re Transact and peer to peer.

[Andrew]

Hi,
    The problem with peer to peer networking and transact can't be 
solved that easily.  Each connection is created with an Authentication 
handshake (which is handled by the ISP of choice).  Therefore if we 
wanted any transact client to send data directly to another one without 
being charged, ALL the ISP's (I believe only two at the moment, but 
growing) would have to agree on this.  As far as my knowledge goes, 
ISP's in Canberra aren't "buddies" - there is no incentive for them to 
do this (and it would take a bit of time...).  ISP's are offering plans 
around 9cents/MB - they wouldn't be making more than a cent or two per 
M/B on the data they sell - I believe it is in their interest to keep 
the customers paying the full price.

At the moment I am sitting on a Telstra ADSL connection (via my Linux 
Box).  The service is great - I remember having it down for a day a long 
time ago, but now it seems to be up all the time.  My PPPoE sessions 
last for weeks at a time (only get turned off when I do a H/W upgrade, 
or the power fails etc).  I use the connection mainly for Email, ICQ, 
and downloading source code - it's really fast and just as good as my 
Neighbours TransACT data connection (except mine is much cheaper).

However - the ADSL modems that Telstra hands out are old technology, and 
TransACT has a much better future (more services - when the arrive) so 
my opinion is only in what you get for your buck now - not down the road.


That's my 5 cents.


Cheers,
        Andrew Donehue
	
http://www.eon.com.au