7/22    I am considering replacing a telco provided phone service with a
        wireless phone. I want to get rid of the phone service completely.
        Will that affect my ADSL service in any way? My ADSL provider is
        DirecTV and I have heard that when the DSL service is provided by
        a third-party you can get away without paying for regular phone
        service. Are there any sodans that are doing this? Is there going to
        be any degradation in ADSL service or support once I get rid of phone
        service? Please don't suggest to switch to a cable broadband connection
        since I prefer my DSL provider.
        \_ My experience is that every DSL line must be attached to a
           regular phone line.
           In order for my second DSL line to be installed, they also
           had to schedule to install a second phone line first. -rollee
           \_ yes, you need a phone line to each DSL connection but did they
              also force you to pay the monthly rate for the phone service?
              If yes, did your DSL service provider also happen to be the
              local telephone monopoly?
              \_ I think so.  Fortunately, that bill goes to my work,
                 so I am not worrying about it. If I was going to pay
                 for it myself, I'd go cable. -rollee
           \_ My experience is phone line for ADSL, not needed for SDSL.
              \_ My experiance as well. I had SDSL,it was on a seperate line
                 that did not have phoneservice. I also had ADSL,moved.  They
                 made me remove the DSL before they would cancel the phoneline

7/22    UCLA ee guy, I found a place on Hilgard, BEAT THAT!!!   UCLA cs guy

7/22    One man's troll is another man's treasure.

7/22    How do you check whether DSL/Cable is available at an area?
        \_ http://www.pacbell.com/DSL_new/content/0,,46,00.html
           You'll have to check the other providers individually to see
           if they're also available.
             \_ It's is sometimes possible to get low speed (144) IDSL
                from other IPSs even when Pac Bell says they won't
                otherwise give you DSL.
        \_ http://www.dslreports.com -dwc

7/22    Babylon 5 is what X Files once was.  Comments?
        \_ Atleast it's on Showtime with boobies and dirty words.
        \_ As bad as you may thing B5 is, it is, and was never
           as bad as X Files was (and, i'm sure, is)
                \_ Um, what?  B5 was never on Showtime, still less
                   did it have b&dw.  You're thinking of "Jeremiah"?
        \_ As bad as you may thin(g)k B5 is, it is, and was never
           as bad as X Files was (and, i'm sure, is) -XfileSux
           \_ Wow, that would have been so profound if you hadn't said
              thing instead of think.  Oh, yeah, and if you weren't
              such a fucking dice nerd, too.
                \_ What the hell is a "dice nerd"? -Xfilesux
                   And do you know what the word "profound" means?
                   'cause sarcasm works better when you actually
                   understand the words you are using.
        \_ Actually, B5 is what X-Files also is:  over. -geordan
                \_ But B5 did it 5 years earlier.  X-Files simply should have.
        \_ You're a cheap whore.

7/22  /sbin/iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -s 10.1.1.0/24 -o eth0 -j MASQUERADE
      In the above line what is the point of the /24 ?
      Is it saying "this class C."  If so how does "24" relate to that?
      What would /8 be?
      \_ Yes it is -- it means the first 24 bits of the address are the
         network address, and so the last 8 bits specify a host on that
         network.  If it were /8, that would be a class A: the first 8
         bits are the network number, and the last 24 bits are for all
         the hosts on that network.
        \_ It's standard CIDR addressing. Nowadays, you can get IP chunks that
           are /22's and so forth, so "Class C" doesn't always make sense.
           CIDR is also referred to as classless routing.
           \_ Classless Inter-Domain Routing even!
        \_ I thought the second number is the number of bits in the subnet
           mask. /24 is the same as 255.255.255.0. In practicality, the
           example is the same. --dim
           \_ Exactly: an IP address specifies both a particular network and
              a particular host on that network, and the netmask tells you how
              many bits of the address are for the network part.
              --original responder
        \_ The submask binds the parity bit, that denotes Class A
           or Class B, for upstream data logging.