Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with dsl and bandwidth

Info source on bandwidth caps & download quotas?

kidbritish — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 08:40:09 -0800

Is there a website that tracks ISP's bandwidth caps and download quotas, and presents the information in an up-to-date and easy-to-read format? I'm especially interested in USA.

DSL usage: when will they care?

calhound — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 05:46:49 -0800

Do I need to worry about my DSL provider pulling the plug on me for bandwidth consumption? During the past month I've downloaded about 80 GB of DVD content from Digital Archive Project using the eDonkey p2p client. Do I need to be at all concerned about my DSL provider turning off service because of bandwidth usage? Or would they do something tamer like throttle my bandwidth or call to warn me? Or would they not even really care?

I know it's a what-if scenario but I'm more curious what is the norm for heavy Internet users on DSL. Is my usage having an impact on neighbors, or am I just making a small dent at the telco's central office?

FWIW I'm in the U.S. on DSL and my provider is Embarq (used to be Sprint/Sprintlink). I'm actually in a very small city away from a metro area, so I can see Embarq having some concern over how much usage there is on those pipes.

In search of cheap, fast BGP peering.

eschatfische — Sat, 11 Nov 2006 00:36:49 -0800

Other than XO Communications, who in San Francisco offers ADSL2 service or bonded G.SHDSL service (aka "Ethernet over Copper") and allows BGP? DS3s and bonded DS1s are too expensive, unless you're aware of a shocking deal. Standard ADSL service or cable is too slow. Unlicensed wireless service is too risky (although I'm willing to consider a wireless provider who's in the licensed bands). There's no fiber currently in our building. BGP is mandatory.

We already have a 10mbps "Ethernet over Copper" bonded G.SHDSL line from XO. It's exactly what we need, but I'm looking for something comparable to multi-home with for redundancy.

Thanks in advance!

Why don't ISPs compete on upstream bandwidth?

shivohum — Wed, 21 Jun 2006 10:25:51 -0800

Why don't DSL and cable providers compete on the amount of UPLOADING bandwidth they offer? It seems to me that broadband ISPs are trying to one-up each other with respect to download speeds, but with the increase in applications like photo-storage websites, ordinary users gain more than ever from being able to upload faster. Why don't DSL and cable providers try to increase their upload speeds (and heavily advertise this increase), which are, if I'm not mistaken, still typically much lower than download speeds? Is there an economic reason? Legal problems?