More In-Depth About the Network

Peanet is connected to the Internet by way of three full fiber-optic T3/DS3, each operating at 45 megabits per second. Nothing is faster than fiber Optic.

You might ask: what does T3 mean? Good question. Without getting into a lot of techno-babble, just think of it as a rating of speed and capacity. When most of us think about connecting to the Internet, we think of our trusty modem that operates at 14,400, 28,800, 33,600 or now even 56,000 bits per second.

What if you want faster access, though? Well, above standard modems there is ISDN, yielding up to 128,000 bits per second throughput. ISDN can be had through your local phone company, and will run you maybe $75 per month when all is said and done, with startup costs amounting to several hundred dollars. ISDN is about 4 times faster than a 28.8K modem.

Faster still? You bet! Next we come to T1. T1 operates at about 1.5 million bits per second. T1 is the absolute fastest you can get data to transmit over standard wires. It is available through your phone company and runs about $3000 per month total. T1 is the most common type of Internet connection among service providers. T1 is about 54 times faster than a 28.8K modem.

Okay! We're up to T3! Sometimes called DS3, T3 is nothing less than blindingly-fast full fiber-optic. T3 screams along at roughly 45 million bits per second. T3 is about sixteen hundred times faster than a 28.8K modem. T3 is the speed of the Internet itself.

So why wouldn't everyone want to be on a fiber-optic connection? They do! Problem is, the connection is extremely expensive. We're sold on it - we don't get the complaints of slow connections that T1 folks do, which is the whole point for us. Don't worry about your cost, by the way, you'll find that we actually beat many T1 prices, and blow other T3 guys out of the water.

You're probably wondering: "I can only connect with my 28,800 or 33,600 modem, so why is this T3 stuff important? I can't go that fast anyway!"

Any Internet Service Provider out there that is serious about his business will have either a T1 or a T3 ( or combination of the two) connection to the Internet. Most Have a T1. They're stuck there until they can afford the T3.

Remember that the T1 is only 54 times faster than a 28.8K modem.. This also means that a maximum of only 54 people can be in at the same time in order for all to go full speed. If the number of users doubled to 104 (which is not much), all of a sudden the whole bunch will be going at the speed of a 14,400 modem. You paid for a fast modem, and you don't want to hear that you can only go half as fast as the machine is capable of. That is why it matters to you. With a high-bandwidth Internet connection like T3, more users can be logged on at the same time with less of a slowdown to each user. A single T3 line will not slow down until it has the equivalent of over 1,600 users on at the same time. Again, Peanet has THREE T3's.

So here is what is happening out there now: T1 Internet service providers are busting at the seams trying to keep up with demand. We hear horror stories about pathetically slow connections at peak hours, if people get through at all. We know of an Internet service provider in New England that is pretty popular. They operate on a T1 connection. In fact, they just recently added their fourth T1 because they are signing up more accounts than their poor network can handle. At the rate people are getting on the Internet these days, this company will need to keep adding T1's for some time to come. Hopefully, they won't lose too many clients in the process. That kind of thing hurts all of us in the Internet business. That companywould have to add 26 more T1 connections before they equal one T3 connection!

Just how pretty are we sitting? Well, we measured our traffic recently and determined that on average, we're using only a small percentage of our fibers. Wow! We don't need to be thinking about another connection for awhile. Our direct TRIPLE 45mb pipes to the backbone are fed by MCI, Sprint and UUNet, some of the biggest and respected names in the Internet business. The big boys.

Connected to this blindingly fast network are our high-end servers, specifically configured to run as Web servers. Boy are they fast! They run UNIX, the operating system of the Internet itself. These machines can handle an incredible number of requests per hour - numbers that competing operating systems can't match. Now we are also offering the option of Windows NT hosting for those with the specialized needs. For the curious - Have a look at our Equipment List

Don't even consider an Internet provider that does not have a T3 fiber-optic connection to the 'net. Remember - You can have the most wonderfully-designed page in the world, but it is not much good if folks in cyberspace can't get at it quickly! Five O'Clock on a Friday is where the weak and sick are separated from the pack, and where only the raw speed of fiber-optics will do!