Line Speeds Defined

[Dark MooGoo]

When geeks get together in room, you'll likely hear terms like T-1, OC-3 or DS0 thrown around when referring to point-to-point connections. What may not be clear is the actual speed behind the monikers, which only serves to confuse the issue. Here's a list of some of the more common circuit types and their rated speeds, though this isn't a complete list - just the ones you're likely to see more often:



DS0: 64Kbps

DS1/T-1: 1.544Mbps

DS1C/T-1C: 3.152Mbps

DS2/T-2: 6.312Mbps

DS3/T-3: 44.736Mbps

DS3D/T-3D: 135Mbps

DS4: 274.176Mbps

E-1: 2.048Mbps

E-2: 8.448Mbps

E-3: 34.368Mbps

E-4: 139.264Mbps

E-5: 565.148Mbps

OC-1: 51.84Mbps

OC-3: 155.52Mbps

OC-12: 622.08Mbps

OC-24: 1.244Gbps

OC-48: 2.488Gbps

OC-192: 10Gbps

OC-256: 13.271Gbps

OC-768: 39.813Gbps



Copied from the Lockergnome Tech Specialist (http://www.lockergnome.com/issues/techspecialist/20010328.html) newsletter.

[Dark MooGoo]

Imagine ... 40 GIGABYTES per SECOND!

[FireClaw]

40 GB modems I think would go faster then most computers, you see, really. So, it may have a little trouble catching up to the modem.

[Monolith]

I might be wrong, but I believe OC-48 is the fastest there is right now. The rest are theoretical. OC-48 is used for interconnecting main nodes on the global network.

[Derby]

More or less, the rest are used for servers with much higher priority, which is obviously off limits to anything but governmental territory.

[Aiko]

By the way, its not GigaBYTE but Gigabit (1 Byte = 8 Bit). Correct me, if i'm wrong.

[Ice M A N]

Yep. Aiko's right.

[DrJones]

But, don't expect that speed to be really constant if you have it. The computer on the other end has to be able to SEND it all at that speed :)

[Dark MooGoo]

Yeah, I know all that (gigabytes, gigabits, honest mistake but either way that's fast as heck) but I just found it amazing that data could be transferred that fast and was actually available for, like Derby said, government use. Over an OC-768, I could theoretically transfer my harddrive at less than one sixth of a second. ZOOMIN'.

[Disguise]

Sheesh, those little suckers can handle LOADS of traffic.



Only problem is that hard drives don't even run close as fast as that. I mean, RAM is the fastest way to access stuff from your pc. Wait, no, it's the cache, but that's so tiny you can fill it up in about a millisecond (that's about the case with the P4's TINY speedy L1 cache).



Anyways, 266mhz DDR RAM (fastest RAM on the market) has the ability to transmit 2.1gbps (this RAM sometimes has pc2100 behind it in brackets showing the specification) from itself to the processor. RDRAM and 200mhz DDR RAM run at 1.6gbps, and the rest I have no idea. If you had to buy the fastest net for your own personal use you'd be waisting your money with OC-48 (which is already too fast for ur PC) and hard-drives don't go NEAR as fast as RAM. Even then you'd never really get top performance because not every server/connection can afford OC-48. If I'm not mistaken the lines in the atlantic ocean are T3 (45mbps), but they are being upgraded. Your fast ethernet network card runs at 100mbps, and that provides LAGLESS gameplay, even the older ones are more than fast enough for games. I'd be more than happy with a cable (512kbps), and if I REALLY want to wring out some performance (at a cost I can't afford) I'd get T1. Anything above that and you're dealing with about 100ms (MAX) to 1ms difference, which is nothing, trust me.

[Monolith]

Some place I went to said my cable connection was going at about T1 speed. I could still use a little faster, so that would be about a T3 eh? http://jazz2.nagcentral.com/forum/images/smiles/icon_wink.gif

[Aiko]

I dont want to confuse you, but afaik harddrive speed is measured in Bytes per Second (in contrast to connection speed which usually is measured in Bits per Sec, bps). Just wondering. You have to be exact and use the correct terms here :)



Note: im not even sure about the possible plural of Bit and Byte :)