Robertson
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