From: Todd Vierling (no email)
Date: Mon Apr 03 2006 - 00:41:45 EDT
On Sat, 1 Apr 2006, Mikael Abrahamsson wrote:
> "In the foreseeable future, having a 15 Mbps Internet capability is irrelevant
> because the backbone doesn't transport at those speeds," he told the
> conference attendees. Stephenson said that AT&T's field tests have shown "no
> discernable difference" between AT&T's 1.5 Mbps service and Comcast's 6 Mbps
> because the problem is not in the last mile but in the backbone."
Regardless of the chitter-chatter about IPTV in this thread, I can say
pretty definitively that the 6Mbps I am getting via DSL (I'll get to cable
next) is much faster in practice than 1.5Mbps DSL. I most certainly can
sustain ~4Mbps for a single stream video feed, with the remaining headroom
still mostly usable.
Now, when you get into a shared channelized medium like cable (Comcast),
there is a difference in the backing network, and congestion is a much
bigger threat. That said, I was using Comcast when they went 3Mbps, and at
the time, I could sustain 2.4Mbps downstream from an external ASN with no
problem. I still have MRTG graphs showing it.
FUD, indeed. I have no idea how to sustain 2.4Mbps on a 1.5Mbps DSL
connection, but if someone here knows how, I'm all ears!
(...The frustrating part about those figures is that I might as well have
FTTH, because my DSLAM is less than 50 feet from my premises -- it's in a
green-monster canister on the corner of the block. The modem says I *could*
attain better than 9Mbps down and 2Mbps up, were such service available to
consumer low-lifes like myself. <g>)
-- -- Todd Vierling <> <> <>
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