tallen03
join:2005-02-02
Ozark, MO
| Fiber internet
I am trying to get fiber internet from my local electric company instead of getting a t1. t1 in my area will cost about $512/month. Fiber (2mbps, burstable to 4mbps, up and down) is only $250/month plus the cost of getting the fiber to me. The cost of getting it to me is broken down over the length of the contract, so for the first year it might cost about the same as a t1, but after that it will be just $250/month.
My questions are...
Does anyone else here have experience themselves, or know somebody who uses, fiber like this?
What are any drawbacks that anyone can see to using fiber instead of t1?
Thanks for all of the great support everyone here provides! |
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canadiancree
Crusin in the boonies
join:2004-02-10
Charlottetown, PE
 ·Bell Sympatico
 ·Cogeco Cable
1 edit | As I was informed in another forum, for this kind of Q, you'll want to go to the fiber section of this forum, they'd be able to answer your questions a lot better 
EDIT: Never mind, seems we have a good group of folks with experience |
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cmaenginsb
Premium,MVM
join:2001-03-19
Palmdale, CA | reply to tallen03
I knew of a few companies doing this, most are out of business now.
The big drawback might be on the ability to resell, you need to scrutinize this. Also depending on the technology it is probably more of a shared thing like a cable modem. |
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uscomputing
join:2005-01-26
Buffalo, NY | reply to tallen03
Is it actually Fiber, or is it power line internet. If it's actually Fiber, I say go for it. |
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superdog
I Need A Drink
Premium,MVM
join:2001-07-13
Lebanon, PA
| Just because it's fiber doesn't mean its a good deal. You need to look at how their network is setup(sonnet ring etc.) and look at their peering arrangements. If They only have 1 point of entry to the net and it is only a DS3 for example, You will have to share that with all the other users on the network. Most power CO's are really good at providing electricity, but they only got into the fiber game because some analyst told them it would be a great idea. From my experiences, they should stick to power!;)
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»www.wavecrazy.net Join WISPA today! »www.wispa.org/ |
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canadiancree
Crusin in the boonies
join:2004-02-10
Charlottetown, PE
·Bell Sympatico
·Cogeco Cable
| said by superdog  :Just because it's fiber doesn't mean its a good deal. You need to look at how their network is setup(sonnet ring etc.) and look at their peering arrangements. If They only have 1 point of entry to the net and it is only a DS3 for example, You will have to share that with all the other users on the network. Most power CO's are really good at providing electricity, but they only got into the fiber game because some analyst told them it would be a great idea. From my experiences, they should stick to power!;) And even there they probably should reconsider if they are anything like the local utility here. |
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tallen03
join:2005-02-02
Ozark, MO
| reply to tallen03
Thanks for the response so far. It is actually fiber and as far as I know you can resell it. Another wisp that serves nearby towns uses it, I don't know much about his service though as far as how satisfied people are.
What kind of questions do I need to ask to know whether it is shared, like dsl, or more like a t1? And, what is exactly the difference anyway? If a t1 provider has a 45 mbps connection to the internet does that mean they can only sell a maximum of 30 t1's? |
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cmaenginsb
Premium,MVM
join:2001-03-19
Palmdale, CA | reply to tallen03
Typically T-1 providers (at least the more expensive ones) will have a lower oversubscription ratio but you are correct, a T-1 can be oversold just as much as any other connection. |
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IntraLink
Premium,MVM
join:2002-08-14
Utah Valley
| reply to tallen03
Fiber is a good medium, but may cost more to provision at first. Sounds like that's not really the case with your fiber opportunity.
What you really want to ask the people providing the fiber link is what they can serve you in terms of a CIR (Commited Information Rate). You can't really trust their offerings if they are giving you a "burst" rate unless they have the math to back up their "burst" terms in their SLA.
And ask them how much CIR bandwidth can they give you RIGHT NOW. That will give you an idea of how oversubscribed they are or if they have CIR bandwidth to spare. If it's not much, you can't trust that they will be able to grow as you grow and then you're stuck.
But the advantage of fiber is usually the ability to seemlessly scale your rate without introducing new hardware.
Like most have stated here, fiber is just a medium and no indicator of what's being fed through it. |
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smp606
join:2002-01-16
PA | Another great thing about fiber, there are usually no errors which are common with a copper T-1 conenction every once and a while. |
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