100 Mbit/s on Fibre to the home 96
KeefR writes "According to ct (a german computer magazin), BellSouth is going to provide internet access in Atlanta based on a Passive Optic Network (PON) with a speed of 100 Mbit/s and more. The Network is based on ATM and you get a Fast-Ethernet Port (using some kind of hardware). It's limited to 400 users in the first phase. The first users'll get a 100Mbit/s internet connection, 120 digital and 70 analog video channels and 31 digital audio channels. The cost is about 60 US-$.
The article is in german, translation at babelfish "
Well its not 100mb for data (Score:1)
As far as Linux support, who needs support? Its a network device much like a cable modem of ISDN router. It does not use any custom log in program, so Linux it is
Babelfish (Score:1)
One sure thing... (Score:1)
What is that stupid wall mount phone doing for me? I'll give it one more month to prove its usefulness, and then out it goes!
German articles are fun! (Score:1)
-Chuck
Re:Anyone wanna bet... (Score:1)
Hmm, I probably shouldn't feed the troll, but I'm bored, so what the heck.
I can think of tons of things to do. Downloading mp3s at that speed would be nice, and I'm sure those who run ftp servers to distribute mp3s would find it useful. Not to mention quick downloads of those 100 MB+ full-screen movie trailers.
High speed internet (Score:1)
Nice. A 100 MBit/sec home connection. And how long will it take until they figure out that they can't support it upstream and cut it down to 128 kBit/sec like @home did?
BECAUSE THE ADMINS ARE OVERWORKED AS IS! (Score:1)
=P (Score:1)
NOT FOR RESIDENTIAL USE (Score:1)
RR will beat out all services for now. (Score:1)
Re:BECAUSE THE ADMINS ARE O/W-- YEAH AS IF! (Score:1)
they must have one helluva backbone ;P (Score:1)
i mean, a 100mb/sec connection is all well and good, but when the backbone is saturated to hell with 400 other 100mb/sec users its kinda pointless....
still.. assuming they have a decent cache it would rock
Re:Gimme Gimmie Gimmie! (Score:1)
Re:What if you dare to profit from your connection (Score:1)
Re:One sure thing... (Score:1)
Excuse me, but I just _love_ that generalization 'reach every household"
HAHAHAHA
Cablemodems are available to something like 10% of the population of the US, or less.
ASDL _may_ be available to a bit more, but those percentages overlap to a great degree.
Besides, they still don't even get POTS right here in US Pest land (Tucson, AZ)...last week a guy spent hours pinned under a car in a garage because his calls to 911 were being registered as coming from a house two blocks away.
Irony of ironies...this happened the day _after_ the state Coporation Commision finally dismissed his complaints against US Pest as having been fixed.
Sounds good, but... (Score:1)
Fiber Trial in Palo Alto (Score:1)
Re:Got that (Score:1)
Let's just say, it rocks
Re:Why do high speed ISPs prohibit running servers (Score:1)
The control freaks seem the most common, with a healthy dash of good old fashioned nosiness rearing its ugly head...the Mrs. Grundys of the world, who make everything their business to the point of having no interests or life of their own. The psychological issues may be interesting to some, but I think a much more practical approach would be for various freedom advocacy groups to compile and exchange lists of "white/black" ISP's, bandwidth providers and the like which compare policies in detail, translate BS-jargon, cut through red tape and show whose policies are clear, well-thought out and sensible, and which are not.
Time for Bellsouth to redeem themselves (Score:1)
Re:Not the first folks to try this sort of thing (Score:1)
Not the first folks to try this sort of thing (Score:1)
Their equipment is Not Normal - their hardware is somewhat modified off the shelf equipment, and their cabling is a proprietery design custom manufactured for them. But all you need inside your house is a regular ethernet interface.
See http://www.airswitch.net [airswitch.net] for more info.
Fat Chance! (Score:1)
Don't make me laugh! I live in a suburb NNW of Chicago and we can't get high speed network access in our town; at least not at a price that anyone would want to pay. I'm definitely not holding my breath until 100 Mb/sec access comes to my town.
