[VoIP] Cable questions

[Donald Froula]

I was unable to get broadband at all in my location
until Ameritech installed a fiber-extended remote
switch within a mile from my house. Now, I pay for 3
mbps downlink and .75 mbps uplink.

This works well for my household, with 3 computers in
active use by teens and wife, me running VPN tunneling
to work with Netmeeting often up, and the Asterisk box
running 2-3 outside calls, max.

Although the theoretical data rates are lower than
with cable, the speed and latency are very
predictable, since DSL does not share the access media
with anyone. This equates to very consistent VOIP
quality. This may be a reason to consider staying with
DSL. I have noticed that coworkers on conference calls
with cable and VOIP service often sound awful,
especially in the evening.

Also, I shudder to think of dealing with Comcast
customer service on a data or telephony service issue.


Don

--- Jayson Smith <ratguy at bellsouth.net> wrote:

> Hi,
> After this eventful weekend of lost DSL, dead DSL
> jacks, resurrected DSL
> jacks (we now have DSL and the jack wasn't
> replaced), phone line static,
> some DSL failures after that, etc. we are getting
> disgusted with Bell South.
> We've found we can actually save some money by
> switching to cable for
> broadband and phone service. I have a few questions.
> On the phone side of things, how does this work from
> a technical standpoint?
> Is dialtone being provided by the box they put at
> the house, or does it
> actually connect digitally to a real switch
> somewhere, which provides
> dialtone, ring, busy, etc? Also, if the power goes
> out, what happens? Do you
> get a little battery backup, then dead phones until
> the power comes back? Is
> it possible for a customer to hook the phone
> converter box up to a UPS, or
> is this strictly illegal/impossible/etc? I assume
> sound quality should be
> comparable to ULAW Voip service.
>      About Internet, what kinds of speeds can I
> realistically expect? I
> think our DSL is now 1.5 Mbit down, and a lot less
> than that up. I don't
> know what cable is even claiming. Also, does the
> cable modem typically have
> to be hooked up directly to a PC for initial
> installation/activation/whatever, then hooked up to
> a router, or can it
> usually all be done from the router?
>      One thing I'm dreading is changing E-mail
> addresses with everybody I
> know, do business with, etc. Oh well. Thanks for any
> info.
> Jayson
> 
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