The magazine of the Melbourne PC User Group In the Hot Seat Dave Botherway daveb@melbpc.org.au |
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Of recent months, we have experimented having monthly meetings in the south eastern area and often the achieved attendance doubles that of meetings at the Pharmacy College. This does not suit some of our members from the North and West, so committee is offering a Mix-n-Match solution. The May meeting provides some balance with a pilot use of the North Melbourne Town Hall. Besides the usual Random Access (ask the experts) and raffles, we hope to have an update from Microsoft personnel.
Last month I highlighted two key activities that are underway - finding a new office location, and determining how we could best offer broadband Internet services. Work is still continuing and it is still too early to provide details. Instead, I will background the broadband topic, to enhance your understanding of Internet connection speeds and costs.
Dial-Up Modems
Most Internet traffic has a bias of greater than 80% download and less than 20% upload, and most systems exploit this to maximize the download component. Current "56k" dial-up modems provide (say) 50 kilobits per second (kbit/s) download speed, offset by an asymmetrical upload speed of only 25 kbit/s. Note - these are bits per second, and with eight bits to a Byte, it equates roughly to five kiloBytes per second download and 2.5 kB/s upload. While these are the connection speeds between the user and the ISP, actual traffic flow is mostly at lower speeds due to either upstream line or processor limitations.
Generally costs are $10-$25 per month dependent upon allowed connection time, plus the cost of the phone call to the ISP. (One log on per day, adds about another $6 per month). Access is ubiquitous, provided that one can find a phone line for the modem connection.
Cable Access
Telstra and Optus solved this 56k barrier by offering Internet connections, piggy-backed onto their Foxtel and OptusNet Cable TV systems. Speeds up to 3 megabit/sec are possible, achieving speeds of say 300 kilo-characters per second; 60 times faster than the dial-up modem. But like the dial-up, actual speeds may be only 50 kilo-characters per second due to upstream limitations - it's still ten times better!
These connections are permanently ON, so no dial-up cost is incurred, and access charges are determined by the volume of data traffic. A small user having a 500 MB per month account could be paying $50 per month, plus for Telstra, 15c for any/all megabytes over and above the 500 MB plan. As well, the user might have paid a $120 setup fee plus $130 for a cable modem. Access can only be from that specific installation, although Telstra offers a dial-up alternative (at an extra cost of $5/hour) when you're not at your home base.
However, some people have been badly burnt by the Telstra excess megabytes charge, as it is very easy to run up 500 MB of traffic - possibly within 30 minutes. The Optus approach is different, selling its service on a fixed cost basis. Once the plan limit is reached, Optus throttles your speed back to dial-up modem speed for the remainder of that month. This is known in the industry as shaping.
ADSL
Many areas of our cities do not have these cable systems. Enter DSL Digital Subscriber Line technology, delivered over existing phone lines that allows concurrent voice and data traffic called A-DSL (asymmetric meaning spilt speeds) to expand the reach for faster Internet access. However, not all Telstra exchanges have ADSL equipment, and some subscribers may be located too far from their telephone exchange for this technology to function.
Like cable, ADSL is an always on system, with costs set by your selection of data speed and volume. A typical small user might have a 256/64 500 MB plan, meaning 256 kbit/s download speed, 64 kbit/s upload speed and a 500 MB per month allowance. Above this volume, either excess charges of say 15c per MB would apply, or speed throttling to say 32 kbit/s would be imposed (shaping), as per the Cable systems. For a 256/64 plan, overall performance is about five times better than the dial-up modem, and being always on, does not incur the usual 20 or 25 cents for each "log on" call to the ISP.
ADSL is now being offered by a large number of resellers and ISPs, so a multitude of plans are available, with a typical 256/64 500 MB shaped account being (say) $40 per month. Alternatively for business users, a faster 512/128 8 GB plan at $60 per month, or a 1500/256 10 GB plan at $90 per month might be more appropriate. Additional initial costs would be setup fee of about $100 and purchase of an ADSL modem of $130 or more.
Overall, these are some exciting concepts, and I look forward to telling you more next month.
Reprinted from the May 2004 issue of PC Update, the magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia
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