***Off topic response to query***
Jim, my personal semi-solution to the ISP access bandwidth problem was to install home ISDN service. PacBell provides the ISDN line, and I can dial-up any one of several ISPs who provide ISDN access. At present I use GTE, and find their service satisfactory ($39.95/mo for unlimited access). Never get a busy signal, and email service is fine. No editorial content, but I only want internet access anyway.
ISDN is a bit of a pain to install and configure, and costs a bit more, but is affordable and available now. If only one bearer channel is used, access is at 64K bits per second. If two channels are used, 128K bits/second is the speed. I find the 64K to be not much slower than the 128K, as the local-server-to-my-home link is usually not the bottleneck in the system. Also, if the second 64K channel is not used for internet, it is available as an extra telephone line (even while I am using the other channel for internet access), which I find useful for fax and/or voice.
Of course, some day (real soon now) inexpensive higher bandwidth will be common; perhaps ATM or cable, or satellite. Until then, I think ISDN is not a bad choice.
Reagan |
