I'm going through the process of choosing an ISP and quite liked the sound
of Metronet. However, looking at their info on the adlsguide it says they
have one central pipe of 34Mbps. Another possibility is Pipex, and they have
21x 155, 1x 622Mbps, 3x 622Mbps on order. I realise that Pipex are much
bigger, but could having just one 34Mbps be a bottleneck even for the number
of users Metronet have?

Damn fine question.

We have only a single 34Mb pipe. I can assure you, but can't easily
*prove* to you, that it is more than enough for our current (or
near-future) customer load. I can also assure you, but even less
easily prove to you, that as it reaches capacity, we will either make
it bigger, or add a second pipe, depending on circumstances and prices
at the time. Because we have a fast service, our customers all tell
us that, especially the ones that have migrated from <ahem> certain
other providers (usually the one people start out with coz the TV
adverts make them think that's who they have to go to, or Jarvis
Cocker will be stuck up that lamp post) and we want that to remain the
case.

But it would be possible for us to decide to "skimp", and customers
would only know if they started to see it slowing down. We're not
about to, but it isn't easy to say that others might not, esp "low
cost" ISPs who arn't bringing in as much money on monthly fees to pay
for the Not Cheap central pipe.

"Julian M" <julian@ntlworld.com> wrote:

---
Business ADSL solutions
www.wizards.co.uk

On Wed, 10 Sep 2003 07:03, "PJB" <flyerUK@clara.net> wrote:

Or even "if they don't" :-) But it is perhaps a different picture for
Metronet as they are certainly looking to offer PAYG access which could
allow them to have a higher (say 25%) user base than other ISPs with the
same capacity pipe, on the assumption that unlike the many ISPs with no
similar option and "all you can grab" customers, a proportion of their
customers will be using the internet sparingly, and mainly to have it
fast when they are checking sites/downloading, but not running servers
or peer-to-peer software, and/or sucking data 24x7. So it will all be
dependent (IMHO) on the proportion of PAYG vs "unlimited" customers who
choose Metronet. In fact, rather than account numbers, based on their
profile of use - no-one would sensibly pay for "unlimited" service if
they knew that for some parts of the year they may have other needs,
and not be using the internet so much (eg holiday periods, weekends
away, or during school terms [pressure of work]). Peter M.

There are far more factors/bootlenecks that will impact on you other than
the "local central pipe" i.e network congestion further into the net, server
availablity, policy restrictions etc etc.

Unfortunately most ISP's quoting bandwidth figures are meaningless, as they
don't tell you how their pipes are connected and what type of service they
run over them, sustained or burst rates, routings, service level agreements
etc etc.

You are not going to use/access more than one pipe at any one point in time
anyway and 34Mbs is still a relatively big pipe from a home users point. It
would be nice to see at least two pipes from a reduncancy viewpoint in case
of a failure, but may not be an issue if a good service agreement is in
place to enable rapid restoration where this is phyically possible.

I am personally will be going for Metronet if/when my exchange becomes
enabled as I am not bandwidth burner and Metronet seems to be the best deal
for me at the moment


"Julian M" <julian@ntlworld.com> wrote in message
news:qyt7b.521$z06.647111@newsfep1-win.server.ntli.net...

In article <qyt7b.521$z06.647111@newsfep1-win.server.ntli.net>, Julian M wrote:
add....

Regards

Alex

--
Alexander Clouter <alex@support.metronet.co.uk>
MetroNet Support http://www.metronet.co.uk/support/

On Thu, 11 Sep 2003 11:15, Metronet Support wrote:

Thanks for the info.

In article <t8n0mvgjpnsbkqlvfp7ajj2k9e2hldddug@news.clara.net >, Peter Morgan - 0870 432 9631 wrote:
not have. As you mentioed earier it also depends on how many customers they
have an of course in our case the type of customers our pay as you go package
attracts (mainly low user types, we actually do not have many P2P users).

What you need to look at is who supplies the pipes to the ISP's and also what
redundancy the ISP has for its pipes, both from BT and also to/from the
internet. You should also look to try and acquire latency figures throughout
the day for the connection, something like SmokePing is great

http://ftp.heanet.ie/mirrors/people..../index.en.html

which could give you an indication to how heavily used the service is and if
there are any heavily used routers en route.

Regards

Alex

--
Alexander Clouter <alex@support.metronet.co.uk>
MetroNet Support http://www.metronet.co.uk/support/

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

Metronet Support wrote:
| In article <t8n0mvgjpnsbkqlvfp7ajj2k9e2hldddug@news.clara.net >, Peter
Morgan - 0870 432 9631 wrote:
|
|>On Thu, 11 Sep 2003 11:15, Metronet Support wrote:
|>
|>
|>>A 34Mbps pipe to BT thats not even 30% saturated at its peak
|>
|>Thanks for the info.
|>
|
| Not a problem. I think you need for forget what pipes any ISP has or does
| not have. As you mentioed earier it also depends on how many
customers they
| have an of course in our case the type of customers our pay as you go
package
| attracts (mainly low user types, we actually do not have many P2P users).
|
| What you need to look at is who supplies the pipes to the ISP's and
also what
| redundancy the ISP has for its pipes, both from BT and also to/from the
| internet. You should also look to try and acquire latency figures
throughout
| the day for the connection, something like SmokePing is great
|
|
http://ftp.heanet.ie/mirrors/people..../index.en.html
|
| which could give you an indication to how heavily used the service is
and if
| there are any heavily used routers en route.
|
| Regards
|
| Alex
|

Hi,
~ http://portal.plus.net/supportpages.html?D10diomB6dQ%3D shows the
utilisation over our 7 pipes and

http://monitor.plus.net/ping/smokeping.cgi shows the latency (this is
being tested and may disappear at any time)


- --
Regards

Ben

- --
| Ben O'Hara Unmetered & ADSL solutions
| Network Support Engineer for Home & Business
| PlusNet Technologies Ltd. @ http://www.plus.net
+ ----- My Referrals - It pays to recommend PlusNet -----
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In article <Xk18b.2320$vX3.287692@wards.force9.net>, Ben O'Hara wrote:

OT: magazine article.....are we doing our own thing?

Regards

Alex

--
Alexander Clouter <alex@support.metronet.co.uk>
MetroNet Support http://www.metronet.co.uk/support/