KatOak
VIP
join:2001-09-10
Seattle, WA
| reply to UncleA
Re: POP vs. NAP? (change in Denver, CO POP)
I apologize for the delay in my response - I was out ill for much of last week.
I will escalate this to determine if we can improve the gateway latency for all customers on this NAP. The decision to change the POP to a NAP was a financial one, as previously mentioned; we don't have enough customers in the Denver region to balance the cost of a local POP. This would also answer UncleA's question regarding the method behind the madness of our POP/NAP architecture - most of these decisions are made because of cost and contractual concerns.
If you have not already provided me with traceroutes, please do so via email and I will include your information in my escalation. I have a few from some of you already, but the more the better.
Unfortunately, we will not be reverting this NAP to a POP any time soon, so the best outcome of my escalation would be to decrease the gateway latency as much as possible. In the absence of that, however, I'm absolutely available to work with any affected customers to resolve their service concerns.
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Kat Oak
Speakeasy
kat@speakeasy.net |
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willjr
join:2000-06-22
Waltham, MA
|  reply to UncleA
Re: POP vs. NAP? (change in BOSTON, MA POP)
 I have just got this POP to NAP news too. My speed has already suffered since I joined speakeasy December 9th. Now it's going to be slower? Might just call my credit card company to dispute my charges. Since speakeasy is no help. I am paying for premium Adsl service for a reason.
I am very disappointed. |
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CylonRed
Premium,MVM
join:2000-07-06
Bloom County | POP to NAP should not affect any speeds... |
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GHz
join:2002-01-02
Needham, MA
| reply to willjr
I just got notification of the change from POP to NAP for Boston-area customers. I used to be connected directly to the NY POP, and when I was switched to the BOS POP, I hardly noticed a difference. However, my contract will be over soon, and if this transition adds more than a few ms to my gateway pings, I will definitely look elsewhere.
Speakeasy, I have relied on your excellent service for a few years now (with 2 different connections), I hope you won't dissappoint us! |
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Sunburn
join:2000-10-05
Denver, CO
2 edits | How can Speakeasy do this? They market themselves as a high performance service and make people pay expensive $$$$ premiums to match. The only reason I have a $160/mo SDSL connection is for the great pings! Now they morph themselves in to a service that Qwest could provide @ 1/4th the cost??? WTF kind of sense does that make? Way to trash your brand and ditch your loyal niche customers. Speakeasy kinda reminds me of the CABLE PIG.
I use to ping servers in Denver @ 10-25ms. Now my packet has to bounce from Denver to SFO and back to Denver again. That is 40ms each way for a total of 80ms. 5ms difference is not even close.
I use to be able to ping WC 40ms and EC 40ms now it is at WC 40ms and EC 90ms. You know my Comcast line is at 4200/386 and I am sorry to say the pings are way better than SE from Parker. |
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lakino
Premium
join:2003-04-03
Campbell, CA
| Speakeasy is not just doing it to "piss" you gamers off. As been officially explained to you, it's due to financial reasons that they are closing the Denver POP. Get more people in Denver to sign up with them and then they can add the POP back in. Otherwise, move to another city. It's not as if Speakeasy is bringing up ping times for everyone. People on both coasts are still receiving low ping times to their first hop.
For those wishing to move to Comcast, I'd say go right ahead. Once you've tried Comcast, you'll be begging to get back to adsl technology. Low ping times with cable doesn't happen often. But you'll never believe it until you've tried it for yourselves, so go right ahead and switch to Comcast. See for yourselves.
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Why do people like .sig files so much? Baffling to me... |
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AuroraMike
Time To Blow Some Bubbles
Premium
join:2002-01-06
Aurora, CO
2 edits | I totally agree with you as it relates to Comcast, having experienced their service directly. BUT, Its clear that Speakeasy is cutting back POP's across the country besides just Denver.
The issue is not just adsl vs cable. For those markets where Speakeasy is cutting back there are other DSL alternatives. In Denver there is Qwest, Covad, Megapath, TransEdge, etc. Many of these ISP's have Denver POP's as well as lower costs.
