No need for downtime.

Switch first - then pull the plug.

Unfortunately, this doesn't work unless you have 2 unique PICs. I run into this all the time. Bell pulls the DSLAM on directions from Sympatico and then plugs another one in on direction from the new provider. You might be able to get it down to 4 days if you have an insider at Bell, but I wouldn't count on it. Sometimes, you just have to bite the bullet.

...

There was a thread approx a month ago on can.internet.highspeed with Sympatico users complaining bitterly that Sympatico is now blocking *INBOUND* (yes, I said *INBOUND*) port 25, as well as outbound port 25 to/from user IP addresses. You must now use Sympatico's MTA for all email activity, unless you ssh-tunnel (or something similar) to another site.

Haven't noticed that blocking yet. Outbound was fixed easily enough. Also don't recall getting any notice about those plans! They turned on a new 'spam blocking' feature that I promptly disabled. To quote Python: 'I told 'em we already got one....'

This is one of thone times I'd hop over to one of those nice static-ip, server friendly ISPs but the idea of two weeks downtime on my broadband...

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