Lee

Hi guys

I don't like to blatantly plug (well, not too much anyway - but after reading the BT thread and a freeserve one, it seems that there are some of you who just want a fast reliable connection.

I have a "business" 0845 dialin number - its sold to business customers so there's no joe publics on the lines tying them up. The lines go straight into the heart of the internet in london (not some geezer's shed !), its quick and reliable.

The offer is there if you want it. Just mail and it will be done

tizard99

Lee, do you have a vested interest in this number?
If you don't I have a free internet connection that I would like to recommend but if you do I will not do it within your post (related subject and all that).

Trev.

Lee

hiya

vested interest ? sort of but not really its an 0845 dialin that I sell onto my customers as part of a webhosting package. I am offering to setup any scoobynet users on it FOC. So kinda vested, but no profit !

recommend away..its for everyone's benefit !

Mick

iTrader: (1)

Lee

Sounds good to me - I could make you my 'best friend' instead of Freeserve. They are a bit a faceless bunch and even on the pay per minute dialup I often find I can't even get through for 4 / 5 goes - which doesn't bode well for speed of connection once you are in!

I use ic24 for their freebie times 9-5 weekends and 8-12 during the week, but most of the time can't be bothered to wait for it to connect.

Some advice on modems if you don't mind, I currently run a 33,600 modem. I hear that changes are expected to the way we can connect in the near future. Will a faster modem make much difference to my 'surfing' or am I best off waiting for new technology. If a faster modem is worthwhile how much to spend and what sort to go for? There are computer fairs in my neck of the woods quite regularly so I have access to getting parts from there.

Thanks Doc.

Mick

Lee

Hi Mick

modems and new technology eh ?

the modems bit is easy Yes a 56K modem will make the internet experience faster, but not *that* much faster. Download a large file and see how many k per second you get. A 56k modem will deliver between 4 and 6 k per second. 56K is a little bit of a farce because its 33.6up and 56down, but the most I've ever connected at is 48 !

You've probably heard of ADSL, being touted as the next big thing. Originally this was promised as 2Mb down and 512k up for everyone at affordable prices (the figure of £40 a month was bandied around), but all the ISP's have landed on planet reality and now the real life situation is very different.

£40 a month will get you 512k down and 256k up, but on a connection that has a ratio of 40 users to 1 line.

Business users can get a better deal with a ratio of 20:1 but by the time you're talking about 2Mb down and 512K up its £250 per month.

And right now there are only a few exchanges that can support ADSL. Expensive and immature technology.

Cable modems are around (if you have cable in your area!), one of the 22b chatters was reporting 80k a second, but again as popularity rises the number of users on a line increases and throughput falls.

The casual home user is pretty well knackered at the moment - a modem still represents the cheapest way of getting online. BT talk about ISDN being cheaper if you are transferring a lot of data -well yes, but home users don't - they spend time online looking at stuff, BT are talking about businesses who transfer a lot of data via email.

I personally have ISDN. I'm on Freeserve tenner a month deal, their ISDN is 64k max (ie one channel, not the 128k dual channel) and there is no compression on the line. But I upload lots of websites, receive huge emails and administer servers over it. I have 3 machines at home connected to it via an ISDN router. To get all this I would be looking at an ADSL business package. 'fraid thats just not going to happen !

send me a mail if you want an account setup.

cheers
Lee (bit of a yarn there!)

Chris L

Mick

Just to add to what Lee has written above. Don't discount ADSL completely. A lot will depend on your timescales. Local loop unbundling will start by the end of this year and this will allow other carriers to put their equipment into BT exchanges and offer their own services direct to your house.

This will lead to prices decreasing and the bandwidth speeds increasing (ADSL can run up to 8 Meg (but I'd like to see a commercial carrier offer it as a service )). This will also rely on how quick they can roll it out and whereabouts you live (if you don't live in or very near to a major population centre, then I'm afraid you will be out of luck for the time being). I know of at least one major ISP/Comms company that has a £500 million budget for DSL rollout over the next year.

As Lee says, it is still expensive (compared to traditional dial-up), but a lot will depend on your timescales. If you want an immeadiate upgrade, go for a high speed modem - cheap and easy. If you are prepared to wait - see what develops, there will certainly be a wider choice next year.

I wouldn't call ADSL immature (but the commercial service offering certainly is), DSL in its many guises has been around for 15 or more years and you've probably been using at work without even realising it!

And before you ask, yes I do have a vested interest, as my company makes a number of DSL related products (A, I, S and VDSL - but that's another story )

Chris

Lee

Yes, thats what I meant. The ADSL offering to the public is immature - newsgroups full of problem reports

I also heard a rumour that although there might be 2Mb lines out to various streets, the line back from the exchange may be the limiting factor ie not big enough to satisfy all the streets ?

Also , re modems..forgot to mention one other thing. A cheapo 56 modem will not be as fast as a good quality one. I have always bought US Robotics modems and have been very happy. I have friends with cheapo internal £7 pci cards that just cannot connect at high speeds, have trouble maintaining connections and generally are a pain.