DSL? Nope. Not available yet. Well, OK... one supplier tells me that it's available but with a $300 installation charge and $165/month. So, essentially, it's not available.
ISDN? Nope. Well, OK. It's available too but it costs as much as my previous employer paid for a T1. Then there's fees on top of that!
These new services only seem to be for those people who already live within the city limits of a major metropolitan city. I don't know anyone living outside the city limits of Chicago or one of a very few surburbs directly West of the Chicago who have access to any of these high-speed access options.
Re:Well its not 100mb for data (Score:1)
--
The Fine Print (Score:1)
Internet access at super high speeds through a 100 megabit-per-second interface (actual speeds available to customers during the trial will be limited to tariffed BellSouth consumer high-speed data offerings)
Looks like they will provide Internet access at ADSL prices and rates, not at 100 MBPS.
Anyone wanna bet... (Score:1)
... that if you were to call them up on the phone, they'll tell you that Linux is "unsupported", and they'll only install this if you are running Windows.
My question is what can Windows possibly do with a 100mb/s pipe?
AHH (Score:1)
Some don't. (Score:1)
I'm sure their contract is more harsh now, but they don't seem to be enforcing it. My WWW server has been running on port 80 for months. The worst they've done is to limit me to about 6 or 7 channels of cable (which, considering I'm not a cable TV subscriber, is pretty good)
Re:DTV (Score:1)
>carriers are going to provide some of financial
>backing required to upgrade the local cable
>network infrastructure.
Sure - AT&T bought TCI. That counts as financial backing for a _lot_ of the cable industry.
I love living in Atlanta (Score:1)
Re:Why do high speed ISPs prohibit running servers (Score:1)
Re:Gimme Gimmie Gimmie! (Score:1)
Re:Why do high speed ISPs prohibit running servers (Score:1)
On the other hand, they have a putrid license agreement that kind of scares me, really.. Sympatico and NBNet's ADSL service both let you do whatever you want, as long as it isn't illegal. They say "don't waste bandwidth, but do what you want", pretty much. Sympatico doesn't even have a bandwidth limit! And with nbtel, you 5 gigs for $40, and for another $15, you get 20. Very nice. Yay Canada again!
Re:Time for Bellsouth to redeem themselves (Score:1)
Re:Got that (Score:1)
I lived in one where they wired everything with 10BaseT... through hubs with only five segments for about 150-200 ppl. Sniffers, collisions, and teardrops, oh my.
I remember the admins worried about Quake games. Alas there was no $ to do it the right way with switched ports.
Still, considering how bad the SJSU phone setup is, it was cool.
Sex or fast Internet (Score:1)
Re:I think I just might be one of these 400 people (Score:1)
Re:Time for Bellsouth to redeem themselves (Score:1)
Re:Well its not 100mb for data (Score:1)
Not quite right on BellSouth pricing (Score:1)
The cable service itself is actually about $10/month more than normal cable service for this area. The "complete" plan, with every channel they offer, is $77/month+$5 for each additional television on which you want digital. Cablevision in the same area offers about the same channel selection + digital music for $72/month (unlimited TV's). I believe the cable modem for Cablevision is $40/month. So when you total it out, I'm about $30 over what I'd pay with Cablevision (I have two TV's). That being said, I don't mind paying if it's quality service. So far I have been very impressed with the quality of the digital cable service. The clarity is far beyond the signal I was getting with Cablevision. Others in my subdivision that switched from Mediaone to BellSouth mention the same difference.
Re:I think I just might be one of these 400 people (Score:1)
From what the rep who changed my appointment to July 1 told me, that's when they are turning on the network service. So that's why we are getting the cable service earlier.
The BellSouth press release says that they have completed fiber to 200,000 homes in the Atlanta and Miami areas, so it's certainly going to be bigger than just 400 real soon. Although 200,000 is still a small fraction of the total homes in those two cities combined.
