Probably never found any friends either

THIS IS WHY SOFTWARE DOWNLOADS ARE 75 GB WHEN 20 YEARS AGO THEY WERE ONLY 200 MB.

So I work for a smaller regional ISP in the Midwest. I can definitively say every single notice we have ever received about any IP addresses on our network causing a problem has always been a compromised legitimate device on a user’s network. Most of the time it’s somebody installing a shady app on their smart TV/streaming stick.

That’s totally fair!

I appreciate you taking the time to be so thorough with everything here!

My guess is a lot of that rule was created to cut down on the “is this a good server?” Questions. Which I could see becoming a problem.

Maybe a rule specifically calling that out and a weekly “Hardware guidance” post that people can comment and ask those kinds of questions?

Also happy to help. I’ve modded on Reddit a few times and agree with light touch to avoid all the dramatic junk.

You cannot just buy any SFP module and have it work. Most ISPs deploy a “special” (at least compared to normal point to point fiber links) that lets them serve multiple customers out of one port in their office. This is called a Passive Optical Network and requires specialized modules on both ends. There are ways to make a specific SFP work as an ONT and by cloning certain identifiers from the ONT to make the ISP think their box is still there.

This is a lot of effort and from my research, could stop working randomly in some cases.

Synology was my gateway to self-hosting. I agree that now, with the knowledge I’ve gained, they are overpriced, but for a “NAS with training wheels” I can’t think of much better for people with the money to spend.

I think there’s a place for Synology and I’d like to imagine with such a resounding amount of feedback, they’re going to avoid the proprietary crap for a while at least. I’m not saying they’re a good company or that they deserve praise for backtracking on a stupid idea, but at least I’m not as reluctant to recommend them as I was.

Because you weren’t going to pay. The people that don’t know any better/have the money to spend on a subscription would just as soon pay for the convenience of not doing everything above.

So everyone else has good points but there’s one other part I don’t think was mentioned.

Most ISPs use a PON based network. This lets them connect one fiber in their network and “split” that to up to 128 (or more, depends on the OEM) customers. You need a either GPON (Gigabit passive optical network) or XGS-PON (10 gigabit symmetrical passive optical network) SFP module and usually the ISP has to get a serial number off of that module to provision the proper data service.

This is contingent upon the ISP being willing to do that. The one I currently work for, we really don’t do that except for businesses.

Replying to this before OP asks.

Usenet is distributed across hundreds (thousands maybe?) of servers. It’s centralized in that setting up your own server and getting the same access as joining an existing Usenet server is going to be very difficult (and with Usenet being used for privacy more and more, could be impossible due to admins not trusting a random new person), but in theory one could.

I’ve used it about 2 years now. I have both Jellyfin and even had Invidious for a while. I don’t even know it was against any terms until right now.

Well luckily for us all it’s not :-)

Most ISPs (especially smaller ones it seems) just run a basic DHCP server with leases expiring at a set interval. As long as your stuff is on and working when the lease renews, you’ll pull the same IP forever.

Dang. Not the company I was hoping.

If they’re using an eero router, I’m going to assume you’ll just have an ethernet cable from an ONT then into the router. Ask the installer if you need to use the eero or can you install your own router. That may alleviate some of your concerns.

I work for an ISP and self host. I have more things in place to track my usage than any ISP would put just because I make myself the guinea pig for new equipment and want to know exactly what is happening. You will never use a full 8 gig (at least as of now, obviously in the future that will change). If the extra money isn’t an issue do it, but if you can “girl math” the $30 price difference, stick with that for a year and spend the extra $360 you saved on multi-gig networking equipment, that’s what I’d do.

Yes please. What is QRD? Don’t need much details, just a quick intro.

Going from 100 Mbps to even a gigabit, if you’re self hosting, is going to be a huge difference. If you want my opinion, save yourself some money, go with the lowest speed over a gigabit and gradually buy equipment with the money you’d save compared to the 8 gigabit plan.

As for the router, can you either send a picture of it from the ISPs website or name the ISP? With 8 gig being the maximum, you’re going to be on XGS PON and I have a hunch I know what equipment you’re getting, but want to make sure I’m right.

I’ve had Jellyfin and Plex running using the same media directory for a couple years now. I think I had to make a couple small changes for things like seasons of a TV show to show up correctly, but nothing incredibly difficult. Definitely worth setting up and playing with periodically so when you do finally get sick of Plex, you’re ready to just switch.

Only thing I use Plex for exclusively now is when I’m flying, Plex has the Netflix style download option and Jellyfin just downloads the video file. I like Plex’s way better just from personal preference.

I work for an ISP (smaller, not a nationwide company). We genuinely don’t care what you use your internet connection for until we get a legal notice and then we do what’s required by law.

It’s the reason I dual boot, really. I periodically check to see if the programs I do want to use that work best on Windows work any better on Linux and it definitely gets better every time I check, but it’s just not there 100 percent yet.

And blaming users for no reason than Microsoft is a terrible corporation and how dare anyone use it is an awful tactic to get people to switch.

I believe the Steam Deck has done more for running Windows programs on Linux than any other singular project (in terms of mainstream adoption, obviously Wine/Proton is the reason that even works) and they accomplished it by working WITH developers stuck on developing for Windows. Not by just telling those devs how awful they are and if they’re looking for a half measure they can take to switch to Linux, they’re on the wrong game store or whatever other response they’ve given.