XPost: uk.politics.misc, alt.politics.british, alt.conspiracy   
   XPost: alt.conspiracy.new-world-order, alt.america, alt.conspira   
   y.america-at-war   
   XPost: us.politics   
   From: me@privacy.org   
      
   On Sun, 26 Feb 2006 00:22:00 +0000, banana   
    wrote:   
      
      
   >>That would require manual plugging and unplugging on your part. The   
   >>microfilter (aka splitter)  is essential for the underlying digital   
   >>signalling which carries the broadband to operate properly.   
   >   
   >Why does any line need to be split for any signal to travel along it?   
      
   Because it's not 'any' signal, its two discrete ones which have to be   
   physically separated to use both at once.   
      
   Frequencies above a certain level are sent out the DSL socket.   
   Frequencies below a certain level are directed out the phone socket on   
   the splitter.   
      
   BT do not provide the splitter, Since about 2001 the majority of ADSL   
   installs are what's termed 'wires only', the ISP works with BT who   
   enable your phone line to carry broadband by ticking a box on the   
   DSLAM software. You purchase the splitter and networking equipment   
   from any number of vendors to make use of it.   
      
   >This is getting to the core of what I would be concerned about.   
   >   
   >E.g. say I want to rent a line just for a broadband internet connection   
   >and not for anything else.   
      
   You can do that, you still have to plug a splitter in, as the socket   
   for connecting in broadband equipment is different from a normal phone   
   socket.   
      
   If you plug nothing into the phone socket on the splitter then the   
   line is broadband only.   
      
   The line will still have a phone number etc. As it will be provided to   
   you as a standard phone line.   
      
      
   >>More customers signing up to use a service which is superior to dial   
   >>up. The more bandwidth one buys from upstream carriers, the cheaper it   
   >>gets.   
   >   
   >But it isn't just cheaper PER bit/second.   
      
   Of course.   
      
   >I understand that renting an   
   >aircraft hangar might be cheaper PER unit area than renting a lockup   
   >garage. But when renting a hangar becomes cheaper than renting a lockup   
   >garage, that's very peculiar.   
      
   That's not analogous. See below.   
      
      
   >>Contention for dialup is a hard limit, your customers cannot connect   
   >>if they are all being used, contention for broadband is a soft limit.   
   >>Your customers can connect, but will experience a degraded service   
   >>until you pay for a bigger fatter pipe to carry their traffic.   
   >   
   >Thanks for this - it's getting clearer now. I understand what you've   
   >said, but nonetheless the difference in price per baud seems so   
   >immense...   
      
   You have to remember that you don't get 1:1 contention for ADSL, the   
   service is contended at 20:1 for the business tariff and 50:1 for the   
   consumer one.   
      
   99% of users will not be running their broadband flat out all the   
   time, so this slack is what allows > 1:1 contention for a fixed amount   
   of bandwidth to work successfully.   
      
   The contention ratio is not for the 'x' amount of kilobits delivered   
   to the customer. It's for the amount of space used on the back haul   
   from the exchange to the customers internet service provider.   
      
   I've used ADSL for over 5 years now and have never had contention   
   issues once.   
      
      
   > Can you think of any parallels for the economics of this?   
      
   The growth of the railways in the late 19th century was pretty   
   spectacular, networks bloomed, and the price for carrying passengers   
   and freight fell.   
      
      
   greg   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)