I'm a little skeptical that they won't have some serious problems early in the trial, but BellSouth seems to typically work out new technologies over the course of about six months.
What's amazing to me is that, from the posts, it seems like at least three of us are Slashdot readers. I mean, I know we're bandwidth hungry, but those still seem like long odds to have at least three among the 400.
Out of curiosity, did they put a "BellSouth Broadband" box in your yard? I have one, and they just put them in a friend's subdivision as well here in Gwinnett, so I'm wondering if this is one of the indicators that your house might be eligible for service.
Back up your hard disk (Score:1)
No more lost data. Comforting, eh?
Regards,
Ric
Got that (Score:1)
Maybe the Baby Bells actually want to compete... (Score:1)
The traditional argument is that with cable you're using shared bandwidth- but having been a customer of BellSouth Frame Relay service, I can guarantee you that your $60 1.5mbit service won't be that, due to astronomical oversubscription at the headend.
And the only reason DSL finally made it here is that the cable modems arrived. This is in spite of the fact that we have had an all-fiber POTS backbone for at least 10 years. The only conclusion that can be reached is that BellSouth (and from what I've heard, the other RBOCs) has been reluctant to do any higher speed service in earnest due to reluctance to kill the gravy train of $1000 per month T1 connections.
But this changes things quite a bit. Even taking into account BellSouth's (probable) tremendous bottleneck at the headend, you're still getting cable out of it, for a price about $10 less than cable + cable internet. Could the sleeping dinosaurs finally be waking up?
I would not necessarily get your hopes up completely, though- this was tried down in Florida by BellSouth in 1989, for about 3000 homes. I don't believe anything ever came out of that, though, other than cable and phone service.
Re:Well its not 100mb for data (Score:1)
As far as Linux support, who needs support? Its a network device much like a cable modem of ISDN router. It does not
use any custom log in program, so Linux it is
Isn't this the same company which refused to install an ASDL line to a customer who was running Linux.?
See http://linuxtoday.com/stories/6434.html
Re:Why do high speed ISPs prohibit running servers (Score:1)
Every high-speed ISP providing residental connections seems to want to bar you from running any kind of server (www, irc, ftp, etc.). Why is this?
Maybe something about it stopping them selling services, but how many ISP's provide things like MUD server
hosting?
Re:BECAUSE THE ADMINS ARE O/W-- YEAH AS IF! (Score:1)
What your doing is using it as an excuse, and basically infringing on OUR rights as consumers to use the product as it best fits us! REMEBER WE ARE ALWAYS RIGHT!
Dangerous Stuffs (Score:1)
I'm very sure that peoples will look at the Laser by accident or just coruisity.
Can the infastructure keep up? (Score:1)
Re:AHH, I'm not holding my breath (Score:1)
Re:Well its not 100mb for data (Score:1)
So - they put a 10/100 ethernet interface on their box - big deal. What I really want to know is how much up/down bandwidth is available.
I'm guessing that it is basically a cable modem in
disguise.
Re:they must have one helluva backbone ;P (Score:1)
Check out airswitch.com (Score:1)
Re:One sure thing... (Score:1)
Right... can we say Alaska, can we even say rural Alaska?
Tho even in Anchorage only a few places get cable!
Re:Well its not 100mb for data (Score:1)
Re:AHH (Score:1)
Awaiting the promised bummer.. the broadband dream (Score:1)
So when is this "broadband dream" going to be a reality for me?
Now, I live in what is supposedly the most Internet-saavy area in the state, and yet we have no residental broadband options!
I mean, the lines here, although they don't get very good analog connections, are capable of handling DSL, but the phone company refuses to allow you to use DSL.. the ISPs would like to provide the service. I know the lines are capable of handling DSL because there's one ISP that registered as a DSL provider but they charge numbers way beyond my budget.
We heralded an upgrade by our cable company as our long-awaited solution, but after 4 years of upgrades and $32 million dollars, about three weeks before they began signing people up, the company announced the service would be halted for possibly one to two years or possibly more due to a buyout. (But of course, their high-priced commercial cable modem service is THRIVING.)
