RE: Kicked Off PlusNet NOW!!

["Timothy Morris" <timothy.morris@xxxxxxx>]

DSL doesn't work like that. With standard dial-up accounts each ISP has a
number of modem ports at its server location that you connect to. Usually
they have a contention ratio of between 50 and 20 to 1, that is one modem
per 20 or so customers. Any more and it would not be economically viable.
If
1 fiftieth of their customers connect 24/7 on an unmetered account then
there are no free ports and the remaining 98% of subscribers get engaged
tones when they try to connect. The contract may have been badly worded,
but
connecting 24/7 to this type of account really is against the spirit of the
terms and conditions, and you'll probably find that there is a clause in
the
contract which allows them to terminate you subscription in this case.

With DSL, the port you connect to is actually at your local telephone
exchange - and it is your port - no-one else can connect to it. From there
BT Ignite provide a high bandwidth pipe into their ATM network, and from
there forward to your chosen ISP. This is where the contention ratio comes
in. Take 50 users connected via the 512U package. The bandwidth from the
exchange to the ATM network will be 512k total for the 50 users. Having
said
that, I think in reality it is probably more than that, as I know that
there
are at least 20 users connected at my exchange, and I have yet to
experience
downloads at less than 55Kb/s, and quite regularly watch the Broadband
version of Bloomberg TV (300k) with no loss at all.

The point that I am trying to make is that ISPs make it clear that there is
a 50:1 contention ratio with DSL, and BT doesn't care if everyone is
connected at once, because everyone has their own port. If access slows
considerably then it is the end-users problem. I do think though, that
before long we'll all be getting a lot more than 512k for our 40 quid a
month.

So in answer to your post, I've thought about it - and never gonna happen.

Tim.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Calum Morrell [mailto:calum@xxxxxxx]
> Sent: 01 February 2001 00:09
> To: ukha_d@xxxxxxx
> Subject: Re: [ukha_d] Kicked Off PlusNet NOW!!
>
>
>
> Just wait till BT start cutting people off DSL because the line
> is active too
> often [think about it]
>
>
> Calum
>
>
>
>