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Strategies & Market Trends : DAYTRADING Fundamentals -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Matthew L. Jones who wrote (3652)	9/6/1999 11:00:00 PM
From: Cash	Respond to of 18137

>> I would like to offer one other (not very well known option) that works wonderfully and costs less than most other options. << What you're talking about is "bonding". The bonding device/software allows you to get this perceived bandwidth by sending different requests down different lines. It's great for web pages and multiple request applications. It is also available by having a Supra modem and a combination of as many other modems as you want. This is a cheaper way to do it than a WebRamp, but you only have so many interrupts available in your PC. But do not confuse this with "bundling". This is what happens with ISDN. Because ISND is actually 2 lines, the data is split at your ISP, sent down the 2 (or more) lines, and then re-assembled at your PC. This works great for web pages AND for streaming applications like RealAudio, or big downloads, but of primary importance...Real-Time quotes! If you get a 9:31am burst of trades coming into your system, you don't want to miss one and if that burst exceeds your 52,000 maximum, you're missing quotes. Now, it all depends on how many stocks you are tracking, but if you're using a filtering software like RIM or FirstAlert, you can track thousands and get sent a LOT of data. A "bonded" solution will not help you with this. It WILL keep your web surfing from taking up some of that 52,000 bandwidth that you want for your quotes, but it will not give you more "true" bandwidth... only "bundling" will do that. I have a "bundled" solution using Windows NT Multilink PPP. It's one of the dial-up network settings and I understand it's also available in Win98. Now for this to work, you MUST have an ISP that can handle "bundling" because they all have to dial the same phone number, use the same account number and go throught the same router at the ISP's site. But when you have 3 modems going, each at 48K and you see on the download progress dialog that you're downloading a humongous file at 144kbps, you know you have bundling. I also found that some ISP's say they have it, but can't really keep it up (guess they need Viagra). Anyway, my solution costs this: 3 56K modems = $40/ea. = $120 3 phone lines = $15/mo. = $45/mo. ISP service ($19.95 (1st login) +9.95 (second)+ 9.95 third) = 27.85/mo. Total monthly for 144K bandwidth = 72.85/mo. ISDN at 128K = $120/mo. + per minute fees. So this is a solution the more technically apt can use. Or have someone help them set it up.

To: Matthew L. Jones who wrote (3652)	9/7/1999 8:49:00 AM
From: Robert Graham	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 18137

Are you sure you are getting better than ISDN speeds on your setup? The multiple 56K lines you have may not add up cumulatively with respect to the speed you have going out to the Internet unless the packets of data are actually being routed in a dynamic fashion between the 56K modem lines for a given Internet connection, such as the one you have with your quote provider when you bring up your charting software. Now if the router performs actual load sharing between the modem links, then does it do this on a static or dynamic basis? In other words, for ever packet routed out to the Internet from your setup, which can come from any PC connected to the router, is the decision made at this point as to what link to use to send the packet to the ISP? Unless something has changed in the last few years, I do not think the technology is there to effectively share multiple dial-in links to the ISP in order to dynamically balance the load between them. I will add that some form of load sharing was available on a couple products sold to businesses for their large networking needs. However, unless this picture has changed, this means to you that for every Internet connection you bring up, you will be essentially utilizing only one and the same modem for the duration of the connection. This means sub-ISDN speeds, given that ISDN can be up to 64K, not the 56K speed of modem. Furthermore, two ISDN lines can be bonded together to give theoretical 128K speeds. This measn that an ISDN line would be substantially faster than this shared modem setup. I will say that your setup does provide redundancy that is sharable between multiple PCs, which is the most important aspect of this setup for your uses. You have indeed accomplished this. Any comments from network people what are actively in this business today? The best answer to me if one can afford it is frame relay now that it has become more affordable to the small user. Aside from this, I would look into a ADSL setup that is becoming available to households across the country, but sadly not Tucson. Lastly, I would utilize ISDN. Having developed driver software for ISDN boards that fit into PC, I can tell you that the setup of ISDN is problematic with nobody at your local telco office to help including the field techs. I was telling them what they needed to do, and this was on my first driver project for ISDN boards where I certainly was no expert. They had to connect me with their "expert" all the way in Phoenix to help them bring up my ISDN line. And I am a 3 hour drive away in another city, Tucson. Finally, I still do not understand why anyone for their "bread and butter" utilize Internet connections prone to congestion and other capacity related issues. Perhaps the Intenet apps are implemented with more useful features such as QCharts. And this approach can be more inexpensive. But I would do my actual trading on a direct connect line to the end service provider(s), such as your electronic brokerage service. A much more reliable connection for your trading needs. But a connection that I do think few day traders take advantage of. Comments welcome! Bob Graham PS: Actually what I think they are providing end users for ISDN and other modem sharing uses is a stripped down communications server, not a router. There is a difference in capability, particularly in this area of load sharing between multiple telephone links. PPS: Fractional T1 lines are pricey and are not available to many residential users. For that matter, I cannot obtain ISDN to any apartment or house in my area. The telco has not seen fit to install a network of repeaters to send the signal into the rest of the community beyond the downtown and university districts here.