broadband network at home

I've been doing networking for about 10 years now, and I have never run
across the answer to this, so i thought i'd ask to finally figure it out.
I've had dialup and i have a cable modem, but what does a business or home
user do when they want to get a high speed connection "directly" to the
internet (i say in quotes). I mean using their own router, external switch,
firewall, and subnet of IP addresses. Is this something you talk to the
phone company about or do ISPs do it? what information is out there?
Thanks!!

On Thu, 27 Jan 2005 16:55:18 -0500, Matt wrote:

> I've been doing networking for about 10 years now, and I have never run
> across the answer to this, so i thought i'd ask to finally figure it out.
> I've had dialup and i have a cable modem, but what does a business or home
> user do when they want to get a high speed connection "directly" to the
> internet (i say in quotes). I mean using their own router, external switch,
> firewall, and subnet of IP addresses. Is this something you talk to the
> phone company about or do ISPs do it? what information is out there?
> Thanks!!

I believe the usual answer is 't1'.

Matt wrote:
> I've been doing networking for about 10 years now, and I have never
run
> across the answer to this, so i thought i'd ask to finally figure it
out.
> I've had dialup and i have a cable modem, but what does a business or
home
> user do when they want to get a high speed connection "directly" to
the
> internet (i say in quotes). I mean using their own router, external
switch,
> firewall, and subnet of IP addresses. Is this something you talk to
the
> phone company about or do ISPs do it? what information is out there?

> Thanks!!

Depends on what you mean by "a high speed connection 'directly' to the
internet".

You won't get on the top tier back bones directly. Nor several tiers
down. The internet is just what it says -- an "inter" (as in between)
"net"work. It is a mesh of _publicly_ inter-connected networks
somewhat hierarchically arranged.

Most of the "high speed" (you probably mean high bandwidth/low latency
at this level) lines are owned by the telecoms and/or require the use
of their AS (Administrative System) -- their network -- as a transit
from where you are to where you want to go.

ISPs are simply networks that provide a transit for other nets or stub
nets or users on the ISP's net. They have arrangements with _their_
provider, which has arrangements with _their_ provider, etc. And it
ain't cheap. Got an extra million or two laying around? You could get
by with 10s of thousands if you just wanted to establish a public stub
network with a modest amount of IP space, I guess.

Now, if all you want is a big pipe carrying traffic at higher rates
than most people/small businesses have a use for, you would likely get
in touch with the local "baby bell" phone exchange provider -- or maybe
a speciality provider that leases from the baby or similar. There is
quite a bit of competition at the local exchange level these days.
Local government entities are a prime account target due to size and
multiple geographic locations. $$$

And get ready to get familiar with the ends and outs of provisioning
contracts and the various levels of provisioning. This is where the
"ain't cheap" part comes in. If you can't fill that pipe with $
traffic you'll go broke _fast_.

Filling that pipe so unit prices are reasonable is really the role that
most ISPs carry out. Before the dot.com bust and the "big boys" got
interested in _all_ revenue streams, there were actually a number of
mom-n-pop ISPs around, especially those providing land or especially
wireless access for "remote" communities/users. They could afford to
use/fill that pipe with $ customer traffic at a price the big boys
weren't interested in while big $ was to be had elsewhere. Times
change ... And so does customer support

Many profitable ISPs now are in some sense "regional" -- ie., serving
multiple communities. Each community is probably on a local subnet of
the ISP's network. Oversubscription is common -- ie., more customers
than IPs to assign. Thus even to get a static IP you will likely pay
extra. What many ISPs call "static" IPs are actually dynamic,
fixed-address IPs with long lease times for a differentiated class of
customers, not a "you paid for it, you own it", static public IP.

If you google creatively or just go to your local phone company's web
page you can probably dig up some interesting details on how this
works. I haven't done it for 18 months or so but you should have no
problems turning up some "attractive deals" -- but read the fine print,
then read the fine print's fine print Then get out your microscope
and read it again.

hth,
prg
email above disabled

Matt wrote:

> I've been doing networking for about 10 years now, and I have never run
> across the answer to this, so i thought i'd ask to finally figure it out.
> I've had dialup and i have a cable modem, but what does a business or home
> user do when they want to get a high speed connection "directly" to the
> internet (i say in quotes).**I*mean*using*their*own*router,*external
> switch, firewall, and subnet of IP addresses.**Is*this*something*you*talk
> to*the phone company about or do ISPs do it?**what*information*is*out
> there?

You'd talk to an ISP, who'd provide you with a range of IP addresses and
perhaps help you get a connection to them.

I don't know what kind of cable modem you are refering here.

In todays world using SDSL technology, ISP can give upto 2Mbps link to
its subscribers over the same copper wire.

regards
baruah

On Thu, 27 Jan 2005 15:50:05 -0700, ray <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>On Thu, 27 Jan 2005 16:55:18 -0500, Matt wrote:
>
>> I've been doing networking for about 10 years now, and I have never run
>> across the answer to this, so i thought i'd ask to finally figure it out.
>> I've had dialup and i have a cable modem, but what does a business or home
>> user do when they want to get a high speed connection "directly" to the
>> internet (i say in quotes). I mean using their own router, external switch,
>> firewall, and subnet of IP addresses. Is this something you talk to the
>> phone company about or do ISPs do it? what information is out there?
>> Thanks!!
>
>I believe the usual answer is 't1'.

I do it regularly for clients - there are several ways to do it, but
the one I usually use is DSL with a static IP address. I'm using AT&T
here & now, but check the covad site, http://dslinfo.com/, or just
google - there's tons of ISPs who'll provide the service.

IME, the biggest pain is getting a link with a static IP at a
reasonable price. On the east coast, it can be done for 50-75 per
month, but beware - generally outfits that will provide a static IP
are going to hand you a wire with an IP address and run - forget
support or other services. I see that as reasonable, personally.

I'm runnng apache, postfix, jabber, bind, ftp, squid, leafnode, and a
bunch of other things on a DSL line here, 2 domains at the moment.
The only thing I 'job out' is usenet - you can't pull a newsfeed over
a T1 right now, forget doing it on a DSL. Everything else works
pretty well. It's not the fastest link, but a T1 costs a few thousand
a month and I pay less than a hundred.

One of my clients is running a half-dozen domains on a similar
configuration right now. I have another that's so far out in the
sticks they have to use an RF link to the nearest civilized locale,
but they've got their own VPN over it to the home office.

Cable modem is, without a doubt, the worst possible way to go. No one
at any of the 5 cable companies (Long island to rural south central
PA) I've tried to work with has a bleeping clue. They want to sell
you the service, but they don't actually want to PROVIDE the service.
Filters, speed caps, bandwidth caps, and a complete impossibility to
get a static IP - for starters. Even the so-called 'business ISPs',
(specifically Lightpath) are totally useless. Granted, there are
workarounds for using dynamic IP addresses, but they all have
different ptoblems. If you've got the budget for T1/T3, go for it.
Otherwise, DSL works fine.

Mike-

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"Matt" <(E-Mail Removed)> writes:

> Is this something you talk to the phone company about or do ISPs do
> it? what information is out there?

You find a 'decent' ISP. They will provide what you want either using
DSL, a leased line or sometimes even a wireless link.