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Technology Stocks : AUTOHOME, Inc -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: drmorgan who wrote (11518)	6/20/1999 11:34:00 AM
From: Frank A. Coluccio	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 29970

I found that site to be very interesting, thanks. whizcomp1.webjump.com

To: drmorgan who wrote (11518)	6/20/1999 2:53:00 PM
From: ftth	Respond to of 29970

DRM: That should be preserved here for posterity: This snippit sums it all up well: ONadvantage Upstream Enhancement - Field Installer Notes Field installers and all individuals with customer contact should NOT discuss ONadvantage with subscribers (unless specifically asked). The best ONadvantage explanation is to avoid talking about it to begin with-if possible. In both instances the following will NOT be mentioned: 128 kbps Upstream rate limiting ONadvantage Upstream Enhancement Date posted: 9 Mar 1999 Date last updated: Author: Karen Thomas Distribution status: MSO Review status: Preliminary Also referred to as 'Upstream Defined Bandwidth' or 'Upstream Rate Limiting' Background and FAQs for Operations including Customer Service Representatives Field Installers Background ONadvantage Overview and Upstream Enhancement - an integral part of the @Home experience @Home's network was designed on the fundamental premise that sustainable high performance requires a highly scaleable architecture that removes Internet traffic jams and enables true end-to-end performance management. ONadvantage (Optimized Network Advantage) has two goals that carry this premise forward: 1.Ensure that the @Home experience is fast and delivers multi-megabit speeds. 2.Ensure that speed and service is consistent across the growing subscriber base. To this end there are three ONadvantage projects: 1.ONadvantage Proxy Evangelization - Improve speed by storing data as close to the subscribers as possible by using proxy or caching servers. 2.ONadvantage Upstream Enhancement - Ensure consistent speed and performance across the subscriber base by proactively managing the network at the subscriber's end. 3.ONadvantage CAR (Committed Access Rate) - Ensure consistent speed and performance by shielding the @Home Network from external problems including security attacks and off-net data abuses. The remainder of this document addressed ONadvantage Upstream Enhancement details that arise from MSO and @Home planning sessions. ONadvantage Upstream Enhancement - What it is and why The ONadvantage Upstream Enhancement is an improvement in speed and service consistency that is implemented at each customer's modem. The maximum rate at which a modem can send data (upstream) is set at 128 kbps (kilobits per second). Speed remains at multi-megabit levels. Current speed claims of 'peak speeds over 100 times faster than a 28.8 kbps modem' and 'up to 100 times faster' remain and are not affected in any way. Downstream rates remain as is and benefit from ONadvantage Upstream Enhancement. Over 99.5% of the subscriber base will experience improved service. Consistent high speed service: Sending files at rates up to 128 kbps ensures that each subscriber receives consistent high speed experience. The @Home Network has done research and has noticed that certain customers are abusing the network by using a disproportionate share of network resources, which in turn causes poor performance for others on the network. To help manage this abuse and ensure that all our customers get consistent high speed service, ONadvantage is being rolled out. The ONadvantage Upstream Enhancement is targeted specifically at protecting the HFC network from the small set of subscribers that may use a disproportionate share of bandwidth. All modems have a limit on the rate at which they can send data, although this rate is different from modem to modem and depends on many additional factors. The @Home service, designed for residential use and designed for acceptable use as outlined in the Acceptable Use Policy, benefits by proactively managing this rate, the upstream rate, to 128 kbps for all subscribers. By mid 1999 all new modem deployments will have 128 kbps upstream rates. As of March 1, 1999 all existing proprietary (non-DOSCIS) modems are in the process of being deployed with the ONadvantage Upstream Enhancement. Analogy: Think of ONadvantage Upstream Enhancement as metering lights on highway on-ramps. The speed on the highway is fast and remains fast as long as cars entering the highway do so in a managed, organized fashion without impairing the speed of those already on the highway. When metering lights are off cars may enter freely. When metering lights are on, cars wishing to enter must first adhere to the metering lights. This prevents a surge of vehicles from entering the highway all at once and slowing the entire highway and all the drivers' fast speed experience. The speed of each driver on the highway is preserved. Note that this analogy falls short in that the ONadvantage Upstream Enhancement delivers an on-ramp rate that is faster than the typical on-ramp. ONadvantage Upstream Enhancement is 4 times faster than a dial-up modem while ensuring that the peak (downstream) rates are over 100 times faster than a 28.8 kbps modem. ONadvantage Upstream Enhancement delivers on-ramp speeds that reach peak speeds that are orders of magnitude faster than typical dial-up modems offer in the same situation. Customer Service Representatives ONadvantage Upstream Enhancement - FAQs What is ONadvantage? ONadvantage stands for 'Optimized Network Advantage'. Based on customer feedback, we're making a few changes to our network to ensure that you consistently experience the blazingly fast speed of the Internet over cable. MSO @Home is a series of enhancements that will give all our members the opportunity to enjoy superior performance and unwavering reliability of the MSO @Home service. ONadvantage enhancements include upgrading all our mail and caching servers. The new mail servers are designed to ensure consistent, reliable performance as our subscriber base grows, and the new caching servers are designed to ensure super-fast performance for Web surfing. What is ONadvantage Upstream Enhancement? We have noticed that certain customers are abusing the network by using a disproportionate share of network resources, which in turn causes poor performance for others. To help manage this abuse and ensure that all our customers get consistent high speed service, we have recently deployed a series of enhancements called ONadvantage or Optimized Network Advantage. The ONadvantage Upstream Enhancement is a speed and service consistency improvement implemented at each customer's modem. What is the upstream rate of my @Home service? Is the @Home service rate-limited? Downstream rates are NOT limited. Upstream rates are limited to 128 kbps. I bought an 'unlimited' service. I asked you if the @Home service is upstream rate limited, and you said yes. This doesn't sound like the 