Shared T1 for internet access at apartment complex -- any thoughts?

[AndrewR]

I'm probably moving in the next month or so, and they have an option (the only broadband option) for shared T1 access at the complex with guaranteed 256K (she didn't know if that was for upstream and downstream or if upstream was less, I didn't press her since she wasn't the brightest). Does that sound like a nice setup?

I'm currently using MediaOne cable and have seen over 2800 kbps on some tests of my connection (after applying some of the patches at Speednet). Bandwidth isn't all that important to me as I don't do massive downloading, but latency is for online games. I would guess that the latency on a T1 is going to be very good, but I really have a hard time guessing what it would be without some experience of it. Current latency on my cable line is running around 60-100ms in QIII on most servers and 70-200ms in Counterstrike.

Any ideas out there?

 

[reitz]

Does it cost anything extra? Free is always a good price.

 

[TechieZero]

Nothing is free. You always pay for it somehow. I never lived in an Apt setup like that but I know there are Apt complexes in Texas for example that run Half-Life servers (Walden Woods Apartments I think). They have web sites up and the Admins are reachable. Maybe you should ask them how the quality of internet life is there.

 

[BoberFett]

Well, with a T1 you can't guarantee too many people 256K access. A T1 is only ~1.5 Mbps.

 

[Mday]

well, what you are getting are the lower DSL speeds that some places are getting.

you may better off going a different route. But i don't know how much per month that access is.

i agree with boberfett on the bandwidth issue.

 

[AndrewR]

This may be the same place as that in Texas, as it's Walton Falls. I believe the price is $44 per month, which is about what I'm paying for cable. I just found out that BellSouth DSL is not available at these apartments, which is a surprise since they were just built though it might be related to the distance they are from the local office.

They said that the 256K guarantee is monitored and that if they see too many people using it they will add another T1. I thought about that problem myself, but I guess they count on not having more than 7 users running simultaneously, which is probably fanciful on their part. You'd better believe that if I see it dip below 256K, I'll go barking at them with some threatening letters (it helps to have a law degree sometime).

I think my choices are limited to this alone in terms of broadband. Cable access is through Premier Home also (which is what this is) so MediaOne is out for that. Without BellSouth DSL which presumably excludes other DSL as well (except for commercial DSL, which is quite cost prohibitive -- $300/month last I checked), I'm stuck. Again, it's not bandwidth though, it's latency that's the biggest issue for me -- within reason, of course, since I won't tolerate a 56 kbps connection again!

 

[MisterM]

It will definitely be better than an 56K modem , and if it`s your only option you`l have to take it anyways. :Q

Sorry, but I don`t know how the latency will be, but I`d think the ping times will be pretty good, since it`s an T1.

 

[BiB]

AndrewR going by what you are saying I'd say certainly go for it...

 

[bUnMaNGo]

if you're worried about ping, ask what ISP they're gonna be using... all T1's aren't equal when it comes to that sometimes... if they're getting it through a reseller then it might be ass =\

 

[Windogg]

One plus for T1 is that its a public utility and there are guarantees on uptime. I've been lucky and rarely see outages with my cable modem. Otehr have reported nightmares about losing cable and DSL for days. Since T1s were origianlly high capacity voice circuits, there on laws that limit downtime.

Windogg

 

[Dave]

We share a T1 among ~400 users ... they rave about the speed. Unless the apartment complex is huge and has a high proportion of users it should be plenty fast compared the alternative (modem).

 

[BoberFett]

Oh, it will definitely be fast. But as for guaranteed 256K, that's a crock. If you've got a dozen people in the building downloading movies or MP3s or some other huge stuff, you won't hit 256K.

 

[slipperyslope]

Well i go to a university that used to only use 3 T1 lines for 15000 students. During the day it sucked ass of course but at night I could get 20 pings easily(Quake 2). So I think that pings on any T1 will be fine for you.


Jim