When talking to a telco type, he threw out stuff like "T-1 Frame Relay." Could someone knowledgeable in telco talk help me out on this? I've heard of a t-1, of course, but haven't a clue what Frame relay is. Thanks! Jim
I do not know much about frame relays, but I will attempt a short laymans explanation. Its a box like piece of equipment that connects your private leased phone line that is dedicated for connecting to the internet at T-1 speeds to a router and then to your local network computers. It is faster than cable or DSL, but cost much more. About $900.00 a month according to another thread on this board. The fastest speed you can obtain today for trading without going to much more expensive solutions.
Frame relay is a delivery of data through a telco "cloud" on permanent virtual circuits (PVCs). Your packets could go from Seattle to Portland to San Francisco and back or they may go through Salt Lake City to get to San Francisco. Who knows? Who cares? All you know is that you are guarranteed a CIR (committed information rate) between the points. It is unlike a phone line or a DDS service that is "nailed down" all the time and therefore more expensive. It is a tariffed service and you'll pay for it based on the miles between your connections and the CIR you request. If your ISP isn't too far from your office you can get a good deal on T-1 (24 channels [56K per channel]) or a fractional T-1 (2 to 6 channels)... it just depends. DSL is usually a better offering as the telco can bundle your analog phone service with the DSL. My preference is DSL then Frame Relay and lastly ISDN (the most problematic of the 3) I have used them all and deal with them on a professional basis as well as just trading stocks over them. I hope this clarifies rather than confuses. ~EC
Glad someone brought this up, and someone responded. But, I have to admit that I'm a little confused. I almost don't want to know how it works but just what I might need if I wanted to get T-1 to a personal residence where DSL or CABLE access is not available. I'm knowledgeable enough about computers but not networks. In addition, I would have imagined that T-1 would be the fastest and most reliable. Is this true? (and for the sake of discussion, let's disregard the cost of T-1 which I understand is about $1000/month) Thanks for any help.
In addition, I would have imagined that T-1 would be the fastest and most reliable. Is this true? Maybe yes... maybe no. When most people say they have t-1 they mean "fractional T-1" Full T-1 is 1.5 Megs bandwidth. (64K per channel times 24 channels = about 1.5 Megs) ISDN PRI is also 1.5 Megs... DSL bandwidth varies from 128K and up. (and for the sake of discussion, let's disregard the cost of T-1 which I understand is about $1000/month) Again... the offering is "tarriffed". You'll pay for the bandwidth times the miles between you and your ISP. Sometimes Frame-Relay is all you can get if you are too far from the Telco Central Office (CO). DSL is limited to about 18,000 feet from the CO as is ISDN. For some reason they will extend Frame Relay further. Short answer to your needs is just say DSL please. The bandwidth is more than adequate and a good compared to Frame and ISDN. I currently use DSL and if I could I'd get a Cable modem backup. If no cable available then frame then ISDN and lastl choice POTS. Plain old telethone service. Does that help? ~EC
The problem is that neither DSL nor CABLE are available. So until then I am stuck with 56K. But I was asking so I can get some ideas of what other options are available to me in the future assuming that DSL or CABLE don't become available. I've looked into two-way satellite but discovered that while the bandwidth is good, the ping times can be extremely high which is a problem.
Again, it is "Tarriffed"... they are required to charge depending on how far it is between the two points. (In this case your ISP and your office). Ball park figure of a couple hundred a month.