'unlimited' service I signed up for. What happened? The @Home Network is committed to providing the highest level of network performance. We constantly improve the service to ensure the fastest possible experience. ONadvantage Upstream Enhancement ensures that everyone has upstream rates required for the fastest possible residential use. As per the Acceptable Use Policy we reserve the right to make changes to the network as needed to ensure that this is accomplished. You should read the Acceptable Use Policy for more information: http://www/V3/tabhelp/houseruls/aup/index.htm Why does my server at home appear to be slow when it is accessed from the outside? The @Home residential service offering is designed for your personal use of the Internet. As per the Acceptable Use Policy, a residential user may not run programs or servers which provide network services to others via the @Home residential service - for example, an @Home user should not be running a web/mail/ftp server to serve external connections. To help manage this abuse and ensure that all our customers get consistent high speed service, we have recently deployed a series of enhancements called ONadvantage or Optimized Network Advantage. This will ensure that you and all subscribers will always be able to use the @Home service as it was designed to be - super fast @Home Experience. To address the more sophisticated needs of customers like you, we are investigating the possibility of providing a service whereby you will be able to host your own servers in your residence. What is considered acceptable use of the @Home service? What is the definition of 'residential use'? What is @Home's policy on network abuse? The Acceptable Use policy can be found here: http://www/V3/tabhelp/houseruls/aup/index.htm Field Installers, Other Operations ONadvantage Upstream Enhancement - Field Installer Notes Field installers and all individuals with customer contact should NOT discuss ONadvantage with subscribers (unless specifically asked). The best ONadvantage explanation is to avoid talking about it to begin with-if possible. All ONadvantage communications to the customer is based on an as-needed basis only. ONadvantage is a benefit to subscribers and it is also very complicated to explain-therefore limiting subscriber communication regarding ONadvantage prevents unnecessary misunderstandings. ONadvantage needs your help by keeping it low-key in the eyes of the subscriber. Ideally the customer will experience the advantages of ONadvantage program without ever knowing it existed. ONadvantage Upstream Enhancement - Additional Background ONadvantage Upstream Enhancement provides significant benefit by protecting the HFC plant. Data shows a small minority, as few as one or two users, can use a disproportionate share of bandwidth and negatively affect the performance of other subscribers. The likelihood of this happening increases as the number of subscribers grows. (An example of this kind of abuse is running servers off of the @Home Network and is clearly outlined in the Acceptable Use Policy (AUP)). @Home is committed to addressing this problem early and before significant subscriber growth leads to increased performance issues and makes ONadvantage Upstream Enhancements difficult to deploy. A handful of abusers can use up to 50% of a given node's resources if left unchecked. Implementing the ONadvantage Upstream Enhancement is the only known, scaleable solution to managing the subscriber abuse. Other approaches are not proactive and therefore leave the network and all subscribers open to severe performance loss whenever an abuser grabs an upstream bandwidth above and beyond a residential user's needs. The AUP clearly states what is and is not acceptable. The ONadvantage Upstream Enhancement makes the @Home residential service very unattractive for subscribers who push the limits of the service into the unacceptable use area. Specifically, those subscribers who wish to deploy servers (clearly not acceptable use and outlined in the AUP as such) will find that the 128 kbps maximum upstream rate unacceptable performance for this kind (unacceptable) activity. They will seek services elsewhere, including business services offered by the MSO and MSO@Home (including @Work products). Again, this is a minute portion of the subscriber base, less than half a percent. Deploying Upstream Enhancements The schedule, and this includes status on what markets have been deployed to date, is found here: Master Schedule: partner.home.net This schedule is for all markets and all modems. We will constantly be posting updates to it so check back frequently. Note that the schedule distinguishes between 'tentative' and 'confirmed' dates. MSO approval is required for dates to be 'confirmed'. Marketing, Public Relations, Communications ONadvantage Upstream Enhancement - Additional notes ONadvantage Upstream Enhancement is a positive development for the @Home Network. It is also very complex as it involves network management decisions that are technical in nature and easily misconstrued by subscribers. @Home strongly recommends that subscriber communication be limited to: 1.The ONadvantage letter sent out in late 1998. 2.The broadcast banner next to the 'Talk to Us' button on the @Home Home page that includes a click-through letter. This click-through letter is posted 24 hours prior to deployment and will: Explain ONadvantage in broad terms. Will inform the subscriber of the time of the brief service interruption. Will target the audience by MSO and by state and often more granular. This limits the message to those who need to know. 3.In both instances the following will NOT be mentioned: 128 kbps Upstream rate limiting This basic plan is based on the premise that subscribers wish to have a service that is fast and reliable. They want the service to be provided with a minimum amount of effort on their part. This includes network management decisions and improvements and other technical aspects of the service. Customers would prefer NOT to be dragged into technical discussions or emails. Furthermore, the concepts of 128 kbps, rate limiting, and servers are not easily conveyed. In fact, the chances for misunderstandings and miscommunications with subscribers is very great. Therefore @Home's communication plan is based on delivering only what the customer needs to know. ONadvantage should be kept low-key in the eyes of the subscriber. Ideally the customer will experience the advantages of ONadvantage program without ever knowing it existed. Clearly if a subscriber asks point-blank, 'am I being rate limited?', the answer must be yes. See FAQs above. Note that @Home Public relations is actively involved in shaping ONadvantage communications strategy and kept informed of all developments. Document ID #: tt352 Review date: 1 Aug 1999 Keywords: ONadvantage, upstream © Copyright @Home Corporation 1999 All rights reserved --------------------------------------------------------------------------------