Cable/DSL "shared" access myth (was Re: [TriLUG] Port 25 blocked)

[J. "Spydir Web" Powers]

bellsouth now offers fastaccess "Xtreme DSL" for I believe $34.99 a 
month, which gets 3Mb down and 384Kb up.

Also reading your post I can't help but think you're being payed to say 
that.  I'm not saying you're some secret advertiser or something, I'm 
just saying you SHOULD be one ;-)

Jeremy Portzer wrote:

>On Tue, 2004-05-18 at 15:32, Stephen Hoffman wrote:
>  
>
>>   I'm still feeling the service out, but so far I love it...The reason I
>>stayed with DSL was the dedicated bandwidth (I'll sacrifice speed for
>>consistancy). 
>>    
>>
>
>The idea that DSL has "dedicated" bandwidth is one of the biggest myths
>of broadband Internet.  Sure, the bandwidth is "dedicated" from the CO
>(Central Office) or DSLAM (DSL access module) for the "last mile" to
>your home or business.  But it's not dedicated from there upstream! 
>You're still sharing bandwidth with your neighbors, and anyone else at
>at your ISP, where the ISP connects to the Internet backbone!  Plus,
>your DSL modem has significant bandwidth caps that negate how much of
>the backbone you can use anyway.
>
>A cable modem connection shares the cable with your immediate neighbors;
>usually a very small number like 10-15 (maybe slightly more in
>apartments).  But this doesn't matter, because the capacity of the cable
>modems is high (55 Mbit or something).  Your individual modem is limited
>to a much smaller value (with TWC it's usually 3 Mbit down/384Kbit up). 
>So you're never going to be in contention with your neighbors anyway!
>
>The fact is, cable modems offer much more bandwidth for the money
>(standard DSL in this area is often 1.5 down/128kbit up -- Cable is
>twice the download and three times the upload speed).  Cable is usually
>slightly less absolute cost than DSL ($41.95/mo. for Earthlink vs. 49.95
>for full DSL service).  Sure, both cable and DSL can become congested
>during peak periods when the Internet *backbone*  -- the ISP's upstream
>connection -- becomes clogged.  But you should NEVER have any problem
>due to congestion in the "last mile" section, even though this is
>technically "shared" in cable access.  The shared access segment is
>simply not a factor in your connection's speed or utility!
>
>  
>
>> I'm not quite sure if this is a by product of the
>>upgrade, but it seems that when I ssh home (and only ssh) that my
>>keystrokes are heavily delayed?  but I might just need to restart ssh
>>(been up for over 100 days?)
>>    
>>
>
>No, the ssh daemon's uptime has no relation to anything.  If your
>keystrokes are being delayed (known as high latency), that could mean
>that you are downloading or uploading something in the background that
>you aren't aware of (check for trojans, rootkits, etc).  It may also be
>a misconfiguration with the telco or ISP's equipment.
>
>  
>
>>   As far as the process all I really did was go online and change my
>>service...two days later I lost internet in the middle of the night...I
>>restart and I now have a free static IP and consistantly download at
>>300K and upload at about 45K so the speed is about on par with what I'd
>>expect.  Losing mail wasn't the biggest pain in the ass, although I'm
>>sure the list got more then it's fair share of bounces from me
>>(sorry!).
>>   So so far, I'd say go for it...I didn't have to re-commit for any time,
>>no cost to upgrade and I'm only paying $47 and change after taxes, up
>>from $45.  For twice the speed and a static IP, I'll gladly pay $2.00
>>
>>    
>>
>
>This does sound like a good deal, and I don't have a problem with your
>choosing it based on speed, static IP, etc.  But please don't believe
>that somehow your "dedicated" connection is any better because of that.
>
>--Jeremy
>
>  
>

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