Date: Wed, 17 Jan 1996 13:53:14 -0500 (EST) From: Max Goof <max@underdog.maxie.com> To: Robert Withrow <witr@rwwa.com> Cc: hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Another cool hack with FreeBSD... Message-ID: <Pine.BSF.3.91.960117132445.13675A-100000@underdog.maxie.com> In-Reply-To: <199601171507.KAA07549@spooky.rwwa.com>
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On Wed, 17 Jan 1996, Robert Withrow wrote: > I was wondering about load balancing several lines? For example, > if I could load balance two POTS lines with 28.8 modems, I could > have the bandwidth of single ISDN at a fraction of the cost. With > four lines I could have bonded ISDN performance, again at a fraction > of the cost. A few points you might want to consider here, based on how we are set up... At least in our area, two normal phone lines would cost only $3 less than we pay for flat-rate ISDN (About $55 a month). ISDN bandwidth is 64K per channel in most areas, not 56k, and the difference in serial protocols (sync on ISDN vs. assync on a modem) produces a boost of around another 10% in comparision to the straight bit-rates alone. Assuming our provider could load balance on thier end, the cost of two 28.8K channels from them would exceed what we pay monthly for the ISDN channel. Currently we are only use one 64K channel, if we expanded to use both of the channels, the charge for four 28.8K's would FAR exceed the cost of the 128K ISDN service. While we went the "expensive" route here and bought an integrated ISDN/router unit, some of the internal ISDN boards cost about the same as the multible modems would. Even the price of the integrated units has dropped drastically since we bought it, but it was well worth the price, and once set up has maintained the link without any maintainance on my part. I think load balancing 28.8's might be a viable solution for internal use, such as between two company locations, where you only have the physical link to pay for, and not your provider's profit margin as well. Even then, at the rate ISDN service and equipment is dropping in price, if there was much code involved in the change, the code might be obsolete by the time it was fully debugged. James Robertson Treetop Internet Services
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