Always-On Mythology

Why is broadband described as "always-on"? It's as much as always-on
as a dialup connection is if you leave the modem powered and don't drop
the line.

When I power up my computer, I turn on my Netgear router. It connects
to my broadband provider and logs on using my username and password.
How is that different to a modem connection? OK there's no dialing and
I suppose thats a few seconds saved. My computer probably takes longer
to boot up than that.

Unless, oh no surely not. Are people so dumb that they leave their
routers powered up and connected even when they aren't using them!?

What a waste of power.

Lets say that the power supply is 7.5v 1A. So thats 7.5W
Assuming 8 million broadband users gives us 60 MegaWatts - 60,000,000
watts for potentialy doing nothing. Thats 120 wind turbines of the type
similar to that at Nympsfield near Stroud.

No wonder we are heading towards the environmental abyss.

On the 7 Jun 2005 08:34:28 -0700, Rob uttered forth the following...

> Lets say that the power supply is 7.5v 1A. So thats 7.5W
> Assuming 8 million broadband users gives us 60 MegaWatts - 60,000,000
> watts for potentialy doing nothing. Thats 120 wind turbines of the type
> similar to that at Nympsfield near Stroud.
>
> No wonder we are heading towards the environmental abyss.
>
>
Errrrr nice figures, shame they are crap.

Rob wrote:
> Why is broadband described as "always-on"?

Because in most situations it is a permanent connection to the net -
i.e. allways on.

> Unless, oh no surely not. Are people so dumb that they leave their
> routers powered up and connected even when they aren't using them!?

Well I leave my router on because I have no way of knowing when emails
are coming to my system or when I am going to need to collect files
remotely from my system.

> What a waste of power.

The price of e-commerce?

In article <(E-Mail Removed) .com>, Rob
<(E-Mail Removed)> writes
>What a waste of power.
>
>No wonder we are heading towards the environmental abyss.
>

I've no quarrel with this argument, it saves cash and air pollution.

However, some of us have our PCs running 24/7. They are doing Fast
Forrier Transform calculations (lots of them), and the results are sent
to The Space Sciences Laboratory at Berkeley University. This needs
always on internet connections.

Going off at a tangent ...

As to heading to the environmental abyss ... I think the Green Lobby has
politicians and the uneducated general public on a scam. NOTE: The
politicians like it as they can raise many more taxes on the rest of us,
under the guise of changing our behaviour (which I agree about).

Why -

Historically, the UK was in a cold spell 400 years ago. Indeed the
Thames river froze regularly, and Christmas fayres were held on the ice.
If global warming had been an issue then, as we headed towards today's
temperatures, then blind panic would have been the rule of the day
(based on today's mass hysteria already surfacing).

Again historically, 10,000 - 15,000 years ago the UK was under 2 miles
of ice, in the European ice age (third or fourth one that has been found
and recorded).

Similarly, geologically the UK was recorded as a tropical rain forest,
full of dinosaurs, about 200 million years ago.

Clearly global temperature changes occur, both to warm and cool on a
number of cyclical patterns.

Geologically when a volcano like Mount St Helens blows the amount of
green house gas (carbon dioxide and methane) emitted exceeds mankind's
green house emissions by several magnitudes. This means volcanic
greenhouse gas emissions exceed that generated by man, both historically
and in to the foreseeable future.

I do concede volcanos also emit sulphur compounds, and sulphur dioxide,
which has the effect of cooling the atmosphere at the same time.

One other point that is never mentioned in the global warming discussion
is that the sun is now about 1% warmer than 100+ years ago. A hotter sun
means global warming.

I am not denying there is a weather warming effect going on. I also
think that new technology should be cleaner than the technologies it
replaces, and this trend should be made accelerated.

I do however, think the arguments for global warming (a natural and
cyclical process) is based on a false premise that "it is all due to
human activity".

However, we need to protect the environment as this is the only world we
know we can exist on. So I say ... "we should not *shit* on our own
doorstep".

--
John Clark Constipation is the thief of time, but diaorrehia waits
for no man!!

