[P1] Bandwidth

[Jack Rodgers]

The really fast connections T-3 or so can deliver data extremely fast 
and handle many, many simultaneous connections. A dial-up phone cannot 
handle as many simultaneous connections because it delivers data so 
much slower.

The actual bandwidth, connection speed, is determined by how many 
simultaneous connections you expect and the data download is determined 
by how much data the surfers download.

My dial-up delivers about 4 KB/Sec when downloading a file. My Merlin 
card delivers about 13 KB/sec and my Airport delivers about 150KB/sec 
when hooked to a DSL line. These figures are all subject to various 
conditions and the quality of the site serving the files.

One interesting observation was to watch the download speeds when I 
download more than one file. Each downloaded file shares an equal 
portion of the connection speed. So if my download speed is 4KB/Sec for 
one file, it is 2KB/Sec each for two files and 1KB each for four files. 
This happens because my connection speed is so much slower than the 
server's output.

A server would only experience slow downs when the total data requested 
by the surfers exceed the amount the server can send in a given time 
period. I believe inexpensive desktops can saturate a T3 but I am only 
repeating what I have read on a list a while back.

It might prove cheaper to use your own server connected to a higher 
speed line than to use a service provided by someone else if you expect 
a reasonably high volume. I am assuming that a connection would come 
with no time limits or extra charge for data transfer, something that 
most commercial servers enforce.

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Simple Solutions for Simple Minds.  Jack Rodgers for President.

jackrodgers at earthlink.net
http://www.jackrodgers.com