🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <c7976e1501fa09d47456cd797f9e5140@base.xs4all.nl>, Anonymous
<nobody@base.xs4all.nl> wrote:

> With all this talk of swoopy, high-priced tech for linking to the net
> at astronomical connect rates, I can't help but ask the obvious
> question:  What's the point, when net congestion and server overloads
> are such that you rarely can move data at sustained rates over 28.8k
> anyway?
> 
> An example:  A knucklehead friend who's always downloading smut .JPGs
> from porn sites told me the other day that he finally sat down and
> figured it out - his actual, averaged download speed on this junk is as
> slow as it was in 1983 with an old 300-baud modem.  How would some zippy
> cable modem improve that?
> 
> If I can't keep up a simple 16K streaming audio feed with a 50K connect,
> what difference will dropping the bucks for 128b ISDN make?
> 
> If the average FTP site downloads at only a quarter to half the speed of
> my K56 modem's capability, why bother with something faster?
> 
> What am I missing here?
I can easily keep up with a 40K streaming audio feed with a 64K ISDN
connection. Download speed from an FTP site obviously depends on how busy
the FTP site is, among other variables.  

Your ISP is also a factor to consider.  I've been trying out PBI, because
they seemed to have a reasonable price structure for "add a second B
channel as required" ISDN access, and I've had very good download rates
from some astronomical and satellite image sites.  However, performance in
accessing their newsgroups is definitely poor compared to what I'm used to
from Best Internet.  Also, I get too many "busy signals" when attempting
to connect to PBI.  That's an important consideration if you configure
your data connections to time out after 30 seconds or so of idle activity,
in order to conserve your "free" ISDN connect hours.  

On the other hand, Best wants $60/month for full 128K access.  At the
moment, I'm inclined to stay with Best at 64K.  Even at 64K, ISDN is a
real pleasure to use compared to my 33.6 analogue connection.  In addition
to the speed advantage, the connections are much more stable. 

The only knock I have against ISDN is that, for the speed you get, the
price structure seems high compared to ADSL.  However, at this time I
can't get DSL at my location. I'll look into cable when it becomes
available.  In any event, a higher-speed digital connection definitely has
significant advantages over an analogue modem connection, in my
experience.

-- 
Frank