Re: DSL

[Robert Dinse <nanook@eskimo.com>]

On Tue, 26 Jun 2001, Doug Brooks wrote:
> 
> Robert,
> 
> What is the status of your attempts at providing DSL service through Qwest? 
> I seem to recall you were trying to set that up but I lost track of how it 
> was going.
> 
> Doug Brooks

     Qwest gave me improper specifications for router equipment to connect to
the DSL link.  I ordered equipment based upon those specifications.  Last
Friday I got a call from them telling me that they were trying to set it up but
to do ATM on a serial port one needed an external DSU that did DXI
encapsulation. 

     Our existing router can do ATM that way so if that was what was needed
then it made no sense going with the Cisco at all.. except...

     I got corrected information from Qwest yesterday and what is needed in the
Cisco router is an ATM board which has a built in DSU rather than just the
internal CSU/DSU. 

     The only units I've found thus far that do the DXI encapsulation are very
expensive, so a Cisco with ATM board may be less expensive than the external
unit.  I don't know yet, I've got a couple of firms that are preparing quotes. 

     Using our existing router is the preferred route from my perspective
because it means that it would only be one hop to the backbone which should
make for good performance, there won't be any place where data touches a local
LAN so zero opportunity for sniffing data, and I already am familiar with it so
we'll be able to get up to speed providing service quicker. 

     Another factor, of the routers they are recommended the fastest CPU is a
single 80mhz, and I've got the dual 80mhz CPE for the 3Com plus the peripherals
are smart and offload most of the work from the CPU's and I've got enough
serial cards for 11 ports so we've got a lot of room for expansion if we go
that route. 

     But that's where we are at, things are delayed because the initial
information I was given is wrong and unfortunately I haven't had past
experience with ATM so I didn't know better.  Live and learn.