Multicast Traffic on Backbones

Sun Jun 10 02:57:50 UTC 2001

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AT&T has most/all of their backbone natively multicast enabled and will
multicast enable customer access routers upon request.  They do have a
setup fee, but no monthly recurring fees.

UUnet has two levels of multicast capabilities.  Their "Basic" package is
receive only and is free.  Their "Gold" package is full send/receive, but
they charge a ton for it.  The basic package seems pretty useless to me.
To join a multicast group, you have to be able to send to it, right?

I have found that most sales reps don't know what multicast is, or why it
is important to have.  It also takes a few phone calls to get the right
people to explain how their backbone is setup.  If most customers would
ask about and request multicast capabilites, we would probably see more
carriers toutintg their multicast capabilities which would, in turn,
generate more customer demand.

You can't find any information about multicast on AT&T's website, yet they
are fully multicast enabled.  sheesh!

=== Tim

     **********************************************
        Tim Winders, MCSE, CNE, CCNA
        Associate Dean of Information Technology
        South Plains College
        Levelland, TX  79336

        Phone:	806-894-9611 x 2369
        FAX:	806-894-1549
        Email:	TWinders at SPC.cc.tx.us
     **********************************************

On Sat, 9 Jun 2001, Deepak Jain wrote:

>
>
> 	Don't know why I came across this, but I found a document on Sprintlink's
> site that says their entire backbone is multicast enabled, and they also
> peer with the MBONE for multicast traffic. They charge no fee for dedicated
> customers to be multicast-enabled.
>
> 	Are any other major networks doing this? Or have I been living under a rock
> and _everyone_ is doing this now?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Deepak Jain
> AiNET
>
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