Managing bandwidth

It might be worth looking into implementing a hardware firewall and/or content filter, blocking the likes of Youtube, BBC iPlayer as well as ports used for common peer-to-peer programs (bit torrent, limewire etc).
------------------------
Darren Lingham - UK Webhosting Ltd. - (0870) 0115578
http://www.tsohost.co.uk - affordable UK based shared web hosting since 2003

It's a funny thing this bandwidth issue - I've worked for several ISP's and it immediately became apparent that there was some debate over whether they could provide what they were promising. In effect, when you buy 'bandwidth' of the 2Mb down and 512Mb up (a typical broadband product) there is no stipulation as to where you are buying it 'to' or 'from'. The ISP will argue that you can get 2Mb to their POP (the point at which you connection breaks out from a telephone connection to an Internet connection) but the implication is that you are getting 2Mb to the 'Internet', well is that www.google.co.uk or ebay? Nobody can guarantee a connection speed across the Internet.

It's not often a case of just bandwidth either, accessing an Internet site is very different from watching a video or making an Internet phone call. An image from a website needs a certain amount of bandwidth but it is not dependent on quality, a voice call requires a guaranteed quality of service for the duration of the call.

The problem is that the Internet was never designed to provide a 'quality of service' rather an 'availability of service' - it was designed to be resilient, not necessarily fast. This was done by creating a 'web' of connections where information could be 'routed' around, information could take different paths depending on where it needed to be and what connections were available. This model is priced on a shared basis where several people share to cost of a fast connection on the assumption that they won't all use it at once.

In contrast a telephone network is 'switched', a series of connections are made between two points based on location and path availability but that path is then fixed for the duration of the call. This model is priced differently, it's effectively 'on-demand' pricing where you pay for the bandwidth you are using for that particular telephone call.

ISP's are trying to balance these two different requirements (and pricing models) and I think pricing models will change in future to reflect the different requirements - general Internet access may be priced pretty much as it is now but users requiring a 'quality of service' may be charged accordingly.

It should be interesting to see how it pans out, I can't see things grinding to a halt as some suggest. Massive advances are being made in switching and routing technology together with the extension of fibre into end-user premises.

hmmm - sorry about the rant!

Cheers

Josh
------------------------
www.assuredata.co.uk - Database design/implementation & support

Have you considered a load balancing or bonding product such as www.xrio.com UBM ? this gives you the ability to join the bandwidth of multiple ISP's even from different providers to give you faster connectivity.
------------------------
Improve your internet connection speed and stabuility with Bonded ADSL / MAX / 2+ from Broadbond.com

Bondedadsl,

Does this include cable thought cable providers?. or is this just ADSL
------------------------
Barry T
BT-IT
07922546104
01296427740
barry@bt-it.co.uk
www.bt-it.co.uk