Internet Connection

What's the difference between a T1 connection and the high speed connection
you get at home?

A T1 is supposed to be a 1.5MB speed but the home Internet companies are
advertising 2 - 6MB speed.

What's the difference and why is one better than the other?

Thanks,
Jasper

Jaz <jrecto99.RemoveThis@yahoo.com> wrote:
> What's the difference between a T1 connection and the high speed
> connection you get at home?
>
> A T1 is supposed to be a 1.5MB speed but the home Internet companies
> are advertising 2 - 6MB speed.
>
> What's the difference and why is one better than the other?
>
> Thanks,
> Jasper

The speed isn't the same thing as the connection type. I'm sure someone
who's more of a hard-core geek than I am (and I say this with great
affection for that category) will chime in with more precise commentary, but
in general terms:

Leased lines (such as T1s) are dedicated circuits, or "point to point"
connections, between two
locations (such as your office & your ISP's backbone, or between two branch
offices, etc DSL, is not a point-to-point connection - you're on a big ole
switched network, much as you are when you make a phone call. The traffic
could be routed any one of myriad ways to get to its destination.

You get no service level guarantee with DSL or other home/consumer
connections, generally - no speed guarantees, no guaranteed uptime, no
notification if there's a problem (you have to call them), and they're
harder to troubleshoot when you have problems with the connection. You might
have a very fast cable modem or DSL connection at home (I do), but you
aren't guaranteed that speed - you'll see the ISPs generally offer "speeds
up to ___" in the fine print.

Whether one is better than the other depends mainly on your needs and your
budget.