Sorry Michael, wrong answer. 1% packet loss is intolerable. 10% packet
loss is all but useless for serious work.
My experience is different. I have use the web through MAE-East during
periods of 18-23% packet loss and it was noticeable but not unbearable. I
have also used telnet sessions to London England with 50% packet loss and
it was still useable although less bearable, but what made it easier to
accept was that I was not just on a frivolous telnet session. I was doing
real work and I had a deadline to meet.
In fact, I once had to do some repair on a news server over a telnet link
on which it would take between 2 - 5 minutes to receive a response from
typed commands. EXCRUCIATING! But I was still able to fix the problem and
get the server running over the course of a couple of hours and I managed
to read a magazine while waiting for turnaround. That was when we were
connected to INSINC/Sprint Canada and had to route through MAE-East and
then ANS to bet to BC-Tel and my customer in a town not far from me.
My impression is that North American network performance has improved
overall since the NAPS came onstream and NSF went bye bye. I would like
it to be better but I see no evidence of incompetence or malice causing
these problems.
My opinion of the complainers is that they are swell headed bigots with
their minds full of the 21st century who fail to realize that the level
of today's network technology is about the same level of automotive
technology when Model T Fords first started to roll off the assembly lines.
Michael Dillon Voice: +1-604-546-8022
Memra Software Inc. Fax: +1-604-542-4130
http://www.memra.com E-mail: michael@memra.com