Speakeasy has marketed themselves as "Internet For The Most Demanding Customers". (Quote for the Website!)
I believe the customers in the affected POP's and those experiencing high latency and other problems have a right to challenge these actions as they were led to believe Speakeasy was a NATIONAL Premium service. (We are after all, the most demanding customers!)
Perhaps it should change to "Internet for the Most Demanding Customers on the East and West Coast" |
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jxsi
join:2003-12-04
Tempe, AZ | What would you have them do then? Keep the POPs until they run out of money and file for bankruptcy? |
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AuroraMike
Time To Blow Some Bubbles
Premium
join:2002-01-06
Aurora, CO
| quote:
What would you have them do then? Keep the POPs until they run out of money and file for bankruptcy?
I didn't know that Speakeasy was in such a precarious financial position, and that the closing of 3 POP's would stave off a potential bankruptcy. 
I stand corrected! |
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borborpa
Slipping Slowly Into Oblivion
Premium
join:2002-02-20
New Cumberland, PA
clubs:
 ·Speakeasy
| said by AuroraMike  :
quote:
What would you have them do then? Keep the POPs until they run out of money and file for bankruptcy?
I didn't know that Speakeasy was in such a precarious financial position, and that the closing of 3 POP's would stave off a potential bankruptcy.
I stand corrected!
Ummm...not that it would force them into bankruptcy, but obviously the POP's are not operating at a profit, so they needed to find a way to reduce the cost. It's called business, and even though it may not be the best thing for a few customers, it helps the majority of the customers by freeing up capital. I for one don't want SE to throw money away in a POP in Denver if it's not performing!!!
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There are no stupid questions, but there are a LOT of inquisitive idiots.[AIM - BoyBandsMakeUGay] |
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lakino
Premium
join:2003-04-03
Campbell, CA
| reply to AuroraMike
A-Mike, I feel your pain. It's not that I don't understand your argument. In fact, I fully empathize with you. But it's the tone of the messages that bother me. Perhaps not your messages, but the tone of other messages. It's been written as if SpeakEasy is raising ping times everywhere and purposely to extract extra profits. I don't think that's the case. It's to reduce losses I'm sure.
Also, it may be true that they can't claim to meet the demands of the most demanding customers in Denver and surrounding cities, but they can most likely still claim that for most of the other metro areas they cover.
At any rate, I'm not a SpeakEasy patron. I am neither for or against SpeakEasy. I use PacBell/SBC. Good luck with getting the low latency you desire.
(I do use sfo.speakeasy.net often to test my line speeds.  )
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Why do people like .sig files so much? Baffling to me... |
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indigo
join:1999-08-22
Covina, CA
| As a former (unfortunately) gamer, I can certainly relate to ping times being crucial. I would think those of you in Denver would have plenty of alternative ISPs to choose through Covad. I wouldn't put up with being routed to LA and then out to the internet. The best connection for gaming is to have your ISP's internet connection closeby to where you live. That way you get the best performance both locally and nationally.
I've been through the ping and packet loss game, and it's not pretty. I switched to @home from a dialup back in 1998 and it was horrible. 20% packet loss and bad pings. When I first got DSL back in 2000 (from the local telco) I had a ping of 50ms to my first hop. Made FPSs unplayable. Unfortunately for me there are no CLECs here so I am going to have to get a T1 just so I can game again.. sad, I know, but it's the only thing I can do at this point.
I was considering at one point moving to a town in New Hampshire where speakeasy would be available, but now that they're taking the Boston POP out of commission too, I am just going to get the T1 instead. It really is a shame to hear about Speakeasy's troubles, it sounds to me like they really have been trying to please power users like us but are running into these problems.
People like us shouldn't have to pay through the nose for acceptable latency and liberal AUPs, but that is the reality unfortunately. |
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AuroraMike
Time To Blow Some Bubbles
Premium
join:2002-01-06
Aurora, CO | reply to borborpa
Business isn't just about cutting costs. Business is also about marketing and generating additional customers. Perhaps a little extra advertising in markets that need more business. I have never seen a Speakeasy advertisement in the Denver area! |
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