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Date:      Thu, 11 Jul 1996 14:28:09 -0400
From:      "Jacob M. Parnas" <jparnas@jparnas.cybercom.net>
To:        Henry Spencer <henry@zoo.toronto.edu>
Cc:        hardware@freebsd.org, bsdi-users@bsdi.com
Subject:   Re: your mail 
Message-ID:  <199607111828.OAA03235@jparnas.cybercom.net>
In-Reply-To: Your message of Thu, 11 Jul 1996 10:15:40 EDT. <Pine.3.89.9607111001.D4490-0100000@zoo.toronto.edu> 

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In message <Pine.3.89.9607111001.D4490-0100000@zoo.toronto.edu>you write:
>> >...Note that the splitting is *not*, in general, over the entire
>> >metropolitan area -- the cable company can and does subdivide.  The folks
>> >in the Rogers Toronto-area experiment say that the net effective data rate
>> >did vary depending on load, but it was always a lot faster than phone...
>> 
>> I thought that while it was pretty easy to add a new ISDN server, it was
>> hard to add a new cable.  This would seem to be a problem, especially if
>> this was done in bulk...
>
>They don't have to add new cable, just new boxes at the appropriate point
>in the distribution tree.  (As I think I already mentioned, the signal
>distribution in cable is a tree, not a star, with the last amplifiers at
>a fairly local level, out on poles in your neighborhood.)  Especially if
>everything before the final amplifier uses fiber -- which is, I believe,
>the new trend, to the point where existing wiring is being converted at a
>brisk pace in many areas -- the wiring is already in place. 
>
>> >> And if you have to move, you may be out of luck.
>> >ISDN has the same problem.
>> 
>> I thought ISDN was a bit more common and standardized, but I could be wrong.
>
>Standardized, yes, but common... well, that varies a whole lot.  It's not
>something you can count on being able to get, especially at a reasonable
>price, not yet.  The bottom line for ISDN and cable is similar -- if you
>really need it, that constrains where you move -- although the extent of
>the problem may differ at the moment.
>
>> Also, how much are the charges for installation, equipment and any monthly/
>> packet/etc charges?
>
>This depends very heavily on the cable company, the same way ISDN charges 
>depend very heavily on the phone company.  In Toronto, Rogers is talking
>about a flat monthly fee of $30-40 on top of what you pay for your basic 
>cable service (which they quietly assume you already have!).  We'll see.
>
>                                                           Henry Spencer
>                                                       henry@zoo.toronto.edu

Thanks for all the useful information.  I wish my cable company would
provide the service that some of you are getting.  A nearby one does, but
that doesn't help. *sigh*.

I did think that ISDN was catching on, like touch-tones did, but I'm not sure.

Jacob



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