Satellite service? Hourly fees, bandwith limitations, high lag, and the dishes are prohibited by some local law.. ugh.
Really, somebody could make a lot of money here if they didn't have their [CENSORED].
Re:Gimme Gimmie Gimmie! (Score:1)
Re:Gimme Gimmie Gimmie! (Score:1)
Re:Gimme Gimmie Gimmie! (Score:1)
All for $49, can't beat that.
DTV (Score:2)
Traditional cable companies are eventually going to have to upgrade their infrastructure if they hope to survive. The advent of DTV threatens to choke off cable's available transmission bandwidth. Internet connections constitute a trivial amount of the transmission bandwidth that will be needed in a few years. My guess is that AT&T and the other long-distance carriers are going to provide some of financial backing required to upgrade the local cable network infrastructure.
Ironically, Lucent is providing much of the networking technology that BellSouth is deploying.
Take a peek at what kind of DTV service is available in some parts of Atlanta. [bellsouth.net]
I think I just might be one of these 400 people! (Score:2)
The equation -- I just moved into a new home where BellSouth Entertainment is my cable provider, giving me ~120 channels digital (excellent quality picture, if you're wondering), ~70 analog channels on the TV's not connected to a digital converter, and ~30 music channels.
I ordered the "FastAccess" option for $59/month (FastAccess is the "consumer friendly" term BellSouth uses for all of its ADSL and related services). I assumed this was going to be a cable modem, but recent events have made me question this.
The FastAccess installation date was supposed to be last Friday, but on Thursday, as I was counting down the hours, BellSouth called me and told me that the service wasn't turned on for the area yet. They still had some work to do on the technical side of the "fiber system" before it would be ready. The system would be turned on for the area on July 1, and they could install it on that day.
Needless to say I was pretty upset. Pushing off the installation another month after my anticipation had built to the level that it had was infuriating. However, in the midst of my complaining about the fact that they waited until the day before to tell me, I did hear the rep say that this service was over the phone line, not the cable line. In fact, it seemed she didn't even realize this order was placed with the cable division of their company.
Both of the BellSouth installers that worked on my ISDN told me that I have fiber all the way from the CO to my curb, so while I couldn't get ADSL, there was another option coming.
Could I be one of those lucky few? I think it might just be so. Of course for the short term this doesn't seem much better than a DSL or cable modem solution since it will be locked down to 1.5 Mb/s speeds, but at least the speed won't degrade based on distance from the CO. And the possibility of them opening it up to 100 Mb/s in the future boggles my mind.
Anyone want an update when and if this actually happens? What's the best place for this info if you do want it? Here as a response to this article? Should I submit a review of it as a story? Another site?
Re:Why do high speed ISPs prohibit running servers (Score:2)
I can see why cable co's are capping uploads too (here in Phoenix all Cox@home customers have recently been capped at 128kbps uploads (i believe)). If someone runs a server, it's very likely it's going to be actively pushing a LOT of data a LOT of the time. A casual user who's downloading a lot of stuff will not be pumping huge amounts ALL of the time =)
Basically what it comes down to is power-users sometimes get screwed. But you can't rely on 'power-users' for revenue. There's too many regular joe's that use the service without saturating it.
Re:Well its not 100mb for data (Score:2)
http://209.207.238.30/proactive/documents/rende
Now what are the odds that the trial will be in MY neighborhood? Probably slim.
Re:Can the infastructure keep up? (Score:2)
Other useful technologies: massively parallel terabit routers, MPLS, and of course QOS-/ DiffServ to ensure bottleneck bandwidth gets used sensibly. Most local loops & routers will remain bottlenecks for some time - all IMO & I'm probably biased towards Diffserv, which Linux is rather good at in 2.2.
BellSouth's web page (Score:3)
PON Link (Score:3)
Download hot xxx graphics via your new PO(r)N link!
sorry.. had to say it.
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