Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : LAST MILE TECHNOLOGIES - Let's Discuss Them Here -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Herc who wrote (5278)	9/18/1999 5:53:00 AM
From: John Stichnoth	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 12823

I thought only cable modem speeds went down as more people signed on. Herc, the issue might be on the back end. If you had an analog (eg., 28.8) modem before, you probably noticed that sometimes your response time was better than others. That was because within the CO, and beyond it, lines are provisioned statistically--there are more "lines" coming in from customers than going out the back to the network. Essentially, this situation is unchanged with dsl implementations. The telco can't economically supply all the equipment it would need to satisfy all users if they were all on at the same time demanding full bandwidth downloads. But, everyone is never on at the same time, and when on everyone isn't downloading simultaneously. But, if the equipment is near capacity, the customer can experience service slowdowns. The situation is a little different from cable modems. Both have "statistical" chokepoints. But, the telcos' being in the CO means that they have more lines over which to reach a reliably predictable level of service. With cable, if you've got several really hungry users as close neighbors, I understand, you are quickly limited by their activity. With the dsl installation, usage and the bottleneck are spread out over more users. Thus the bottleneck will be more predictable, and the telco can upgrade more easily to ease the bottleneck problem, by providing additional equipment and/or line capacity at the CO. That being said, if the drop in throughput was sudden, there may be one or more other issues: has the telco deliberately slowed down your connection? They can do this in some installations, I believe, and would do so to keep you in the correct price/performance profile or for some other reason. Is there a problem with the line? The telco can run a line check, I believe. (A line check should verify the quality of the line, not just that dsl is available, by the way.) Corrections, comments by my more technically astute colleagues would be welcome. Best, JS