[1st-mile-nm] Qwest slashes "Connect Quantum" Internet price

[John Osmon]

On Fri, Dec 19, 2008 at 05:58:45PM -0700, peter wrote:
> First 20 mps is really 2.5 megabyte and typically upstream is about 10 - 
> 15% of the downstream speed

Huh?  It's ADSL2+.  Upstream will be maxed out at 896kbps, and
downstream will be of several speeds, up to 20 Mbps.
 
> From my sources in Denver the service is a joke and rarely gets the 
> 10mps or 1.25 megabyte range and service swings are huge ( they are 
> using Bandwidth monitor pro )

I'm not seeing that with the folks in ABQ that have the service.  They
get advertised speeds to downtown -- the only drawback is the 20 - 30 ms
of latency inherent in ADSL using DMT signaling.

>From servers in downtown ABQ, I've seen folks streaming 3 or 4
simultaneous media streams, while using SSH and VOIP.  Not too shabby.


> As Qwest no longer will agree to SLA agreement or data on its broadband 
> connection service the difference in business and residential rates is 
> criminal

I don't recall any SLAs on DSL at any time.  It's always been a "best
effort" type of system.  (Like packet delivery on the Inernet.  :-)

The only drawback I see with the new Qwest offerings is that they
are using this time to block out their ISP partners.  You get to
use Qwest as the ISP, or forego the faster speeds.

See my previous posts for my thoughts on having your layer 3 provider
locked in because of your layer 1/2 choice.  (Hint - I think it
sucks...)