Dear Hidden-techies, WiredWest, which you may already know plans to bring fiberoptic internet to 47 towns in Western Mass, is in the process of deciding on a network architecture. We would like feedback from those of you whose businesses or local clients have heavy internet/telecomm needs. One option is GPON, basically what Verizon uses for Fios. The other is Active Ethernet, often marketed as MetroE. Without getting technical, and at the risk of over-simplifying, Active Ethernet gives you the same speeds uploading as downloading and is capable of providing more bandwidth - up to a gigabit and beyond. Fios/GPON goes up to 25 meg and can be symmetrical for high-end customers but is almost always offered with faster download speeds than upload speeds. GPON is usually used more for consumers to deliver phone, internet, and TV. Active Ethernet can do that too, but is needed by business with high bandwidth needs, and is better for delivering specialized services. For those of us struggling along with satellite or slow and unreliable DSL, Fios seems like plenty, but we also need to consider the future and how our network will help spur business growth. There are many factors which go into making this decision, but the one we are interested in hearing from you about is whether or not you see your business or your clients' businesses needing the more expandable bandwidth offered by Active Ethernet now and over the next decade or so. Or is GPON good enough? Thanks in advance for your input, Reva /Reva Reck/ /reva//@//revareck.com/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.hidden-tech.net/pipermail/hidden-discuss/attachments/20110603/3a1232f5/attachment.html