Stupid Alltel DSL

So I get home from a meeting and I'm all jazzed to start working on some stuff that pays the bills. But first I need to figure out why I can't listen to xmradio online. Hmmm I need to figure out how to play Windows Media files in Linux and in firefox. Didn't I already accomplish that years ago????

Oh yeah, that was in FC4. So I start googling to remind myself what I need to do and BOOM!!! SPLAT!!! Nothing! My DSL connection is down. OK time to switch back to tech support mode and remember all the things I had people do when they called in with the same problem.
1. reboot modem and wait for all 4 lights to go solid - CHECK!
2. reboot firewall machine and restart PPPoE process - CHECK!
3. reboot modem one more time this time leaving it off for 5 minutes - CHECK!
4. call Internet America..... CHECK

After about 20 minutes on hold Brad comes on the line and asks what's the problem. I say my DSL isn't working. He asked if I was in Sugar Land and had Alltel. Yep! Well they started having problems an hour ago and they are working on it. I tried fishing to find out what areas were affected but he didn't know me from Adam and wasn't very cooperative. At least 2 other DSL customers are up so I guess I'm the lucky one today.

So I open up my Network Device Control applet and fire up USB Modem on the Treo. For some reason connecting to the Internet via the Treo seems slower at the house than at the deer camp. It's probably just a perception thing though. I mean at the deer camp I'm happy to have access to the outside world. At home I'm in the outside world already so I shouldn't have a slow connection to it.

Since I run my mail server here at the house that means that I can't receive email.
Break time!