IWatkins

Lee,

Don't want any of your deal, as good as it sounds as work pays for my connections etc.

However, you might like to know that Netcom do a tenner a month deal on ISDN with dual-channel and STAC compression if you can use it. Might be worth a look for your own setup.

I also use three or four machines onto a Cisco router and have the whole thing on DoD. STAC compression works well and combined with the dual-channel get some good download speeds.

Oh, and it is very reliable.

Cheers

Ian

Lee

The netcom might be a tenner a month but thats just for the privilege of having a connection mate. Its still an 0845 number whereas freeserve is tenner a month and effectively an 0800.

Mick

iTrader: (1)

Lee
I have just dialled in on your server, pages seem to be leaping in at me compared with the way the other severs were running. Many Thanks - it's looking good.

Perhaps with an uprated modem I'll find out what all the fuss about this internet thing is

Cheers

Mick

Lee

Good stuff. Glad to be of help.

It should be fast - you are practically dialling into the LINX - the heart of the internet !

IWatkins

Lee

Damn, if it wasn't for those pesky kids....

That Freeserve deal doesn't sound too bad after all, didn't realise it was an 0800.

Cheers

Ian

Lee

Didn't know you were
a) a janitor
b) had a mask to hide your identity
c) got found out at the end of every episode

Chris L

Lee

You're right - I've heard some horror stories from the States about dubious performance (less than a 56K modem in certain circumstance ). Despite what you might of heard, the States is not as far ahead as you might think. Yes they have many companies offering ADSL connections, but there have been real problems with provisioning the services.

I think it's like all new ideas - everyone wants to be part of it and users are putting big demands on the carriers (which is only right, seeing as you've just paid for the service). The big issue with ADSL and cable modems is contention (congestion). With cable modems you are effectivley on a large LAN and as more users are added (ie your neighbours) this gets worse. With ADSL contention occurs at the exchange in the DSLAM. The DSLAMs are normally connected to 155Mbps (or higher) ATM networks, so there isn't normally a problem with speed it's just getting the data onto the backbone network in the first place.

I think this is where BT and others will come unstuck - if they keep promising the earth in terms of transfer speeds, then users are going to become very angry very quickly (wait and see how long it takes for the first case to appear on Watchdog )

Slighlty off topic I know (sorry Mick), but worth stating if people are considering an ADSL connection (yes, I do have my name down for one, so I'll let you know when I get it).

Cheers

Chris

[This message has been edited by Chris L (edited 24 October 2000).]

robski

IMHO what BT are upto with ADSL is that they are hopeing that only 1 or 2 serious users will end up on each loop. That way the speed will seem very good for normal home browsers. Get too many serious downloaders tho, and they are going to have some major difficulties!

Lee, can you mail me the number, I may give it a whirl if thats ok!!

robski

Mick

iTrader: (1)

Lee

Still pleased. Very quick login, tested a little download & max speed for modem was being achieved

Everyone else - err.... Lees connection is usless. Don't ask for the number! - AND it will get even SLOWER if more of us connect

Mick

Chris L

Too late Mick, the word is out....

Geezer

Works great Lee. Thanks very much!

Geezer

tizard99

Just nipped in now and read (some of) the latest replys, Lee and all, I hope I haven't miss read what your all after, Free connection? Free webhosting? Free phone number? Free unlimited Email addresses?

Anyway the connection I sware by is

Lee

I've had a few customers who have come from Freenetname. This is purely down to the fact that they don't offer certain features on websites.

As far as I can see the only iffy points are :
* £94 to transfer a domain name.
* they reserve the right to introduce a charge.
* you agree they can advertise and operate banner ads.
* Excessive usage may result in termination of an account.

apart from that you can't knock it. So if all you are after is a small web presence and no frills then yeah, why not. But on the other hand you can get commercial hosting with far far more features for £50 a year ie £4 a month !! horses for courses. Something relatively simple like having your emails automatically scanned for virus's alone may be worth the extra..

tizard99

Fair comments Lee, what you say is about spot on (except that I have never had to have any advertising on any of my sites, which I agree is weird for a freebie).

You are all welcome to check out my sites at

Lee

<g> only went to Zero once - was full of kids as I recall..

I could probably throw a stone to your house then

tizard99

Your right about the kids, Garage is a teen to 22 year old scene mainly (how old are you? ;-)

Also where about's you live? I'm actually in good old Basildon (but originally come from Southend).

Trev.

[This message has been edited by tizard99 (edited 03 November 2000).]

Lee

Rochford. I think I am 26..will have to check on that one

Southend or Basildon eh ? Sounds like the "lesser of 2 evils" comparison

tizard99

That's what I was thinking, from Boy racers to thiefing scumbags!


p.s. no offence to boy racers or thiefing W#nk3rs intended, o'h, alright lots of offence intended to the thiefing so and so's.

Trev.