Hi People,
I,ve been crazy trying to get online with linux.
Which Internet Service Provider do you use with linux?
At the present time I'm with Telewest, on the phone and with the internet, but Telewest only supports Windows and does not support linux. I need to find an ISP that supports linux and dial through it.
To configure the internet on my RH9, on the Service Provider question I can see that one of the options is Freeserve but I have some Freeserve CDs at home and none of them has linux supported.
I've been on this quest for ages...
I'm going to start pulling my hair out in a minute.
Could someone help or at least give me some pointers?
Thx

there's a difference between supporting linux and usable with linux. any isp that doesn't require special software (aol,msn,etc) should, in theory, work just fine.

Look at it the other way around. Linux should support most ISPs. Remeber that most ISPs hire people who read from a manual and are clueless as to how to help you anyways. What you need is to call your ISP and ask them for some basic info. You want the IPs of the primary and secondary nameservers, your username, your password, and the phone number of the server you have to connect to. Ask them what type of authentication that they require: PAP or CHAP are the most common (PAP being the very most.). You can plug it in when prompted by your linux dialer and you should get online (as long as your modem works)

Good luck

PS if no luck screw it and get broadband (ethernet card and a cable. 3 minute with IP config. Yer on!)

All right...
I've got all that info already from Telewest and I've tried it with my first modem which I think, now, it doesn't work, so I got all messed up and because the people from Telewest said they did not support linux I imediately assumed it wouldn't work. I'll give it another go.
thx

Yer welcome. The ISP answer is that they don't know what Linux is, so they can't say, "open the 'K' menu and click on 'run'. Type 'kpppconfig' (or whatever) 'click on the big 'okay box', etc" You follow?

With Linux, yer on yer own until you get to this site. Then you're supported. You don't need your ISP's support. All they need to do for you is provide 100% uptime and charge you so little you feel guilty! Yeah! If your modem's supported, you'll get it. If you want more help with dialup and Linux, there are a lot of tutorials out there as well. Try a Linux Google search for it http://www.google.com/linux

Good luck getting online.

Thax a lot, I'll try that tomorrow for now I'll be trying to get info, cos I'm online in WIN, to try your tips out I need to reboot to linux and if I have a question, I'll need to reboot again to WIN and get online and bla bla bla...
J, I can't see the day I can get online with linux and leave behind this nonsense of bootin this booting that, just the time waiting to boot here and reboot there...
I'll keep waiting for more advice and looking for tutorials.
Thx a million again

anyone have some suggestions for getting aol broadband to work? tried to use aol with wine, but that didnt work..

i heave heard of peng or something like that for dialup aol, but dont think it works for cable

I use Joimail for dial-up. It has a linux configuration page on their website (a bit outdated though). Don't think you'll get any telephone support for linux, though.

Any ISP that fails to support Linux is LAME. All they should need from you is insert of account name +(PW) and the server assigned values for e-mail (outgoing etc) oh yea, the dial up phone number is helpful.

Thanks to all of you good people
My love for this linux community expands by the hour. Love you guys.

I use NTL. NTL has special connection software, but since I have a pc and laptop I bought a 4 port hub from Belkin, put the connection through that and now don't need any software under Win or Lin. Give it a go.

I use access4less.net. No software need be downloaded and they have a linux intall page with all the info. you need.

I have RoadRunner. But my router is the thing that has all the internet settings. I just use dhcp for my linux computer. Works well, no complaints about DHCP or RoadRunner.

THANK YOU.
I finally got online with linux. rshaw and vectordrake were right. All I had to do was forget what the people from Telewest said, (they said that they did not support linux). Because I was already using them to get online with WIN, I had the "username", "password" and the phone number, now all I had to do was to ask them for the Primary DNS and Secundary DNS, and voila, I,m online with LINUUXXX.
Great, AMAZING ...
Thanks to all of you great people in a great community.
Kisses to all.

I sort-of use UKLINUX.NET and Virgin.net.

That is to say, I used to use UKL but we (as a household) found Virgin.net's anytime package to be cheaper than anyone else's. So, I dial up to Virgin.net on an 0808 number (freephone) and connect to UKL to send/receive my emails. Both work absolutely fine. So long as you get the phone number, the username and the password correct, and the pop/smtp servers correct, you shoulnd't have a problem with anyone except AOL.

Good luck.

Oh, and anyone looking to use broadband in the UK - it may be easier to get a cheap ethernet adsl modem/router from somewhere like ebuyer and go for a 'wires only' package from your broadband supplier. I found so many were unwilling to talk to me whatsoever when I mentioned Linux on the phone. In the end I found it easier to say I had a Apple and I wanted to connect my xbox to the Internet as well without my Apple being turned on... that buggared them! The only solution any of them could come up with was to purchase my own modem/router and get a wires-only setup from them. However, it turns out I'm not close enough to my local exchange to get adsl... ho hum.