Printer-friendly versionAs many of you might know, the site has been running since I started it on an Internet connection with limited bandwidth. The connection I use runs about twice as fast as a standard dial-up modem. Not very fast but it was enough to get the job done when nothing else was economically available. That's about to change, however.
For over a year I've been looking into the alternatives for a high speed Internet connection at my home. DSL wasn't an alternative since I'm too far out to get it. There is no cable along the road either since there aren't enough homes to make it profitable for the cable company to install it. I even looked at a satellite based Internet connection. I decided against it when I learned that it might be difficult to keep it running in the weather conditions in my area. Heavy snow and rain would take it down far too much.
That left only one possibility, a full T1 line. A T1 line runs at about 1,540,000 bits per second. Not fast as cable or DSL connections go but many times faster than my slow 128,000 bits per second ISDN line. The problem was the cost. When I first started looking, the cost for the line was well over $800 (US) a month. Over that year I waited, the cost dropped to a more affordable $500 a month. My ISDN line currently costs $230 a month.
After several agonizing months with the budget, I decided that I could afford the line if I got rid of the ISDN line as soon as the T1 was up and running. I should be able to pay the costs out of my own pocket but I may ask for some help from users of this and a few other sites I run. I'm also considering setting up a few low-cost hosting accounts if people want them to help cover the costs of the T1 line. Just where this will all go is up in the air right now.
At this point, the T1 line should be ready to go some time next week so this message is an alert to all system users that access to the site may be sort of flaky while I'm moving from the old connection to the new one. Please be patient as I try to make things better.
Bob Arnold
Majorly Cool!
That's great, Bob! When you open the donations up, I'll be happy to make a contribution. Just leave it open for several days this time!
As for the hosting accounts, I'd be interested in hearing more details when you get them ready. Always thought it would be cool to have a site of my own, even though I have no idea what I'd put on it. At least it would be a low traffic site!
Karen J.
"A dress makes no sense unless it inspires men to want to take it off you."
Francoise Sagan
Should help
Bob,
I work fo a small bank, an SSB actually, and we use T-1's for our data lines. We also have separate voice lines for the telephones and the fax machine. Banks are VERY redundant - we still make paper copies of all transations and critcal records.
A typical branch has three customer service terminals, all P4/HT PC's with ethernet, the manager/loan officer's laptop and a new accounts computer and a PC based server with a digital tape backup.
Main corportate with a couple dozen ethernetted PC's and our central server -- which connects to our data service provider -- is also on a T-1 with ISDN as a backup.
Aprox 80 employees use this system and it rarely hickups. It would be better but we are tied to *The new AT&T, formerly the old SBC and they let preventative maintainance die.
This upgrade should be a big step up from ISDN.
John in Wauwatosa
But you're not a scientist. Surely you believe in all this superstitious nonsense. (MAD Magazine)
Could be worse, could be raining. (Young Frankenstein)
But you're not a scientist. Surely you believe in all this superstitious nonsense. (MAD Magazine) Could be worse, could be raining. (Young Frankenstein)
T-1s
Bob, coming from the communications industry (I work for a Phone company), while you you might be paying more for the service you are definitely gaining more that you don't know about. First, a T1 is 1.554mb down AND up. Meaning your uploads are as fast as your downloads. Plus, whether or not you knew it, a T1 is consided primary to the vitality of the local phone system. They have each and every circuit alarmed so tha if one goes down, it sends out a notification immediately and if it happens to be tested as an outside (the central office) a technician is dispatched immediately to repair it. At most, your down time, if any, will be minimal. In comparison to an ISDN, you will never be down. But then again, that will also depend on if the phone cables feeding you are buried or aerial. If Buried, you only have to worry if someone is working in the area and cuts the cable. Aerial, on the other hand, is even more susceptible to problems with the weather. Heavy storms can bring trees down into the cables and snap them. Tornados can mangle a cable so severely that it would take weeks to repair. If a buried cable is cut, the longest is a few hours, depending on how big the cable is that was cut. The worst part of that sort of job is the time it takes to get someone out there. But, in the long run, it will be better for you than an ISDN ever was.
Goldie