Date: Fri, 11 Jul 1997 12:25:09 +0100 (BST) From: Stephen Roome <steve@visint.co.uk> To: Ulf Zimmermann <ulf@Alameda.net> Cc: shovey@buffnet.net, danf@JadeTech.com, isp@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: T1 upgrade options? Message-ID: <Pine.BSF.3.95.970711121930.8319B-100000@dylan.visint.co.uk> In-Reply-To: <199707091731.KAA12155@Gatekeeper.Alameda.net>
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On Wed, 9 Jul 1997, Ulf Zimmermann wrote: > > I still really don't understand why folks with only a T1 line insist on > > buying a separate router, we have E1 here and have a dual port serial card > > and a mux. It costs the same to add onto a pc as a Cisco, you still get > > tech support and the PC that runs it doesn't do anything else or fall over > > ever. > > Why ? Because what ever system you run your T1 off, PC or SGI or whatever, > if it is not a dedicated router, people tend to run other services off it. > If you run other services off it, you tend to modify it (for example > reboot). That brings down your whole T1 line. I thought long about it, > as I started with just a Fractional T1 Frame Relay line for myself and > decided at that point to go with a Cisco PC card. It is a complete router, > it just takes power from the PC and a com port emulation for the console > port. Even with this solution I power cycled the box it was in too often. Okay, valid point. =) I think it comes down to whether you chose to reboot the box or not, the only time I've had real downtime on our router is after a power cut, but then the power to the line goes down then at the main box in the street. Personally I don't reboot the PC router or run anything else on it, okay there's a secondary nameserver and that's too much as well, but in the six months since we got our E1 I've only rebooted the router once, and that was to take out the graphics card. It's just a standalone box which plodds happily along now. I suppose it's personal preference then, next time I'm doing this I'll look more carefully at using a Cisco or Livingston or something instead. > If customer ask me today about a standalone router or a PC card, I often > tell them to get a router like the Engage routers. a T1 with CSU version > cost $995 for ISPs. It has no large option in routing protocols, but > as an endpoint, they don't need much. The reason I tell them this, it is > a standalone box. A black box in the corner. No one is going to touch it. On the cost side of things you seem to have a very valid point, although I'm not sure the cost _should_ be an issue for a router for anything more than a 64k line as it's such a small fraction of the cost. Well, in the UK it is anyway. =) -- Steve Roome - Vision Interactive Ltd. Tel:+44(0)117 9730597 Home:+44(0)976 241342 WWW: http://dylan.visint.co.uk/
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