By finding an Internet provider in your area who's willing to hook you up, or by connecting with the major services such as Net-99, SprintNet or AlterNet.
Every once in a while, someone drops me a line in my mailbox asking a question like, "Why do I have to pay the phone company to hook me up and a wholesale provider to connect me? Why not hook me up directly to the Internet?"
Because there is no such thing.
The Internet is not a single person or body, but rather a whole bunch of people and companies working together. The Internet is composed of complex interconnections between several different large companies, who do the long distance routing for you.
If you're a typical person reading this FAQ, the odds that you could participate in this high-level long distance routing are practically nil. You would need a Cisco 7000 router, which costs over $ 100,000, as well as highly trained engineering help. Effectively, you would have to compete with Sprint or MCI, with your own long distance lines and such.
A company called Net-99 was able to start up by leasing lines from a company called Metropolitan Fiber Systems (MFS). They had a fairly prosperous run and then they got taken over and absorbed into the AGIS network. After that, most of the original partners either left or were booted out. If you're determined to start your own backbone provider, though, history appears to show that it can be done, if you have deep enough pockets. However, if you're considering operation of an ISP, be forewarned that being a backbone provider is far more complex and challenging. My advice to you would be to try to walk before you run.
All these long distance companies peer - that is, they hook up to each other - at places called Interchange Points, such as MAE-East. This is why the traceroute command often shows very confusing routes from one place to another. For a while, MAE-East was the only reliable way to go from one backbone (long distance) provider to another, so a packet travelling from Los Angeles to the San Francisco bay area would go all the way across the country on one provider, whiz through MAE-East, and then go back across the country again to San Francisco.
As an individual provider, you have basically no chance of being able to successfully conclude peering agreements with the big boys at one of these sites. And if they don't have a concrete reason to talk to you - either sites their subscribers want to connect to or payments from you to them - they won't. And bear in mind that if you're at a major interchange point, you will need to peer with all the carriers there to get full coverage - not just one.
------------------------------------------------------ Maximum Connection Equipment Required Approx Cost Simutaneous Users28.8K SLIP 28.8k modem $ 300 around 3
56k Leased CSU/DSU 250 around 8 Router -or- routing card 2300 or 500 T1 Leased CSU/DSU 1400 around 200 Router -or- routing card 2300 or 500 ------------------------------------------------------
Some connections will require that you buy a modem, router and CSU/DSU for both ends of the connection. ISI Network Associates, for example, requires this, meaning that their 56k connection would cost their $ 1,000 startup fee plus two times $ 2,550 - a total of $ 6,100. As an alternative, you could pay a $ 4,000 startup fee and still buy the equipment on your end. Other connections furnish the equipment on both ends, including a service contract. Unfortunately, the latter type of connection is normally prohibitively expensive.
The telephone company rates for these connections range from reasonable to horrendous. On the low end, the phone line I use for my 28.8 SLIP is a conventional residential line which costs around $ 20/month. Leased line fees for a 56k line range (in Southern California, anyway) from about $ 100-200/month. T1 fees range from $ 400 - $ 1,200 a month, depending on the distance between your site and the nearest provider POP.
The following Information about Frame Relay connections was
contributed by Sean Shaprio
Frame Relay connections are an up and coming form that are closer in
nature to a switched telephone connection than a traditional 56k/T1
link. To connect to a provider with frame relay, you run a leased
line to the nearest frame relay access point. The connection is then
made to your provider, even if it is a very long distance away. The
provider runs a high speed connection to his nearest frame relay node,
where it can then get split off to several connections. So instead of
having multiple 56k connections to his customers, he pulls a single
T1 into a frame relay switch; the packets are then switched over to
the customer's 56k hookups. This is the service that lets providers
like Netcom and CRL operate nationally while still having all their
equipment in their original Bay Area headquarters.
Dave Van Allen
Frame Relay's main advantage is that it's a cut-rate form of leased
line service. "For instance, in the Northeast Bell Atlantic region,
56k service has an initial install of about $ 200 and a monthly fixed
cost of apx. $ 150. You Tools [his provider] offers 56k (with a 56k
CIR) access for $ 399.00 per month, including the Internet access
(Port) and telco charges. The customer premise equipment (CPE) [the
equipment the customer has to buy to use the connection] is about the
same for Frame Relay as it is for ISDN - approximately $ 900."
The main problem with frame relay is that you are sharing a switched
line with a potentially large number of other users; this line has a
fixed capacity that is divided between you and them. Your provider
will give you a committed information rate (CIR), which tells you the
minimum speed your line will connect at, no matter what the
conditions. Sprint presently gives a CIR of zero, which means that
they do not guarantee that your connection will be continuously
running at any particular speed, or even operational at all. So in
theory, if you were running a Frame Relay T1, you might have a
virtually worthless connection if all the other connection users took
up all the bandwidth.
There may be something seriously wrong with the above paragraph.
Dave Van Allen again: "In the FAQ, you reference Sprint's CIR of
'0', meaning that they don't guarantee any performance. This is not
the case as I know it. The CIR of '0' indicated that the FR link
has NO committed information rate, and the link is specified to
run at the bandwidth sold. So, a 56K FR link, with a CIR of '0'
(from Sprint, at least) will run at 56k baud at all times."
The reason I haven't lifted the previous explanation from the
FAQ is that it seems to fit the facts; Karl Denninger
Dave continues: "With Frame Relay, the FR provider has a system
of switching ports that share the bandwidth of the Frame network.
Because a switched packet network is a non-dedicated data path, the
equipment used to provide the service is normally the limiting
factor in just how much bandwidth 'everyone' can have. If the provider
is under-utilizing the capacity of the switch, then ALL traffic
in that switch may always travel at the highest speed -your- line
can handle.
