Yes, it has. Did a search on 'DSL' not turn up anything?
>Will the PM3 have a card for ADSL?
Heck no. You should read up on ADSL, it has some serious requiremnets.
First, you need a dry copper loop all the way to the customer. That means
co-location at the telco for most users. It is messy to try to get dry
copper bounced site to site.
Then the troughput on ADSL is usually T1 speeds and up - when means serious
throughput for the backplane and chassis exit points.
No, if you see ADSL in a PortMaster it would be a PM-4 type product.
>How fast is it?
ADSL varies based on distance, and implementation. Nearly all ADSL lines
used in the trials and limited deployment we have today are 1.5Mbps download
and 300Kbps or 500Kbps upload. However, ADSL is touted as being capable
of 6-8Mbps (and higher by some) download, and 640Kbps, sometimes 1.5Mbps,
upload.
But higher speeds require shortdistances on the local loop. And, of course,
a bigger pipe to the user means mroe backhaul. You see it at the first
speeds I mentioned primarily because it is aimed at the home user - they
don't have use for those speeds, let alone faster. And since many sites
hosting content are on a T1 (or lower) speed line, it doesn't matter if
you can suck data down faster - slow end is the limit. It also means
being able to deploy a generic ADSL offering to a wider area, no fine
tuning for differing distances.
>How costly would it be roughly Setup fee, monthly reacuring for both the
>ISP and the user, Equipment cost?
Good luck figuring all this out. Setup fee is going to depend on if you
can get dry copper at all - many areas it is not a traffifed item, and if
you aren't an ILEC or CLEC - forget about it. Then you might have to colo
at the teclo CO - which can cost a LOT to do. Of course, even if you can
get dry copper, the price will vary quite a bit. And equipment cost in
the DSL arena is still high - small market.
The way I expect it to go is that industry consortia, like the one which
developed the ADSL 'standard' being deployed (forgive me, I'm blanking on
the name) will start to resell DSL. ILECs and CLECs will install DSL
termination devices in their POPs. It may even be a DSL line card for
an existing switch, or it could mean putting something like a DSLTNT or
PM-4 into the CO (they are designed for that). They will offer a DSL
local loop, just like they do with POTS, ISDN, and leased lines. They
provide the DSL termination, then backhaul the data to you over the data
network. Or perhaps let the user connect directly to the Internet backbone
through them, but reselling the ports under your name.
The latter is something you'll see from GTE Internerworking (BBN). They
already have a DiaLinx product line - which lets ISPs outsource dial
capability. The user dials a number for PPP, and gets online. The ISP
gets a bill for the time used and runs the RADIUS server - but the entire
dial infrastructure is maintained by GTEI and the users get dumped onto
the GTEI backbone, and thence to the world. Planning is already underway
to add ADSL to the DiaLinx areana. (For those who are just joining us,
I work for GTEI now. I may become the DiaLinx product specialist, the
current one is moving to a new role. Don't know if I want to pursue that
yet - but it would mean more access to power to fix some of the inanities
in the product line.)
-MZ
-- <URL:mailto:megazone@megazone.org> Gweep, author, webmaster, human being, me "A little nonsense now and then, is relished by the wisest men" 781-788-0130 <URL:mailto:megazone@gweep.net> <URL:http://www.megazone.org/> Hail Discordia! - To unsubscribe, email 'majordomo@livingston.com' with 'unsubscribe portmaster-users' in the body of the message. Searchable list archive: <URL:http://www.livingston.com/Tech/archive/>