smooth surfing Was: ...NAT users

[Patrick Miller]

Someone mentoned that DSL/Cable is not sold as a T-1 service. This is true.
If you wanted a true non oversold t-1 you would call UUNET/Sprint/etc, or
connect to one of the NAPs. Most DSL and cable service is sold as a consumer
service. It is also sold with certain agreements such as no NATs. If you
really do not want to pay per Kbit, and do not want to pay for a real t-1
then do not use a nat. I still would personaly love to get a service that
uses metering. It pays for the necessary infastructure, and allows me to
burst.

If metered internet were all that is sold, then people would realise how bad
the POP up ads and spam are -- not just a nusance -- Then they could pay for
premium sites, less for internet access, get laws passed, and get easy,
smooth, and reasonably priced surfing.

Richard Meeker wrote:

>Keep in mind that there is a major precedent that has already been set in
>the telecom industry.  When a company leases a T1 connection, they pay one
>price no matter how many computers and subnets that they hook up behind the
>router(s).  They pay a certain price for a certain amount of bandwidth.
>Cable may not be regulated, but it is part of the telecom industry and the
>same principle applies.  We are guaranteed a minimum amount of bandwidth,
>and we are told that there is a maximum amount of bandwidth (bursting????).
>Unfortunately, the door could swing both ways on this argument.

Yes richard there are several types of t-1. There is always the base cost
for the t-1 then there is:

T-1 	1.544 mb   at $x
t-1 	512k burstable to 1.544 mb --- if you average x then you pay more
	and can reevaulate your base -- you are still essencialy getting the
	full t-1 its just your average usage
t-1	metered -- basicly the same as a burstable. 

There is always SLA's that gaurangee uptime, latency, bandwith, engineer
availability, etc. Latency and bandwith is hard to prove except to places
within the providers network, and thus is mostly only used for VPNs and
branch offices.