From: rrv@uiuc.edu (Ross Veach)
>10% packet loss is quite within the normal range of parameters for a
>packet switching network such as the Internet.
Sorry Michael, wrong answer. 1% packet loss is intolerable. 10% packet
loss is all but useless for serious work.
And the 40% reported here (at MAE-East) is excrable.
Except at the older MAE-East, it's not _links_ that are on the blink.
It's the (too few) exchanges, and the very bad routing policies.
Of course, the idiocy of choosing ATM kept most of the NAPs off-line,
until they switched to FDDI.
My solution is to take the contracts away from MFS and Ameritech
effective immediately, and grant them to someone who knows what they are
doing.
I may not agree with all the older CIX policies, but at least it worked!
Bill.Simpson@um.cc.umich.edu
Key fingerprint = 2E 07 23 03 C5 62 70 D3 59 B1 4F 5E 1D C2 C1 A2
I have to echo Mike's comments... MFS offers the MAE interconnect service to
customers who choose to purchase it. (As far as I know)
As you infered and Mike said; portions of MAE-East are definately nearing
saturation. Specifically the shared FDDI portion which; according to my
diagram contains the MCI vBNS connection, ANS (they also have a Gigaswitch
port, however I believe their shared FDDI connection is preferred), and BBN
(keep in mind, it might not be correct :). All of these folks are sucking up a
good bit of bandwidth all their own -- combine them and you have the equivalent
of a fire hydrant pumping water through garden hoses.
Now then, I'm sure the appropriate engineering staff at each respective
organization is weighing whether to change their MAE connection to a Gigaswitch
port, connect directly to certain other NSPs, or even to build their own
exchange point. My only closing points would be that, as far as I can
determine, both Ameritech and MFS seem to be handling problems reasonably well.
One of the reasons I joined the MFS team was because of their attitude to
quickly increase service capacity and/or to respond to customer's requests.
Rather than doing things too quickly (wasting cash) or doing it too slowly and
having a bunch of un-happy customers.
speaking for myself...
-jh-