[olug] the bandwidth cost lecture (again)

[Neal Rauhauser]

 >I have been haggling ISP's again latly and I am looking for DSL.

>I just moved right next to southroads mall right behind sears and I am wondering if any of U out there know where the qwest CO is in relation to my location and why I cant get dsl pro at that location.
>  
>

    There is an OC12 in that building leading to the tandem (19th and 
Douglas) that belongs to IP Revolution (Cosentry now?) and they've got 
capacity to burn but they don't want nickle and dime customers. If you 
had some colo you maybe could get a decent deal in the unescorted area, 
or if you know someone with equipment in the 'friends and family' rack. 
Last I talked to them they had OC3 from Qwest, OC3 from AT&T, and a DS3 
from Sprint, but its been a while.

   A facility the size and vintage of Southroads may very well have its 
own CO in the form of a SLC96 (aka slick 96). Bummer for you - these are 
refrigerator sized boxes and they won't put in a DSLAM at the location 
for one customer.

  Bonded DSL can be done a number of ways but it requires the 
cooperation of the ISP on the back end to get the job done.  Multilink 
PPP and load balancing across two routes are two ways it can be done 
with Cisco. If you can get two Qwest DSL lines and pick an ISP that 
doesn't mind doing some artwork you could get that done, but my guess is 
any ISP that is small enough to take the time to do this won't want to 
take the hit on the bandwidth you'll use.

 > There has to be a way.

  I've operated a couple of small ISPs over the last several years. 
You're the sort of customer (don't take this personal) that most small 
ISPs prefer to have GO AWAY. Here is why:

  If you run a small to medium ISP in Omaha you're going to pay maybe 
$650/month for the first T1, and maybe you get your cost per T1 down to 
$400 or so if you get on net termination and you're bundling a couple of 
circuits.

  ISP bandwidth is symetric and the inflow and outflow are basically two 
different business areas. The inflow is what most small ISPs are 
interested in, as they've got a consumer network. If they work things 
right they also make revenue on the outflow, too, by hosting. Thusly I 
think its an acceptable argument to split the T1 cost up the middle for 
inflow/outflow.

  What are you asking for? You want 3 mbits of upload speed? That will 
be $400 a month for just outflow bandwidth, plus physical plant cost, 
plus support ... in other words, buy a pair of T1s. Oh, and you'll 
download, too? More bandwidth cost. And guys like you are *always* 
wanting to run the thing nonstop during the day, or worse 24/7 for some 
reason.

  You've seen an aggregated, consumer product produce a good rate of 
UL/DL, multiplied by a factor of two or three, and gone shopping for it. 
That level of service only exists for a principle in a small ISP who 
takes the time to build it for himself and he'd never use it as it would 
appear that you want to, because it would kill his business to do so.

  Things are what they are and they cost what they cost. If you want a 
corporate/carrier level of service on a circuit its going to come out of 
a Qwest NIU in T1 form factor and cost many hundreds of dollars per month.

  I'm sorry to be the one to break this to you. Hopefully you'll recall 
that I saved you some time on your search. You could look into Cox to 
see if they'll do better, but I doubt it - their 'fast' business service 
gives all of a megabit of upload.