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How to Test Your T1?
lawpoop asks: "We have a T1 line for our building with a local ISP. Right now, we're looking for competitive bids from different companies. The local guy is offering a good price, but the larger guys are saying he may be overselling the T1 service through a DS-3. He swears he's not. So, how do I tell? The sales guys say 'There's bandwidth meters on the web,' but they fail to mention exactly how I can tell if I have a true T1. I've tried a half-dozen bandwith meters on various websites, and the results are highly variable. We've gotten 300-900 Kbps. Each site has disclaimers as to internet traffic, time of day, etc. Furthermore, we split the T1 out over a hub with two other tenants in the building. I'm coming through from behind that hub. How can I tell for certain that I'm getting a full T1? A service tech with a line tester? Any dead-on bandwith meters? What would an oversold T1 read out to be as compared to a true T1? If the larger guys are trying to scare me to their service with stories of oversold T1s, I need to know that they aren't doing it also!"
First of all, you probably have a t1, I have no doubt about that. A t1 is a t1 is a t1, there is no questions about that. If you have a t1 then I am sure that you could transfer 1.544mbps over that line to the other side. Now, after you get past the point directly on the other side that is an entirely different question, AND ONE THAT YOU DIDN'T ask. Unless you have that t1 connected to somewhere with so much aggregate bandwidth that you're head will spin I seriously doubt that you will ever get every single kbps that a T1 is good for. If you can sustain 200kb/s downloads or get close, then you have just about all you're going to get.