Some low-buck bandwidth boosters

By Shawn P McCarthy -- Logistics Management, 8/1/1998

As small to mid-sized logistics operations give more employees access to the company's Internet gateway to do business on the 'Net, many are finding they need to boost their Internet connections' bandwidth. The problem is, it can be expensive for a smaller company to jump to a leased T1 line, which is the way most larger companies connect their local area networks to the Internet. Luckily, there are other ways to increase a connection's speed without a huge investment.

Here are some choices:

c Channel bonding. A handful of Internet service providers (ISPs), including NetCom Online Communications Services, Horizon Brightnet, and Mindspring Enterprises, now offer channel-bonding technology that combines two 56 kilobit-per-second (Kbps) modems connected to two analog lines. This provides 112 Kbps service.

So how do you hook up your end? Microsoft Windows NT and the new Windows 98 support channel bonding. But the quick solution is to ask your ISP what it recommends. Some offer specialized communication software that you must use. Your expenses will be the cost of an extra modem (about $200) and maintaining two phone lines (an extra installation fee of about $200 plus a per-month fee). The ISP must maintain two ports for each user (double your usual dialup charge of about $25 per month).

c Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) services, which split standard copper phone lines into "frequency bands" that pack in more data traffic. Speeds range from 128 Kbps to a whopping 7 Mbps. But this is on the download side. If you upload a lot of files, go with a traditional T1 leased line. Right now, ADSL is not available in all areas, and it remains expensive. Expect to spend $1,500 for installation and $300 to $600 per month for service. Prices may drop by 60 percent in the next year or two.

c Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN). This option remains expensive, but phone companies still heavily market ISDN because they've made equipment investments. If you're thinking about low-end ISDN, stick with a 56 Kbps modem and a dialup connection instead. It ranges up to 128 Kbps. A few areas offer higher ISDN speeds. Expect to pay about $400 for a special modem. Often there are per-minute charges. The big drawback is that your ISDN fees don't include Internet access. You still need to pay for an account with a service provider who supports your ISDN hookup.

c Cable modems. These offer very good speed--from 1 to 3 Mbps. The modems are mostly aimed at the home market, but cable companies could, in theory, use them to create virtual private networks for businesses. Installation runs about $150. Subscriptions run about $40 per month. This is a great buy for a small office, but only a few metro areas offer the service right now.

Tip of the Month

When investigating Internet connections, you may face two popular choices: point-to-point and frame relay. Point-to-point is a full private line. Frame relay is a networking protocol with a private line to a node on the frame-relay network. In general, frame relay is more cost effective, but you may see a time lag during the busiest hours of the day. Visit http:www.mot.com/MIMS/ISG/tech/frame-relay/resources.html#BASICS for background information. You also can find a guide to the basics of frame-relay networking at the Frame Relay forum at http://www.frforum.com/basicsguide.html. You'll need an Adobe Acrobat reader on your system to read the file. Also look for the FR glossary pointer.

Pointers

* Multitech systems is one company that offers channel-bonding modem technologies. Visit www.multitech.com.

* There's a forum for discussion of ADSL technologies at www.adsl.com/.

* For an overview of ISDN, visit www.specialty.com/hiband/isdn_general.html.

* Find a page of pointers to cable modem resources at rpcp.mit.edu/~gingold/cable/.

* Test the actual response time of your modem at Members.aol.com/inventorr/modem/modem.html.