Pat,

I would suggest that this reference is to hardware for DSL or cable lines,
not for phone.  I can see researchers pushing "anolog" technology beyond
56K, but certainly not to the gigabit, or even the megabit level.  I have a
major disagreement with something she stated in this article, and think it
is important to note here.  While cable modem access does share bandwith
with other users, that access is limited to a single subnet.  On a subnet,
the maximum number of users would be 252, and even that is not realistic.
You would need to reserve even more IP addresses for other uses on each
subnet, so I can't see them putting more than 150 to 200 users on a single
subnet.

Now, we have T1's at work.  Our bandwith is 1.5MBs on a T1.  I can pretty
much guarantee that there are 300 to 400 users on this same T1 at any one
time surfing the net (about 10,000 employees and a lot of researchers).  I
STILL get killer speeds when I surf the net, and my downloads range from
20k/s to 100k/s on average, as opposed to 2k/s to 10k/s at home on my dual
56K modem setup.  So, imagine having to share a 3MBs pipe with only 150 to
200 users - twice the bandwith as a T1 (at a mere fraction of the cost, I
might add).  I don't think you are going to run out of bandwith any time
soon.  The only way you would ever notice any appreciable difference is if
everyone on your subnet started a huge download all at the same time.  Not
likely.

The author also mentioned something about the neighbor kid playing online
games as if that would suck up bandwith.  Um, hello!!!  Once you are
connected to the game server, the only information that is exchanged between
your system and the server is location and movement.  The main reason analog
modem users have a problem with this is because of the latency of an analog
connection.  On a cable modem you would be taking up about a 1k/s to 2k/s
stream.  The kid playing his online game is going to be inconsequential to
your bandwith.

One thing that does need to be talked about is firewalls.  Can anyone bring
any good experience to the table on this issue.  I have been dinking with
them, but need to know which ones are recommended, what kinds of
restrictions are good, etc.  I wouldn't dare use a cable modem or DSL
without a firewall in place.

From: "Patrick Black" <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, March 13, 2000 7:11 PM
Subject: [PCBUILD] Gigabit Modems?


> Ok this one sound really outta this word but at the end of the following
> article http://www.msnbc.com/news/377105.asp?0m=H1AQ
>
>          Modem mania. Don't write off the modem altogether. Gigabit-speed
> modems are reportedly being developed
>
>
> The author mentions something about Gigabit  modems. I'm just as intriuged
> you might say about this as everyone else. I know
> the theoretical limit was 56K for downstream analog modem. Or is this a
data
> line (probably more likely) like ISDN or xDSL.. Of course
> 33.6K was supposed to be the theoretical limit before 56K, are we about to
> be proven wrong.
>
> Of course she said "reportedly being developed" but the possibly is very
> intriguing.
>
> --Patrick Black

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