[BBLISA] Telecommunications Recommendations...

[Richard 'Doc' Kinne]

Good Morning, Folks:

I'm in the midst of taking a look at re-doing our internet service. We
currently have a sychronous DS1 line (1.5Mbps in and out) which, being
the non-profit we are, has been all we've been able to afford based on
what we have. This DS1 line, with 24 routable internet addresses costs
us about $600 month. If I go to a 36 month contract I can get it down
to $450 or so.

However, we're now in a position where we need a much larger download
pipe than an upload pipe, so I started taking a look at asynchronous
solutions. Taking a look at Comcast they were able to offer me 20Mbps
down and 2Mbps up and 13 (down from 24) IP addresses for about
$95/month.

Now even if that 20Mbps down actually turns out to be, say, 5Mbps down
there is still a night and day difference in the cost. It is such a
large difference that I'm trying to figure out what I am fundamentally
missing. Based on what I know know I can't think I could make any
other recommendation to my Director. And I can't think how any other
service, including the one I have now, remains competitive.

I feel I'm missing something fundamental here. What are the
experiences anyone on the list have had?
----
Doc Kinne, AAVSO
(From the Gmail Web Interface)