[olug] Help w/ my server

[Christopher Cashell]

On Tue, Jul 24, 2012 at 3:48 PM,  <aric at omahax.com> wrote:
> TCONL was awesome back in the day when it had a 2Mb upload when Cox only
> had 128k and they gave you a static IP.

If you go back far enough, it was even better than that.  When it was
first released to the general public (late '96, only available in a
very small area), it was the only Cable Modem service in town, and one
of the first in the country.  In April '97, it was made available to
everyone west of I680.  The Fiber optic backbone was really impressive
technology at the time, having been designed as a real bi-directional
communication platform (originally a test bed for video conferencing
and video on demand).  It supported full 10 Mbit up and full 10 Mbit
down.

It was a couple of years later, when the 10Mbit up/2Mbit down rate
became something of a standard that TeleChoice Online followed the
pack and reduced their upload speed.

Unfortunately, it wasn't long after that when US West/Qwest decided
that Cable Modems weren't the direction they wanted to go, and they
basically killed all infrastructure investments in TeleChoice.  As a
result, the network and infrastructure are nearly the same now as they
were 10 years ago.  That's why there's no new channels or HD for the
television side, and no speed improvements on the Online side.
They're pushing new customers towards DirecTV for television service.
I'd be surprised if they go more than another few years (possibly
less) before they call it quits (for Cable and Cable Modem).

Note: I did some work with TeleChoice back some years ago ('97-'00).
My speculation on their future is based on what I knew back then,
coupled with potentially questionable sources.  Take it with a grain
of salt. ;-)

-- 
Christopher