[svlug] Pac Bell DSL and PPPoE

[Tin Le]

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> > It's possible technically and actually has been for quite a while.
> > It's just that the phone companies don't want to undercut their protected
> > tarrif income in T1s, T3s and so on.  Just imagine if everyone could
> > order cheap aDSL at almost T1 speed for less than $100/month.

> So that's it. A conspiracy :). Kind of like the auto manufacturers who
> could theoretically build cars that got over 200 miles per gallon, but

"..the truth is out there..." ;-)

Well, they do want to protect their bread and butter.  So all the
recent ads about DSL and so on is not because they want to do good for
the consumers.  It's because they don't have a choice nor want to lose
more customers to the cable companies.

> they'd be shot by representatives of oil companies if they tried :). OK
> that's probably quite not the case, but oh well. :) Some of the pricing
> I've looked at recently would give up to 608k down for $40, and up to
> 1.5mbps down for $79. Sometimes you can get real close to T1 speeds, but
> those would be infrequent, and not the same thing as having a full T1
> pipe in your house. I also suspect that there's a lot of reselling 
> going on as well.

> > http://www.pacbell.com/DSL/content/1,2546,11,00.html
> > 
> > It's $199/month standalone (i.e. if you don't sign up for their Compaq
> > PC package).

> The page says $219, but that's about right. But it's still only 384K

No, the $219 is _if_ you signed up for the Compaq PC package.  If you
already have your own, then it is $199.  They have a special where you
get a Compaq PC along with your DSL and you pay a little extra each month
for 3 years (?).

> up, and 1.5-6.0 Mbps down. I suspect 6.0 is very rare, and most of the
> time you'll get 1.5 Mbps. Still cheaper than T1, if they can guarantee
> the low end. They also have an 'enhanced' tier ($99/mo) of 384-1.5mbps
> and 128kbps. That's about the same as 'regular' DSL.

You can get 6MB or pretty close.  I have a friend who live next to a CO
in the city, he gets pretty close to it, especially late night, early
morning.

> > Yes, Pac Bell supports and service sucks at times.  But so does most
> > other ISPs at one time or another.  But if you know what you are doing,
> > then generally it does not matter that much.  At the moment, I have two
> > aDSL line at home, so if Pac Bell goes out, I still have the other one as

> Can you use both and get more speed?

Yes, but....

Unfortunately, I would be breaking company policy were I to do so...  The
other one has to be isolated and I can not route packets between the two.
For my purposes, I get enough speed.  Since my servers at colocated where
there is lots of bandwidth and 24x7 management anyway.

The competition is good for us, let's hope that there are still enough
companies around to have a healthy and competitive market.  Here is a
nice piece of news about fiber to the home.

"http://www.internettelephony.com/asp/ItemDisplay.asp?ItemID=10581&AreaID=8

Homeward bound

CLECs take the plunge with fiber to the home 
ELIZABETH STARR MILLER, Internettelephony

Some competitive local exchange carriers are planning for telecom's
future by laying fiber to the home. According to their theories, fiber
may be more expensive right now, but the payoff will be worth it. Copper
eventually will reach its limit when carriers need to deliver video,
audio and high-speed Internet access to smaller communities around the
country. 

Service provider Federated Telephone Co-op and partner Agralite Electric
Co-op operate Hometown Solutions, a CLEC based in Morris, Minn. Hometown
Solutions is building fiber links to approximately 6000 residents in
Morris using an FTTH solution from Optical Solutions. It expects to
provide voice, data and video to six additional communities in west
central Minnesota by 2004.

.......etc...."

Tin Le
- ----
http://tin.le.org
Tin Le - tin at le.org
Firewall and Security Consulting


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