Network Question.

[DanUK]

Hello! Hope you're all well.
I hope this topic isn't too off-topic for this Forum, it seemed the most suited. The Networking Link goes to another Forum and doesn't seem as active or informational...

Anyway, my question is quite a simple one. How would a 128k Leased Line compare to a 1mbps cable connection?

Obviously, in plain black and white the cable seems a lot faster, however...

The Leased Line ( http://www.uk.clara.net/claraaccess/leasedlines/dedicated.php ) has a 99.9% service level agreement, has no contention at all, and is both 128kbps up and 128kbps down.

The cable connection is only a 1024kbps down and 256kbps upstream and has no SLA (and is pretty unstable) and is shared with like 60 other people so it's rare the speeds would ever get to that stage, as we already have this connection and we barely get anywhere near it...

Price jump between the two is about 350gbp / month for the Leased Line, 100gbp for the Cable - though the money isn't an issue...

The purpose of this connection is for a server, so which would you go for...?

Thanks.

[Jupac]

If money isnt an issue... Then go all out oc-192

[MstrBob]

Why stop there? Hell, if money isn't an issue, go all the way with an OC-768 line. Is 29.6 Gigabytes per second fast enough? :p But honestly, I have cable for home online use. And it's split in my family network. And even when others are online, I've gotten downloads at around 250-300 kps. And I've never had any internet outages (except when my power goes out).

[Jupac]

Why stop there?

get DUAL OC-768 :p

[rhsunderground]

i've got 3 T1 lines. sent a 38.8 mb file across campus in about 5 seconds :D

[DanUK]

Sorry, when I said money wasn't an issue, I meant we could get the Leased Line even though it's like £300gbp more expensive per month...

Thanks.

[PikoTech]

Hmm interesting, are you looking into this for use in your office, or perhaps for hosting some sort of huge bandwidth sucking website?

If it's the website I can get hold of dedicated servers pretty cheap with 2MB connections. Let me know.

[MstrBob]

Dude, if it's a website, I'd say T1 minimum. Of course you have buisness sites with a lot faster connections. But, I'd say you should go with Cable. I've do over 150kps for downloads, and never had any issues. And thats with it split to four computers.

[DanUK]

Hiya.
Thanks for the replies.

No, it's for a Support Server (relay).
The bandwidth consumption of the 128kbps is absolutely fine, and will support the amount of clients we need to ever hold (800).

With the cable we unfortunately have the possibility of outages, lag and non-guranteed speeds. With the Leased Line all these are combatted.

It's also something we want to host ourselves.

Thanks.

Regards,

[MstrBob]

No matter what anyone says, you always have the possibility of outages, lag, and varying speeds. I'd personally go with cable, but it is of course, up to you. I've worked with different connections. DSL being the most unstable. With any connection, you can find varying speeds, although I've often found speed restrictions to also be due to the servers you connect to. In terms of downloading, some servers simply won't go over 100k, no matter the connection. *shrug* I'm a bit confused, though, with this line.

It's a dedicated internet line, or does it piggyback on other lines like a phoneline/cable type? But like I said, even on cable, with multiple users on the same connection even, I regularly achieve greater than 128kbps. Only cable internet outages is when I've lost power at home. Hell, I've even been able to go online when the cable TV is out. :p

[DanUK]

Hiya. Thanks for your response. :)

No matter what anyone says, you always have the possibility of outages, lag, and varying speeds.

Well a leased line does indeed guarantee the above. They have a 99.9% SLA so if anything did ever go down, they compensate you - bandwidth is uncontended and also guaranteed. See that first link I posted which gives details of the Leased Line. :)

With regard to whether it piggybacks to other cables etc, nope. It's a direct line to the ISP's POP -> Internet. (there's a digram on that site, it's the "best" leased line they do).

Thanks.

Regards,