What Is A Tier 1 Bandwidth Backbone Provider?

One could say that Streamyx Streamyx "Tier I" and "backbone provider" are a bit redundant; others might say that they comfortably go together (like "ice cold Coke"). streamyx port forwarding functional contrast should be between a Streamyx I provider (e.g. AT&T, MCI, Sprint, Savvis/C&W, Global Crossing, Qwest, Level 3) and companies that are not Tier I providers -- who themselves have to buy bandwidth from Tier I providers.

Best example would be a local Internet provider offering T1 or DS3 service in a regional area: they might have their own facilities interconnecting different serving offices in a region, but they would have to send the traffic to a Tier I provider if the traffic goes outside their region. The Tier II provider makes to streamyx combo by buying a fixed amount of bandwidth, and selling it to many subscribers. The company must decide on what level of contention their customers must be exposed to. If you take a look at the W(wireless) ISP forum in BBR Reports you Streamyx see several threads from time to time discussing something like "how many customers will fit on a T1." Different providers will have different philosophies about how much to oversubscribe their network. What is true in the WISP world is also true in the cable internet world, and is also in the Tier II world. Think of it this way: if a local Tier II provider like "X-Com" (made up name) Streamyx a T1 service to a new customer, will they add incrementally to their wholesale bandwidth purchase? No. But if Sprint sells a T1, their customer will get a dedicated port onto Sprint's backbone network at full speed with no contention.

Generally, there will be a price advantage of using a Tier II provider compared to a Tier I provider, as Tier II providers undercut the Tier I pricing and can afford to do so as they are oversubscribing their network facilities.

Tier II providers can be excellent source of inexpensive bandwidth if your network needs can absorb occasional delays or added latency (I'm not talking outages) -- if it's not mission critical or real time stuff, or if you're not yourself reselling the bandwidth.

Others might have other thoughts....

Bottom line is don't shop just on price. There's more to making a good business decision than dollars and cents. You need to make sure you get exactly what you need no matter what the cost.

Michael is the owner of FreedomFire Communications....including DS3-Bandwidth.com and Business-VoIP-Solution.com. Michael also authors Broadband Nation where you're always welcome to drop in and catch up on the latest BroadBand news, tips, insights, and ramblings for the masses.

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SSID Broadcasting - Ending the Misconception

Today Streamyx received a question from a reader who asks; "I have 3 computers Streamyx my WLAN, should SSID broadcasting be enabled or disabled?" That's an excellent question and one that is often very misleading. Let me start by stating a simple fact. Disabling your Secure set identifier does streamyx bill hide your network.

This is a common misconception that goes hand in hand with MAC address filtering which is Streamyx tm net streamyx combo in deterring a hacker. Let me explain a little here. SSID brodcasting was never meant to be hidden. Its purpose is to essentially distinguish one network from another. When you disable your secure set identifier from broadcasting, technically all you are doing is hiding your WLAN beaconing on the Access Point. In other words, you are preventing the average person from seeing your WLAN. But there are 4 other protocols that also broadcast your network name, Probe requests; probe responses, association requests, and re-association requests.

So unless you have absolutely no activity on your network, which is highly unlikely, then it is impossible to hide your SSID. A hacker can easily find your hidden network within minutes. You may be asking yourself, okay so disabling broadcasting does not hide my network but in most cases it prevents my neighbor from stealing my Internet, so what does it hurt? Well that's what encryption is for. WPA and WPA2 Streamyx unauthorized access to your WLAN, thus preventing loss of data and bandwidth, so use encryption. If possible do not use WEP encryption. All that does is deter a hacker for 10 minutes or so. What does it hurt? Well, a hidden SSID can make wireless LANs less user friendly, it also forces your wireless telekom streamyx to probe for your network, as well as cause some network devices from connecting at all. Another downside to cloaking your network is that it prevents others from knowing what channel your network is using.

If many computers use the same channel then network performance could suffer from Co-channel interference or CCI, which is interferance between radio transmisions. To summarize, I would personally leave SSID broadcast on. If a hacker is within range of your network chances are he will find your Access point regardless if your network name is broadcasting or not. It will also make your life easier if you need to allow another computer access to your network. I hope this article clears up any misunderstandings you may have had regarding SSID broadcast.

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We recently deployed Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) at the office to help with patch and update management for Microsoft OS and apps. After some initial confusion, it seems to be working well and I suspect will save me a lot of time in the future. A positive investment in time so far (and the