AT&T: 15 Mbps Internet connections "irrelevant"

Mon Apr 3 04:41:45 UTC 2006

On Sat, 1 Apr 2006, Mikael Abrahamsson wrote:

> "In the foreseeable future, having a 15 Mbps Internet capability is irrelevant
> because the backbone doesn't transport at those speeds," he told the
> conference attendees. Stephenson said that AT&T's field tests have shown "no
> discernable difference" between AT&T's 1.5 Mbps service and Comcast's 6 Mbps
> because the problem is not in the last mile but in the backbone."

Regardless of the chitter-chatter about IPTV in this thread, I can say
pretty definitively that the 6Mbps I am getting via DSL (I'll get to cable
next) is much faster in practice than 1.5Mbps DSL.  I most certainly can
sustain ~4Mbps for a single stream video feed, with the remaining headroom
still mostly usable.

Now, when you get into a shared channelized medium like cable (Comcast),
there is a difference in the backing network, and congestion is a much
bigger threat.  That said, I was using Comcast when they went 3Mbps, and at
the time, I could sustain 2.4Mbps downstream from an external ASN with no
problem.  I still have MRTG graphs showing it.

FUD, indeed.  I have no idea how to sustain 2.4Mbps on a 1.5Mbps DSL
connection, but if someone here knows how, I'm all ears!

(...The frustrating part about those figures is that I might as well have
FTTH, because my DSLAM is less than 50 feet from my premises -- it's in a
green-monster canister on the corner of the block.  The modem says I *could*
attain better than 9Mbps down and 2Mbps up, were such service available to
consumer low-lifes like myself.  <g>)

-- 
-- Todd Vierling <tv at duh.org> <tv at pobox.com> <todd at vierling.name>