"If traffic in the switch gets heavy, then the provider must either
add more bandwidth, or limit the speed of the connections during
peak periods. This is what the CIR is. CIR is a provider imposed
limit on the speed of your connection. Most phone companies sell
like this: You get a 56k FR connection with a CIR of 30k - this
means that you will be guaranteed that the connection will go at
least 30k and will peak at 56k. In reality, in most areas, that
connection will do 56k and might rarely drop to 30k for brief
periods."
"If you purchase a 56k FR connection with a 30K CIR, you can often
request that they special-build you a 56k CIR connection. There
will be a small surcharge for this, but it is possible.
"Frame relay can work up to T-1 rates, and it is usually the least
costly option at those speeds."
The advantage of Frame Relay should be fairly obvious; since you're
sharing a large connection with other people, you aren't paying the
phone company for hideously expensive leased lines. Because of this,
Frame Relay is a much cheaper service than the traditional 56k or T1
leased line.
This form of connection requires a special frame relay compatible
router to work.
* How is the performance compared to standard 56k/T1? Karl
Denninger
For T1 access, your cheapest national provider might be Net-99/AGIS
Since the AGIS takeover, however, I've heard a lot less about them
than I did before. One source says that they defaulted on their long
distance bills during the merger, which seems like a rather bad thing
for them to do. Karl Denninger, whose gold-plated reputation helped
get Net-99 off to a successful start, is no longer with the company. The
good things I've heard about Net-99 came mainly from fans of Karl
Denninger and Joseph Stroup, the principals; now that the takeover
has occured, I understand that both have left the company.
Karl Denninger recently sent a message to the Inet-Access mailing
list giving the reasons he left Net-99. Apparently they told him he
had a stake in the company based on a handshake deal, but then when
Net-99 was sold, he was neither consulted nor paid. In addition, he
believed that they were taking advantage of the equipment he had
effectively donated to the effort; they promised him a Cisco 7000, but
never delivered. As a result, he became disillusioned with the
company and quietly severed all connections with it.
An anonymous Net-99 customer had this to say about the merger:
(begin quote)
Some anonymous comments on AGIS/Net99, as I have been a customer
since August.
The transition has gone smoothly. AGIS is moving Net99's
infrastructure from MFS Telecom over to WillTel. The moving of
the circuits and routes has gone well.
There have been some bumps in the billing department. Most of the
errors have been in the customers' favor, so no complaints here. I have
heard noise from former Net99 employees, not sure if it is griping or
grounded in fact. I have heard some noise from AGIS about how Net99's
infrastructure was cheap and poorly designed, etc. Sounds like someone
upset somebody in the buyout.
All in all, their performance hasn't changed much since the buyout.
They've raised their prices, so I'm glad I got in when I did.
(end quote)
Still, Net-99 customers seem to be staying with the company, although
some have griped about service problems. We'll wait and see what happens
here; I'd like to hear more comments from Net-99/Aegis users for the
current status of the venture. Your anomynity will be protected if
you so request.
For information on Net-99, check out http://www.net99.net/. For
AGIS, look at http://www.agis.com/.
Kevin Kadow
MCI has made a really big push into the Internet market. Of all the
major providers, it now seems to have the best reputation. In fact, you
will notice that it's doing a healthy percentage of the net's long distance
communications now. The one black mark is that they have reserved
the right to start volume charges; what that means in this competitive
market is anyone's guess.
I recently commented to the Inet-Access list that Sprint and other
large net providers have a reputation for poor service. I then heard
from three different Sprint users who professed complete happiness
with the service, so it looks like they have cleaned up their act.
Only a few months ago, I heard bad things about them at about the same
rate.
If the national provider rates seem too expensive, you may wish to
hook up with a local provider. Watch out for the connection quality,
though; if the local company sells you a T1, and all they have is a
T1 connection themselves, you're bound to get mightily poor throughput
to the rest of the Internet.
If you happen to be in the San Francisco Bay Area, The Little Garden
(TLG) has an excellent reputation and very fair rates. For that
reason, the Bay Area is largely overloaded with Internet providers, so
unless you have a very special business plan, you may not want to set
up there.
An excellent starting point is the DLIST, "an online list of Internet
service providers who offer dedicated line connections." To find out
how to receive an updated version of this list, send mail to dlist@ora.com.
(From the book 'Connecting to the Internet: An O'Reilly Buyer's Guide',
by Susan Estrada, which includes a printed copy of the DLIST in an
appendix).
Here is the ``Yahoo'' reference, which is apparently more up to date:
Business:Corporations:Internet Access Providers
http://www.yahoo.com/Business/Corporations/ Internet_Access_Providers/
Note that this all has to be on one line.
To scope out your competition before taking the plunge, an excellent
resource is The List of providers at http://www.thelist.com/. This
is a combination provider list and survey form that will tell you who
the best (and worst) regarded providers are in your area.
For the most part, a SLIP connection is not considered sufficient
for a serious provider. However, it may be the best way to start if
you are unsure of demand for your service or want to test-market
your ideas. It certainly lets you hook up for a minimal amount of
money, assuming you can find a resellable connection.
If you get SLIP, try to get CSLIP (compressed SLIP), and make sure
you know what baud rate the line is fixed at. I got a 28.8k
SLIP with the baud rate fixed at 28.8, and the result was that
I could not get a newsfeed consisting of alt.* plus rec.* without
falling behind. Be sure you get as good a SLIP connecion as
possible.
Next section: What are interchange agreements, and why should I care?
7.5 Who are the main national providers, and how much?
7.6 Where could I get a list of national and local providers?
7.7 What about a SLIP connection?