Hi Barry: I wish more people would read it , or study it and
then they would find out there is no real answer as to which
internet provider is best for which person..it's to complex
and changing to fast to say something is best for all people,
so many factors involved..
For the sake of others I'll put the url here again, with just
a few of my own words and ideas as to Internet Architecture,
FIRST what you want to do most of the time..were you are and
were you want to go, along with the cost would be top consideration,
in "all cases" there are going to be "trade offs" no matter how
you reslove the first part, secondary issues will diminish the
funtionality of your connection when your not utilizing your
primary objective..this is true across the board...
Second, But very importent, IS How many trade offs..do I have to
make once I'm off my primary backbone..and getting traffic from
another backbone.., this will mostly depend on the Major NAPS
( NETWORK ACCESS POINTS ) that my backbone has.
DO not confuse them with POPS..( point's of presence ) are not
relitive to the second question..only the first..and just
because a company has a lot of POPs may not be good ,
as to many pops along a 45 Mbps line your on can kill your bandwidth,
lots of trade offs to look at.
Primary is NAPs , the pop is so you get local dial in, but too many
along your path to a NAP.kills you.( NAP ( how many ) ,locctions..and is it a main hup or a defacto one, that you will use the most, also Bandwidth along the route.
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To much to explaine in a few words, people intrested in the
internet or playing the stocks related to them should have
a basic inderstanding of the Architecture..the below is the
best and most consise url I'v found, it can take weeks to
understand half of the angles, and it is changing so fast,
no one can claim they have an absolute.
boardwatch.com
includes maps..and hub info.
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Now for AOL..she has only 5 NAPs, two are defacto ones, if you want
to talk most to someone else on AOL..by all means this is the way to
go in spite of her 16 bit winsock, you will change traffic faster
with another AOL user..than any one outside her backbone can.
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If your intrested in the balance of the internet, which is over
500 times as large as AOL, then the trade off is very much.
also AOL is a more a proxy than a true internet provider,
and is a re-seller of bandwidth, she is kinda like excell is
to MCI..as she leases bandwidth..that may not make lot of
dif to a user..but it can sure kick her hard in shares
dept down the road.
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Last I looked beyond the hype..and rumor of an AOL, Psix marrage,
or the leasing of lines , PSIX is heavy in the same areas basily
as AOL is ( the N.E.)..not much to gain for either one..AOL would
pick up 1 US NAP..and 2 International ones..PSIX would gain
nothing, but a temporay boust in her share price.
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Beyound that I looked at the over 5% ownership of both companies,
and at conflits of intrest, Like who owns some of both and how
much..and how it would effect them..I can see who would benifit
but also who would lose..if the marrage was to come AOL would
sell off first..that has to do with things beyond the company,
or any stratigic value..seperating the stock from the company,
I don't see a AOL , PSIX marrage the number one holder of AOL,
would lose to much in the deal, unless he sold his 16% first.
the ones who own a lot of Psix, and some AOL would make out,
but the do not own enough AOL to win a proxy fight, and
for them to buy enough AOL to do that..would defeat their
reason for the marrage..
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Jim |
