Re: [cobalt-users] ADSL Speed...

[Kris Dahl <kris@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

on 12/8/99 9:55 AM, Steve Davis at steve@xxxxxxx wrote:

> Comment:
> 
> I have not had good luck with my adsl speeds. After three years with a 512kits
> cable modem i tried an adsl connection. At first I received 750kbits download
> speed and 256Kbits upload.  After two weeks I was eking out 12Kbits down and
> 2kbits up.  Needless to say, the price was not worth the effort. The service
> was through BellSouth and they promised better performance once this and that
> was done.  After talking to my adsl installer he confessed they were
> provisioning 230 adsl customers per 1.5Mbits of backside bandwidth. This is
> where I went back to the cable modem.
> 
> Point of this tiresome and long story, unless the dsl connection is
> specifically designed to _serve_ don't risk the connection on your customers.
> Most dsl providers will not provision any suitable upload bandwidth unless you
> are paying for it.

There are several implementations of DSL out there... most are called ADSL
even if they might not be.

Many of the telco providers (like all the ones on the west coast that I have
dealt with) are actually using RADSL.  Telephone companies and bandwitdth
providers realized it was kinda silly to arbitrarily limit
upstream/downstream bandwidth across the board.  Most of the providers in WA
state have decided to offer equal upstream/downstream bandwidth to its
users.  This is a rate that can be set by the provider of the service AND on
your router.  Note, however that a lot of smaller, less sophisticated (and
even the large ones like USWest) have used the configuration of the user's
router to limit bandwidth.  Others (like USwest) have just sold different
rate plans that are actually the same rate (ie, you can pay for 256 or you
can pay for 512, but you're going to get the 512 service either way) because
they didn't have the facilities to limit the rates on their end.

This means that your throughput MIGHT NOT be a limitation of the technology
you are using. Obviously the problem that this gentleman is running into is
an issue of him buying from a ISP that is not guaranteeing his quality of
service.  Time to switch to another provider.  One that is a REAL bandwidth
provider.  Even with DSL you get what you pay for.  You can purchase hosting
quality gaurenteed bandwidth from companies like Savvis Communications, etc.
Which is going to offer better performance than just about any T1 that you
are going to buy (because it is gaurenteed--uptime, bandwidth,
everything--and would be a tier 1 connection).  Latency would be like 8-10ms
and like 2-3 hops to the backbone.

What you really need to do is contact a service provider that focuses on
dedicated connections for business customers.

-k