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From: david@mynx.demon.co.uk
Newsgroups: demon.ip.support,demon.tech.unix,comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc
Subject: Re: Batch FTP and Web Pages
Date: Tue, 02 Jul 96 06:43:40 GMT
Lines: 61
Message-ID: <836289820snz@mynx.demon.co.uk>
References: <31D4AA3A.BC0@www.play-hookey.com> <836073421snz@dsl.co.uk> <31D87436.7C7F@www.play-hookey.com>
X-NNTP-Posting-Host: zing.demon.co.uk
In article <31D87436.7C7F@www.play-hookey.com>
kbigelow@www.play-hookey.com "Ken Bigelow" writes:
> I mean no offense, but
> 200 bytes/sec *stinks!* It's a wonder you can do anything useful at all on
> that basis.
>
> The technology exists to speed things up, so that's not the barrier. What kind
> of regulations, taxes, and other impediments would be applied to an ISP who
> actually did have a direct, high-speed connection to the backbone and who
> could therefore offer practical dial-up connections at 14.4 kbaud or higher?
Ken,
You have misunderstood I think. We do have dial up connections at 14.4
and 28.6 - same technology, and in some areas better technology, than
the US. We have ISDN too for those who need (and can afford) it.
The slow connection speeds are (mostly) on transatlantic
connections, not on the dial-in line. Most of the time it tends to be a result
of congestion in the *US* backbone. At the moment some US east coast sites
maintain very high access rates from Demon, getting much from west coast
sites is was causes most of the pain. Demon are increasing their connections
to the US backbone - this month (hopefully) which should improve matters.
> Also, what are the chances of establishing a flat fee for local telephone
> usage? I have a sneaking hunch that that one factor is *the* primary
> limitation in your system, and that you folks in the UK will be held back
> until some sort of flat rate becomes possible.
Probably right, except here in Hull we do have flat rate local calls and
always have had - unfortunately Demon no longer offer truly local calls
in this area (which means we're stuck with the timed local calls
everyone else has inflicted on them).
The local phone company had no problems with this.
Demon had few problems with it, other than people were getting the
equivalent of expenisive leased lines.
Quite a lot of Demon customers in this group seemed to have quite a big
problem with the fact that others were getting something cheaper than them...
The problem was the National Carrier, Energis, who carried the traffic from
the local number to Demon - they seemed unable to deal with it (at least at
whatever rates they have negotiated with Demon to carry national calls at
local rates).
Cable companies now in competition for telecomms business are offering
high speed, low cost connections in some - before too long most - of the
country.
Various people (not sure if these included Demon staff) said during various
discussions of the problems with connection from Hull, that the only way
Demon could cope with the longer connect times resulting from flat rate
calls would be by introducing on-line usage charges.
How do US ISPs deal with this?
I think Demon would have some major problems having 50 000+ users on line
24 hours a day!
--
David