bluebsh
join:2003-11-23
Indiana, PA
1 edit | Comcast Workplace
Alright, back to the bandwidth questions... but I just find some of this stuff humorous when I read it from Comcast...
At work now we tried to take out a Comcast Workplace agreement as a backup ISP to our current fiber lines (we have 3 pair fiber metro ethernet connections running at 4Mbit symetric) but thats all under one ISP and one gateway... well we need a backup, so comcast seemed to be the logical choice since its on a different type of network (coax vs fiber) so if we lose our fiber lines (heaven forbit a backhoe cuts them or somethign) we would still have coax.. well here is the problem... we push probably 500-600 GB a month? (or lines run almost full capacity during business hours and 1/3rd cap at off business) well what would comcast do if our fiber went out and we offloaded to them and pushed that much down their lines? cut us off?
I ask this because of my recent experience with residential "abuse" problems and comcast... but when reading the business contract it clearly says "unlimited internet" what in the world is unlimited internet? can someone clearify this? the lady we spoke to at the comcast business office said we had unlimited bandwidth, but for some reason i dont trust this... because how is something that is "Abuse" on a residential line not abuse all the sudden in a business line its all thorugh the same CMTS and even on the same node... and if a home user is a "deterement" to the network how is a business in this situaltion not? thanks!
DSL isnt an option of course because it would come off our smart jack which is on the same fiber lines... |
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RoCJester
join:2006-12-20
Pottstown, PA
| How many modems are you planning on having? B/C it's 1 modem per account.. even at the highest speeds (8M/1M) you'd need a LOT of modems to cover that. If you push that much bandwidth thru an SMC or a Netgear (assuming you'd want a static IP) that thing'd never be online because of so much traffic going thru em they'd reset constantly.
Regardless from what I know commercial customers do have packet prioritaziton on the CMTS and you "should" be ok. I havn't gotten any calls yet about any Commercial customers being shut off for hittin our "mysterious" bandwidth cap. Granted though 5-600GB/mo is a LOT of bandwidth. If you have the funds, I would rather say go with a T1 or something for backup.. something with more "gauranteed" uptime.. granted though for a T1 you'd need like 3 of em to cover all your bandwidth.
It all depends on how much you want to spend. |
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bluebsh
join:2003-11-23
Indiana, PA
1 edit | we cant use a T1 for backup, that'd once again come over the same fiber lines... we need somethign isolated from our current incoming fiber, and coax is really the only one... We'd only need 1 modem, this account would basically be idle until we went down (doesnt happen that often, but sometimes they do mantinance on the fiber lines or tests)
at 8Mbit how would we need a lot of modems? 8Mbit running at full speed (theoretically) would give you 850GB per month working 8 hours a day
as for guaranteed, we dont need guaranteed, we just need a backup incase of the rare instance of our fiber line to verizon being out |
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RoCJester
join:2006-12-20
Pottstown, PA
| That was my mistake, didn't see that it was only download, not upload.. thought you were UPLOADING 5-600GB/mo... that would be the issue.
My mistake.
Yeah for just downloading and such 1 modem at Workplace Enhanced would take care of anything you'd need. The speeds are pretty reliable (I got about 7900Kbps on my tests usually) but that would be fine.
"Typical" Price for WPE is $160/mo.. but you need to talk to sales. 1-800-316-1619 option 1 |
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xcvxcv
@comcast.net
| reply to bluebsh
How long would your fiber likely go out for? it it gets cut or has a problem it wouldn't probably be fixed that day. lets just say it takes a week which is ridiculous. you would onnly be pushing 1/4th of your monthly bandwidth through comcast in that case.
I'm sure you would be fine. Even if they did say you abused it you would get a letter AFTER the fact, so you still had your business functioning when it needed to be and you can deal with the abuse letter while your fiber is working again. |
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rody_44
Premium
join:2004-02-20
Quakertown, PA
 ·Comcast
| reply to bluebsh
if you really want you can even have comcast run a fiber line in for you. of course its going to cost a arm and a leg for it. i would say comcast workplace would be a perfect back up. as far as bandwidth on a comcast workplace account i dont see a problem. i do think that you may end up paying more because its clearly a lot of computers. |
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neufuse
join:2006-12-06
Indiana, PA | yeah its about 400 workstations and 35 servers with digital video and graphics going in and out constantly |
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wee96
Your Local Confederate
join:2000-04-12
Clinton Township, MI | reply to bluebsh
I wouldn't worry about it, as its a business account for business purposes, and it wouldn't be for months and months, it is just a backup right? You should be just fine and its quite a good idea. |
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neufuse
join:2006-12-06
Indiana, PA
·Comcast
| reply to xcvxcv
fixed that day? ha... we've had days where they 'fixed' it and our phone lines had channels 1-18 locked out and wouldnt come back online leaving us with 4 channels left for phone... back when we ran phones over a T-1 (24 phone channel line, 2 reserved for diagnostics and such) even with the brand new fiber we've had periods where the fiber would just drop out during a heavy storm (yeah a storm!) its like there is a bad link in it somewhere down the line but verizon refuses to check it and says its fine... yet every time there is a storm they are out front pumping out water from the underground system they have around here.... |
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