[NCLUG] Re: DSL Throttling or General Congestion?

[John L. Bass]

Jim Hutchinson wrote:
> On Sun, Jul 27, 2008 at 11:52 AM, Ben West <mrgenixus at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>   
>> the fact is, DSL is and always will be a shared-access medium, it would be
>> fraudulent for them to sell you a higher service level, considering they
>> can't currently provide you with your maximum allocation...  You're
>> proposing to pay for a bigger buffet at a restaurant where they can't keep
>> all the food-stations full to begin with....  perhaps if you need more
>> bandwidth, you should find out if they have any dedicated-access options
>> available?
>>     
>
>
> What do you mean by shared-access? My understanding is that cable is shared
> and that if a lot of people in your area are online you will see a decrease
> in performance. By contrast, DSL gives you a dedicated line to a point -
> usually a junction box. The further to box the slower your connection can
> be. As a result, you should not see changes in speed based on how many
> people in your area are online. There may be other issues that affect speed
> but my understanding was that it's not shared the same way as cable is.
>
>
>   
Your cable line to the pole is dedicated too, and shortly there after 
ends up in a statistical multiplexor. Every .... repeat ... every 
internet form does that at some level, including T1 lines.  For example, 
when I was purchasing services from NCIC 10 years ago, they had two T1 
lines from Boulder and resold that bandwidth over subscribed by a factor 
of about 10. Your ethernet, ISDN, or T1 connection to NCIC was 
dedicated, and ended up over subscribed at the NCIC router.

It really doesn't matter if your shoestring, or giant water main is 
dedicated, if it necks down anywhere after leaving your place.

At CWX we have always been open about how we over subscribe our network 
hardware and costs to set service levels and rates. Few other ISP's will 
be honest about their minimum engineering and cost over subscription 
ratios. We are frequently more expensive than other wireless solutions 
because of our low over subscription ratio, where competitors put 
several times the number of customers on the same resources. We do so at 
cost, which isn't always cheapest compared to lower cost areas in the 
city where cable and CO based DSL services rule. We freely tell our 
customers to take the best wired option they can find, as it's likely to 
be faster, more reliable, and cheaper than high ground wireless. We are 
faster, more reliable, and cheaper than satelite, which is the only 
other option for many of our customers.

The only place where you get dedicated internet bandwidth is purchasing 
from a tier 1 or 2 provider with an SLA that specifically says you have 
that bandwidth guarenteed 24X7. Those connections are dead expensive ... 
and are what your ISP is most likely purchasing, then over subscribing 
to provide lower cost highly over subscribed connections.

Those that want 3mbps dedicated, need to purchase bonded T1's with a 
dedicated SLA. The cost will range between $1-3K/month for the bonded 
set. That will give you 3mbps all the time. If you are saving $1,500 a 
month with your cable or DSL connection, and are happy that it's fast 
most of the time, you are clearly getting a bargin at a huge savings.