[Gllug] Home grown DSL

[Mike Brodbelt]

Kieran Barry wrote:
> 
> On Mon, 27 Aug 2001, William Palfreman wrote:
> 
> > Did anyone else see the Robert X Cringely article about DIY DSL links?
> > (http://www/pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/pulpit20010823.html)  I'm up for this.
> 
> I was very interested in this, at least as an idea.
> 
> > I checked with BT and they rent out copper pairs at £33 per month, and £58
> > per month beyond your local exchange. 

Interesting.

> > Add a pair of DSL modems ($300) at
> > either end, and that's 2Mbits full-duplex!  I'd rather spend a few
> > weekends laying fibre segments between one person and another than I would
> > pay BT extortionate inter-exchange rate, but, well, that's an option,
> > isn't it?  Those parts would do 100Mbits. (Whoor!)  Anyone else
> > interested?  Think how good those WAN skills would look on your CV :-)
> >
> Right. Anyone else live around sunny Southall?
> 
> How many people would be needed before a leased line is competitive with
> cable/ADSL?

A lot. You can get 2Mb ADSL for 119ukp/month, which works out at roughly
1700 ukp /year, after VAT and stuff. Last time I checked, a 2Mb leased
line would set you back at least 10 times that (and probably more).
You're getting a better service for that, admittedly, but by the time
you've got enough people together, you end up with a 2Mb line with a
20:1 contention ratio, and you're pretty much back at ADSL level of
service. You've got a symmetric link of course, and an SLA, but you go
through a lot of grief to get there. Also, your ISP probably won't allow
you to resell the bandwidth to your co-conspirators legally :-)

However, this is a great thing to do if you want a fast point to point
link. It's probably also good if you get 2Mb ADSL, and then 3 links to
your friends like this, and share the ADSL cost.

Mike.

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