Re: tlug: ISDN Access

["Stephen J. Turnbull" <turnbull@example.com>]

>>>>> "Darren" == Darren Cook <darren@example.com> writes:

    Darren> Where did you get the 20 people figure from?

I knew there was a parameter, I quoted Jonathan without checking.

    Darren> But I get good bandwidth from OCN - in fact close to what
    Darren> I'd see if I had all 128K to myself.

Yes, this is definitely a YMMV kind of thing.  I don't like the
incentives that NTT has, and I don't like that fact that the service
can be degraded without any warning to existing users (by adding new
users).

    Darren> Incidentally NTT just announced a price drop from 38,000
    Darren> to 32,000, starting October 1st.

If this works the way their normal marketing does, then it means

    (a) they're following their incentive to fill that bandwidth, and
    (b) they haven't been getting many takers to this point, or
    (c) people who have been having problems with bandwidth have been
        complaining a lot.

Ki wo tsukete, ne.

I'm not saying this isn't a solution for some people.  And of course
Tsukuba-Dai profs are "pampered lapdogs on the Internet," so tradeoffs 
other people would find reasonable look insane to me personally.  I'm
just trying to point out those tradeoffs.

Of the 5 ISP decisions I've been personally been privy to in Japan,
the only one that has been wholly satisfactory has been my
relationship with GOL.  GOL has always stayed ahead of the curve on
bandwidth, which is not true of any of the three other providers.
(The 5th contract was also with GOL; it was not renewed because GOL
didn't provide a local number in Tsukuba.  That doesn't bother me
because I'm willing to pay lots of yen for a few minutes of good
bandwidth if some part of the school net goes down, as it too often
does.)  My feeling is that Japanese companies are just not good at
dealing with growth rates like those involved in the ISP business (or
in member arrivals at a TLUG nomikai :-), so consistent bandwidth is a 
very important point in deciding on your provider.

-- 
University of Tsukuba                Tennodai 1-1-1 Tsukuba 305-8573 JAPAN
Institute of Policy and Planning Sciences       Tel/fax: +81 (298) 53-5091
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
What are those two straight lines for?  "Free software rules."
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Next Nomikai: September 17 (Fri), 19:30 Tengu TokyoEkiMae 03-3275-3691
*** Linux 8th Birthday Anniversary! ***
Next Technical Meeting: October 9 (Sat), 13:00     place: Temple Univ.
*** Topics: 1) Linux i18n   2) Japanese TrueType fonts
-------------------------------------------------------------------
more info: http://www.tlug.gr.jp        Sponsor: Global Online Japan