On Tue, 07 Jun 2005 16:34:28 +0100, Rob <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:


>
> Unless, oh no surely not. Are people so dumb that they leave their
> routers powered up and connected even when they aren't using them!?

So speaks the classic "I want to sound knowledgeable but am actually
proving I don't have a clue" nerd

If, as you imply, you only use one PC, why have you got a router? Use a
simple ADSL modem and you'll use even less juice

Believe it or not, some of us have a number of PCs in our homes requiring
internet access at differing times of the day/night. The whole point of a
router is to route data between PCs and the internet. Not much use if you
have to rush around turning it on and off all the time.

Don't tell me your one of those who thinks that if the router is turned on
24/7, some nasty person will creep up the phone line and infect your
turned-off computer with a virus?




--
Using Opera's revolutionary e-mail client: http://www.opera.com/mail/

On Tue, 7 Jun 2005 15:34:28 UTC, "Rob" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

> Unless, oh no surely not. Are people so dumb that they leave their
> routers powered up and connected even when they aren't using them!?

I always turn mine off when I'm not using it.

Which is never. I run a mail server, two DNS servers (for several
domains), an FTP server and a web server.

The power the router uses is the least of my worries! But I'm looking at
a low power firewall machine...

--
[ 7'ism - a condition by which the sufferer experiences an inability
to give concise answers, express reasoned argument or opinion.
Usually accompanied by silly noises and gestures - incurable, early
euthanasia recommended. ]

"

Historically, the UK was in a cold spell 400 years ago. Indeed the
Thames river froze regularly, and Christmas fayres were held on the
ice.
If global warming had been an issue then, as we headed towards today's
temperatures, then blind panic would have been the rule of the day
(based on today's mass hysteria already surfacing).
"

old cannard about the thames freezing over .
the reason it froze over was because the old London Bridge had such
small arches that little water could flow thru them ,so the flow was
slow enough for the river to freeze.
it acted like a dam on the river flow .

In article <(E-Mail Removed) .com>,
"Rob" <(E-Mail Removed)> writes:
> Why is broadband described as "always-on"? It's as much as always-on
> as a dialup connection is if you leave the modem powered and don't drop
> the line.
>
> When I power up my computer, I turn on my Netgear router. It connects
> to my broadband provider and logs on using my username and password.
> How is that different to a modem connection? OK there's no dialing and
> I suppose thats a few seconds saved. My computer probably takes longer
> to boot up than that.
>
> Unless, oh no surely not. Are people so dumb that they leave their
> routers powered up and connected even when they aren't using them!?

I don't use routers or the Internet directly, its my computers which do. I
have programmed them to do a variety of things which require Internet access.
Fortunately I don't use an operating systems which requires a human chained to
each computer for them to get on and do useful work for me.

--
Tim Clark

On 7 Jun 2005 08:34:28 -0700, "Rob" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>What a waste of power.

don't forget to allow for the reduced heating load due to the router
heat output.

Phil
--
Tiscali - dialup speeds at Broadband prices, see
http://bbs.adslguide.org.uk/postlist...&Board=tiscali

AOL - the unlimited ISP of choice for heavy downloaders.

On Tue, 07 Jun 2005 18:10:42 GMT, "Tim Clark"
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>In article <(E-Mail Removed) .com>,
> "Rob" <(E-Mail Removed)> writes:
>> Why is broadband described as "always-on"? It's as much as always-on
>> as a dialup connection is if you leave the modem powered and don't drop
>> the line.
>>
>> When I power up my computer, I turn on my Netgear router. It connects
>> to my broadband provider and logs on using my username and password.
>> How is that different to a modem connection? OK there's no dialing and
>> I suppose thats a few seconds saved. My computer probably takes longer
>> to boot up than that.
>>
>> Unless, oh no surely not. Are people so dumb that they leave their
>> routers powered up and connected even when they aren't using them!?
>
>I don't use routers or the Internet directly, its my computers which do. I
>have programmed them to do a variety of things which require Internet access.
>Fortunately I don't use an operating systems which requires a human chained to
>each computer for them to get on and do useful work for me.
What? You don't use Lnux, what do you use then?