The engineer who installed my DSL connection claimed there is a better technology in the pipeline called the 'ATM - Asynchronous Transfer Mode'. This is faster than DSL because it is a synchrounous system based on 53 byte cell switching. He explained that speeds of upto OC3 (200TB/sec) and above are possible with ATM, and it is even faster than the current fastest network - Synchronous Digital Highway (SDH).
ATM is a common technology for DSL backend networks. However, ATM overhead at speeds of DS-3 or greater gets to be quite a problem. In fact, it is referred to as the "cell tax". Major ISPs who run big national backbones (OC-48/OC-192) use POSIP (Packet over Sonet IP).
IF you are buying large pipes (DS3 or larger), make sure you are getting POSIP not ATM.
Many thanks! Of course, my wife just told me that she was a freshman in college when she learned what "fart" meant, so I guess I'm notthe lamest one in the house!
Yeah, I wrote uuPCB for PC Board. I guess at it's peak I had about 250 boards using the software around the world (for some wierd reason I had about a dozen boards in South Africa using it). It was a much different world then. Typically there were only one or two places in a lot of towns for sysop's to connect to a UUCP feed (forget about IP) for email and news. I remember one guy in North Dakota who only had an option of Univ of ND for his UUCP.
While I was in Houston, I connected to the Univ of Houston (uhnix as I recall). After a move to Atlanta, I connected to UUNet (for a fee - about a dollar an hour, I think) and to a local unix box, gwinnett.com.
In 1994, I moved to Phoenix. Due to a temporary living situation that went on for 3 months, the rise of the Internet and just a general fatigue, I didn't bring Ed Hopper's BBS back up in Arizona.
I did just register my old domain, however, ehbbs.com, just for fun. Maybe I'll do some nostalgia stuff on it.
1. AT&T bought the physical assets of Northpoint AT AUCTION in the bankruptcy court. They didn't buy the customer contracts. (Northpoints customers were the DSL providers that then went and sold DSL service to you. People like Concentric, Telocity, etc.)
2. The sale to AT&T won't close for 60 DAYS (See press releases and news stories). Hence until the deal closes (say around June) AT&T has no say in how the physical assets are used until then.
3. A reality of life is that this is a preview of what could still happen to Covad and Rhythms based DSL providers. Look at their stock and see how much they have declined as well. The DSL business model is inherently unstable. Gather round children and learn:
There are, in most places, only 4 providers of DSL:
The LEC (Pac Bell, Verizon, SBC, Bell South, etc)
Covad
Rhythms
The late Northpoint
That's it. All these clowns advertising DSL typically buy their DSL access circuits from one of the latter 3 providers listed. (A very few buy from the LEC's) If the one your provider uses is Northpoint, well, you are looking at a blank screen now.
Now, the DSL wholesaler (Northpoint, Covad, Rhythms) buys local loop access and co-location space in each Central Office from the local LEC in most cases. They also have to buy backbone access from a national carrier. Finally, they have to cover the cost of marketing, tech support, etc.
The problem is, that for this kludge to work, Northpoint and the others have to run their whole operation on about 1/3 of the $30-$50 a month most people are probably paying for DSL. That's bad enough, but a number of the customers of Northpoint (and the other 2) have filed bankruptcy themselves. (See Flashcom).
This model, in the end, doesn't work. AT&T is convinced of this, that's why they didn't buy the wholesale contracts that Northpoint had. Those contracts are pretty much worthless. They think it makes more sense to try to have to only pay the LECs for the right to use the wire and the CO's rather than pay a wholesaler (like they do now) in addition. I suspect that over time, that's what we are going to see in the DSL game.
Of course, the California PUC is going to use their magic wand, to ignore the realities of the market. I understand that after fixing DSL, their next trick is to turn lead into gold.
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ATM is a common technology for DSL backend networks. However, ATM overhead at speeds of DS-3 or greater gets to be quite a problem. In fact, it is referred to as the "cell tax". Major ISPs who run big national backbones (OC-48/OC-192) use POSIP (Packet over Sonet IP).
IF you are buying large pipes (DS3 or larger), make sure you are getting POSIP not ATM.
Just forward a day's spam to Ron Wyden. In fact, change your filters to forward spam to him.
Many thanks! Of course, my wife just told me that she was a freshman in college when she learned what "fart" meant, so I guess I'm notthe lamest one in the house!
In general, how does one download from IRC? I thought it was just chat...
Well, I ran a BBS in Atlanta at the same time. I used to use Robert's RNet program for networking with other boards. Ed Hopper
While I was in Houston, I connected to the Univ of Houston (uhnix as I recall). After a move to Atlanta, I connected to UUNet (for a fee - about a dollar an hour, I think) and to a local unix box, gwinnett.com.
In 1994, I moved to Phoenix. Due to a temporary living situation that went on for 3 months, the rise of the Internet and just a general fatigue, I didn't bring Ed Hopper's BBS back up in Arizona.
I did just register my old domain, however, ehbbs.com, just for fun. Maybe I'll do some nostalgia stuff on it.
1. AT&T bought the physical assets of Northpoint AT AUCTION in the bankruptcy court. They didn't buy the customer contracts. (Northpoints customers were the DSL providers that then went and sold DSL service to you. People like Concentric, Telocity, etc.)
2. The sale to AT&T won't close for 60 DAYS (See press releases and news stories). Hence until the deal closes (say around June) AT&T has no say in how the physical assets are used until then.
3. A reality of life is that this is a preview of what could still happen to Covad and Rhythms based DSL providers. Look at their stock and see how much they have declined as well. The DSL business model is inherently unstable. Gather round children and learn:
There are, in most places, only 4 providers of DSL:
The LEC (Pac Bell, Verizon, SBC, Bell South, etc)
Covad
Rhythms
The late Northpoint
That's it. All these clowns advertising DSL typically buy their DSL access circuits from one of the latter 3 providers listed. (A very few buy from the LEC's) If the one your provider uses is Northpoint, well, you are looking at a blank screen now.
Now, the DSL wholesaler (Northpoint, Covad, Rhythms) buys local loop access and co-location space in each Central Office from the local LEC in most cases. They also have to buy backbone access from a national carrier. Finally, they have to cover the cost of marketing, tech support, etc.
The problem is, that for this kludge to work, Northpoint and the others have to run their whole operation on about 1/3 of the $30-$50 a month most people are probably paying for DSL. That's bad enough, but a number of the customers of Northpoint (and the other 2) have filed bankruptcy themselves. (See Flashcom).
This model, in the end, doesn't work. AT&T is convinced of this, that's why they didn't buy the wholesale contracts that Northpoint had. Those contracts are pretty much worthless. They think it makes more sense to try to have to only pay the LECs for the right to use the wire and the CO's rather than pay a wholesaler (like they do now) in addition. I suspect that over time, that's what we are going to see in the DSL game.
Of course, the California PUC is going to use their magic wand, to ignore the realities of the market. I understand that after fixing DSL, their next trick is to turn lead into gold.