Frame Relay vs ATM

[Condor]

I have learned that my Verizon DSL service is frame relay and ATM is being used for all new accounts.  I have no idea what these terms mean and Verizon tech support is not much help.  They only seem to know how to reboot modems and verify that filters are on all the phone lines.  The person I spoke with says ATM is “completely better” but can’t explain why.  I was also told that all new accounts are ATM.  

I have the option to switch to ATM for the price of a new modem but don’t know if this will be better for me or just better than Verizon.   Does anyone understand the difference and know which will give better service?

Thanks,

Condor

[SkyGnome]

Those terms are not terribly meaningful in the choice of internet service.  What's important is traffic policies, oversubscription policies, peers, etc, all of which are more or less irrelevant to the underlying networking technology used.  None of the important info is typically available to a consumer buying an internet connection.

Presumably the newer system has advantages, but they might just be cost structure for the provider.  Newer stuff is typically faster, but then again, as people migrate, the older system may become faster due to lower utilization.

Very hard to say, and ATM vs. Frame Relay in itself isn't enough info to really make a meaningful claim.  If you're happy with what you have...  If you're willing to gamble a few bucks with the odds mostly on your side...

[Skuzzy]

Frame-relay and ATM are not mutually exclusive terms.  They describe services at different levels.

ATM is a physical data transport protocol.  Frame-relay is a communications service which has a lot of different transport protocols available under it.

In a gross over-simplification there used to be two physical transport methods for T1 services and higher from the phone company.  It was either point-to-point or frame relay.

Point-to-point simply meant the connection at both ends was physically wired together through the CO's.  Much more expensive but also considered more reliable.  And it also gauranteed 100% bandwidth availability at all times.

Frame-relay uses relay circuits from the communication 'cloud' at a centrol office to provide a path through the office to the next office until it hits the endpoint.  The 'cloud' has a finite amount of bandwidth available and apportions the bandwidth on an as needed basis.

You typically purchased up to a specified speed as the maximum in a frame-relay, where in point-to-point the speed you bought was always available.

Today, the CO's have expanded the frame clouds to the point where they never, or rarely, have to slow a connection and almost always have enough bandwidth available to run over 90% of any customers allocation.

How the data gets encapsulated on the wire can be in a number of ways.  ATM is used by a lot of data carriers as it is generally cheaper to implement, but is also fragments all TCP packets as the ATM packet is slightly smaller than the TCP packet header.  56 bytes versus 64 bytes.

Anyway, that is the short of it.

[Condor]

Skuzzy,

Thanks for the response.  Unfortunately my computer/networking/internet skills are at the "A liile knowledge is a dangerous thing" level and I don't undrstand much of what you said.   The Verizon rep spoke of frame network and ATM as if they were mutually exclusive but I didn't get the feeling that he knew.  also, I'm sure they dumb it down for the customer.  

I guess the question I didn't as cleary was; will switching from frame network to ATM have a positieve effect, a negative effect, or no effect at all on playing Aces High?

If I keep frame network I am limited to a 768Kbps/128Kbps connection.

If I switch to ATM I can get a 3Mbps/768Kbps connection.

Thanks

[gpwurzel]

You "should" see a positive affect fella, smaller packet size "should" mean quicker responses (bearing in mind all the different variables the net has).


Wurzel