sean@donelan.com (Sean Donelan) writes:
If the block list operators think it is a "dialup" range, they pre-emptively block all the addresses in the range.
that's because at $30/month there's no budget for a "dialup" provider to call their worm-infested customers one at a time and talk them through "Windows Update", and the "free" "antivirus" software they include on their customer cdroms is crippleware or adware or both. providers who refuse to enter the "race to the bottom" can get their dialup blocks delisted from any blackhole list operator i know of, just by demonstrating clue and conviction.
It has very little to do with the quality of the ISP's abuse desk.
long term, it does. my sister is in sbc-dsl territory and before i linuxed her and tunneled her, i had a terrible time getting e-mail from her. the /24 that her nat/dsl box got by dhcp had a dozen open proxies in it. sbc's abuse desk sure as hell didn't want to hear from me about it and the owners of the infected pee cee's wouldn't've wanted to hear from me even if i'd had some way to identify them and offer them a free linux upgrade if they'd just open their front door and lead me to their pee cee.
... But large DSL or cable address ranges, even if the addresses are statically assigned to specific customers, are pre-emptively blocked.
there's a sound statistical basis for this. and a strong abuse desk (which would show up as higher-than-$30/month-fees) would change those statistics and improve the reputation of that "kind" of address space.
I suppose ISPs could create boutique service provider subsidaries for serious-minded professional power-users. Ask ARIN for independent "elite" IP address ranges. Maybe even get a different 1-800 number for customer service and abuse complaints. Of course, customers would pay more for this "elite" service.
rather, i think that your employer and other dsl providers ought to get into the $50/month 1U colo business and market this to their power users and budget for a strong abuse desk for the small amounts of address space used by that function. (and if you do, please send me the URL and details.) it would be marketing suicide to offer a different dsl-dhcp ip address to people willing to pay enough to budget for an abuse desk. but if you call it colocation then it doesn't look as if you're cheap bastards for not being willing to budget for a strong abuse desk for ALL your customers. -- Paul Vixie