RE: [cobalt-users] Mexican ISP + RaQ3 = Aye Caramba!

[Rodolfo Paiz <rpaiz@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> That's not entirely true. I'm in Argentina (the south part of south
> america) using a cablemodem (I think the company belongs to 
> TCI), my IP is 24.232.33.119. If you do a traceroute to the IP,
> you'll see that the lag increases in 500ms when the packet enters
> Argentina (anything with .ar at the end). This is because there is
> (or was, until last year I think) a monopoly in the international
> comunications, and the company, "Telintar" uses a satelite or
> something.

Ariel,

Your 500ms lag is not due to the monopoly; it's due to the speed of
light. Either your provider does not have access to international
fiber connectivity out of Argentina, or there is none. In either
case, the ISP is forced to use a satellite connection. Now, light
travels at approximately 300,000 kilometers per second, and
geostationary satellites stationed about 60,000 kilometers up. But
since satellites are not directly above you, usually, the actual
distance traveled from your ISP's dish is usually closer to 75,000
kilometers. Go up, then down... there's your 500ms.

Your packet loss and sucky service are another thing entirely. Two
years ago in Guatemala, all we had was satellite, with its attendant
lag. But I regularly did file transfers at over 1 Mbps with no packet
loss and no problems. *That* you may blame on your ISP and monopoly.

Regarding a comment someone else made on this thread, I regard 3-4%
as an acceptable level of packet loss within my ISP's network. 2%
is pretty much what I have on a daily basis here in Guatemala, but
I don't mind 4%.

------
Rodolfo J. Paiz
rpaiz@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:rpaiz@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>