About This Particular Macintosh 6.04 - eDisk
About This Particular Macintosh 6.04 - eDisk About This Particular Macintosh 6.04 - eDisk
Columns: DSL and the MacSlices From The Macintosh LifeSegmentsBY LEE BENNETT, LBENNETT@ATPM.COMDSL and the MacWhat is it that makes DSL the most popular technology not available to most Macintoshusers—or at least those of us in the Southeastern states?Sprint and Earthlink are business partners of sorts. They’ve joined forces to provide peoplewith broadband Internet access; Sprint provides the bandwidth, and Earthlink fills the roleof ISP. If that was a true statement, then it has the makings of being the worst business partnershipof recent months.I’ve held my breath waiting for Earthlink to make DSL available to the central Florida area.All they’ve managed to tell me is that it would very likely be a very long time before that happens—probablynot even this year.Yet, last November, Sprint announced DSL availability in the metro Orlando region. Indeed,a coworker of one of my friends actually has DSL service from Sprint, though that personuses a Windows machine. I contacted Sprint to inquire about getting it installed at my home.To my wonderment, the Sprint representative confirmed that my line was good for DSL andbegan the process of signing me up. Not one minute passed before my excitement turnedinto disappointment. “Are you running Windows 95, 98, or NT?” the representative asked.I truthfully replied, “I’m running Mac OS.”“I see, well, I’m afraid we are not offering DSL service to Macintosh users at this time.”“Why is that? Macintoshes use the exact same TCP connection that PCs use.”“I’m not a technician, and I don’t have the details about this, except that we can’t supportMacintosh computers right now.”ATPM 6.04 ← 34 →Columns: DSL and the Mac
I was seething, but I did my best not to let it show. As a fellow ATPM staff member confirmed,there is nothing to support with Macs and DSL. The same data is placed into bothplatforms’ TCP/IP control panels. However, after a number of phone calls, and after a lot oftelephone Muzak, the best answer I was able to obtain was that the reason for nonsupport isrelated to one or more of three issues. These issues may or may not be plausible, but they’rewhat I came up with:1. Many broadband technologies are using authentication software that must run on thecomputer using the service. Some companies have developed their own authenticationsoftware for both platforms, but many have developed it only for PC with a “Mac versionforthcoming” claim.2. Many broadband technologies are using the new transport protocol known as point-topointprotocol over Ethernet (better-known as PPPoE), and this protocol isn’t as easilyimplemented on the Mac as it is on Windows (or so they say).3. Many broadband technologies not using PPPoE are using DHCP as the connection protocol,and we all know that the Mac OS has had documented problems with DHCP. Notthat I’m saying the problems aren’t solvable…just that various broadband providersthemselves haven’t solved them.Totally for my own amusement, I invented a fourth choice:4. Many broadband technology providers are full of cr@& and just don’t think the Maccommunity is large enough or easy enough to service.Sprint service representatives repeatedly tried to explain the situation to me, but withoutsaying anything that Sprint brass probably considers taboo for discussions with customers(subjects such as the truth). During my last call to Sprint, I ultimately spoke to the directorof customer relations. I pointed out that I’d had conversations with Earthlink, and that theirtech support people had said that not only are they offering Earthlink DSL over on the westcoast in many areas, but that Earthlink specializes in Macintosh support.When she said that they’re still researching and testing connectivity for Macs, I casually(though I was getting irritated at this point, and again doing my best not to show it) suggestedthat it looked like a case of the right hand not knowing what the left was doing, andthat Sprint should better interact with the ISP they’ve partnered with—i.e., that they shouldATPM 6.04 ← 35 →Columns: DSL and the Mac
- Page 6 and 7: in this issue is correct to the bes
- Page 8: WelcomeWelcomeWelcome to the April
- Page 11 and 12: ut power users are always hungering
- Page 13 and 14: Jobs’s Compensation—Bad• •
- Page 15 and 16: Columns: Deep Space MacAbout ThisOp
- Page 17 and 18: While these improvements will reduc
- Page 19 and 20: especially when combined with Playe
- Page 21: course. Then there could be a “co
- Page 24 and 25: Click once on the icon next to the
- Page 26 and 27: Trash ‘n’ AppleFinally, iMacolo
- Page 28 and 29: Apple Platinum theme, there are som
- Page 30 and 31: lously calculating interlocking pit
- Page 32 and 33: Anyway, for the sake of a good stor
- Page 36 and 37: get their heads together and resolv
- Page 38 and 39: Overall, I think the Mac is a smart
- Page 40 and 41: Columns: RumorsAbout This Particula
- Page 42 and 43: or developing a similar and compati
- Page 44 and 45: Rumormonger TakeoverDisappointed by
- Page 46 and 47: the message will be bounced back to
- Page 48 and 49: DogDoo.comWeb Address: http://www.d
- Page 50 and 51: Genetic Savings & CloneWeb Address:
- Page 52 and 53: Columns: Digital Audio and the Mac(
- Page 54 and 55: mat converter, and I can work with
- Page 56 and 57: But that’s just my stuff…there
- Page 58 and 59: “Done!”Good! You’ve destroyed
- Page 60 and 61: Dragging Sarah Michelle Gellar onto
- Page 62 and 63: on them like a ton of bricks. (We
- Page 64 and 65: Politely write to the ISP, explaini
- Page 66 and 67: Columns: Networking Guru (VII)How T
- Page 68 and 69: MacLAN for Windows 95, 98, and NT.
- Page 70 and 71: If you haven’t seen the older par
- Page 72 and 73: Stuff: Shareware RoundupAbout ThisS
- Page 74 and 75: they’re accessible from the new O
- Page 76 and 77: Process Manager is a far easier way
- Page 78 and 79: FM Egg TimerAuthor: Dave NaultWeb:
- Page 80 and 81: evisions are substantial enough to
- Page 82 and 83: There is little to report about the
Columns: DSL and the MacSlices From The <strong>Macintosh</strong> LifeSegmentsBY LEE BENNETT, LBENNETT@ATPM.COMDSL and the MacWhat is it that makes DSL the most popular technology not available to most <strong>Macintosh</strong>users—or at least those of us in the Southeastern states?Sprint and Earthlink are business partners of sorts. They’ve joined forces to provide peoplewith broadband Internet access; Sprint provides the bandwidth, and Earthlink fills the roleof ISP. If that was a true statement, then it has the makings of being the worst business partnershipof recent months.I’ve held my breath waiting for Earthlink to make DSL available to the central Florida area.All they’ve managed to tell me is that it would very likely be a very long time before that happens—probablynot even this year.Yet, last November, Sprint announced DSL availability in the metro Orlando region. Indeed,a coworker of one of my friends actually has DSL service from Sprint, though that personuses a Windows machine. I contacted Sprint to inquire about getting it installed at my home.To my wonderment, the Sprint representative confirmed that my line was good for DSL andbegan the process of signing me up. Not one minute passed before my excitement turnedinto disappointment. “Are you running Windows 95, 98, or NT?” the representative asked.I truthfully replied, “I’m running Mac OS.”“I see, well, I’m afraid we are not offering DSL service to <strong>Macintosh</strong> users at this time.”“Why is that? <strong>Macintosh</strong>es use the exact same TCP connection that PCs use.”“I’m not a technician, and I don’t have the details about this, except that we can’t support<strong>Macintosh</strong> computers right now.”ATPM <strong>6.04</strong> ← 34 →Columns: DSL and the Mac
Change language