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Microcap & Penny Stocks : Zulu-tek, Inc. (ZULU) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Terry T. who wrote (16061)	11/19/1998 10:41:00 AM
From: Jon Tara	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 18444

OT - Terry, you may or may not experience a speed better than T-1. Fibre isn't necessarily faster than T-1. Just as T-1 isn't necessarily as fast as T-1. Wha? OK, technically, T-1 is a transport medium, not a speed. It's a set of 4 wires - two twisted pairs - that are capable of transporting data at up to about 1.5Mbit/sec. But bits is expensive, so the service is actually sold in increments of 64kBit/sec. Anything less than a "full T-1" is called fractional T-1 service. Although T-1 lines are often dedicated for data or Internet uses, their PRIMARY use is actually for bringing phone lines into dense areas (such as office buildings). You can pack 24 phone conversations on a T-1 line. If fewer than 24 phones are needed, you could use part of that T-1 for a fractional data circuit. Now, why do I mention this obscure fact? Well, nearly 100% of fibre connections are shared in this manner. Only ISPs and very large corporations have fibre connections installed just for their data. Telephone companies actually install fibre into new office complexes FOR FREE. Why? Because it's cheaper than bringing in a big bundle of wires. (And, quite often, they can't find enough pairs of those little wires, and then that gets QUITE expensive.) The telephone company is speculating that they will sell enough phone lines that they will break out of that fibre to make it worth their while. So, most likely, all the phones in your new office building are connected to the fibre. Some portion of the potential bandwidth of the fibre is being leased to an Internet service provider who is speculating that they can sell enough Internet accounts to make a profit. You should be asking that ISP specifically how fast the connection is. They AREN'T using the entire fibre. It's a common marketing ploy to refer to the size of the pipe, even though they aren't using all of it. (A LOT of ISPs do this when talking about their connections to the Internet...) This is also now a common marketing ploy for new office space. It's a "freebie" they get to work with, since all new construction in major cities is going to be done this way. Yes, it IS an advantage, but isn't always exactly what is claimed. Common fibre "pipe sizes" are OC-1 (50Mbit/sec - not often used any more) OC-3 (150 Mbit/sec - the most common size currently used) and OC-12 (650Mbit/sec). But, again, this is meaningless, except when impressing clients as to how wired you are. :)