2 internet connections

[jadex]

Maybe is there someone around who's already solved my problem.
Currently am using broadband ISP over the BT line.
On the end of the 2005 had problems with my ISP. They couldn't resolve the issue but had to close my account and create another one. It took them one week to get things right, mainly because of the Xmas season.
Last week I was again disconnected from The World. This time because of BT. Some clever bloke cross-connected my line to another property. It took them 5 days to find out the bug .

Consequently, I had no internet connection for 2 weeks within the last 3 months. It cost me a lot of unexecuted trades.

Am looking for creating home-network with two fully independent lines.
Buying another line from let's say Bulldog is useless as physically it will be a part of BT network and it will be probably connected to the same exchange.
I would like to have completely independent 2 lines, going through different ducts, pipes, etc. to different exchanges.
Is it possible without going for very expensive solutions?
Now, am paying 18/pm for 2 Mb and can pay similar for another spare line.
Maybe NTL would be a good solution. They use coaxial cables so am suppose it's not going to BT exchange.

Any advice?

Thx

 

[TheBramble]

Don't know if NTL cover all areas.

You could go for a BT leased line if you're that concerned. Security and speed - at a price.

And you could consider satellite if you're that committed to a fall-back situation.

Or buy a seat at an arcade.

You must be trading big size and/or be a major scalp merchant to be this concerned. I believe most of us who trade intraday manage just fine with a single ISP on anything from 1MB upwards. It's pretty rare to get major outages for any period of time, or maybe I'm just lucky.

You've presumably got alternative (mobile, phone, fax) links to your broker to get you OUT of trades if your feed turns to dust? That's more of a priority than getting in.

 

[lotsofloot]

Have you considered using wireless broadband? A small antenna is placed on your roof in line of sight to the nearest base station. This eliminates the need for having to have a phone line.

 

[jadex]

I am not a big player but am doing this sort of things for a living.
Essentially, I am full-time trader, speculator, bettor, etc.
Financials are only part of my activities but all of them rely on internet connection.
No internet = no income.


Wireless broadband could be perfect, but NOW UK Broadband doesn't cover my area.

 

[Trader333]

Have you considered moving ?


Paul

 

[apples10]

Why not get a Laptop with one of those GPS/3G attachments. They are more expensive than you are paying now - about £40/month for unlimited use, but this would be a sure backup - and easy to do.

Also I see that O2 have entered the market, so maybe Vodafone and Orange will adjust their prices.

 

[TheBramble]

Have you considered moving ?

Now, that's dedication!

 

[jadex]

Have you considered moving ?


Paul

TBH I'm currently looking for the new accomodation.
I am renting so can move virtually everywhere.
Maybe I should instruct my agent to find a new house next to the BT exchange

3G laptop - well, that's a great idea. Definitely am going to check it. Think Vodafone is the most reliable but am going to ask T-Mobile as well as have my business phone with them.

Thx

 

[Trader333]

Maybe I should instruct my agent to find a new house next to the BT exchange

NTL would be a better option in my view


Paul

 

[jimmynail]

try one of the new isps e.g BE INternet - they put there own kit in the exchanges as does Easynet (double check with the latter)- get a pix firewall enable a feature called ISP Backup - and away you go.

 

[blackcab]

try one of the new isps e.g BE INternet - they put there own kit in the exchanges as does Easynet (double check with the latter)

If you use an unbundler (service provider with its own equipment in the BT exchange, like C&W/Bulldog, Easynet, Carphone Warehouse, etc.), you're still using the BT (Openreach) copper from your house to the exchange to reach them, and he was looking for separation/redundancy at that level. As others said, you'd need a wireless connection (like satellite, GPRS/3G data card, fixed-wireless access, etc.) or a completely separate fixed-line local loop (like cable or separate fibre-to-the-premises) to achieve that. You get some redundancy by using say BT and an unbundler, but be aware the last mile copper is shared and therefore a single point of failure. The same would apply if you used any type of dialup connection as your backup.

 

[jimmynail]

fair point.

 

[jmreeve]

Fluidata offer an IP leased line service that has a fully mananged redundant local loop.
However, it still uses BT copper and is vulnerable to failure in the ATM backhaul.
http://www.fluiddata.co.uk/

To improve much on that you would need to get a Radianz connection.

A bigger problem in using the internet is that none of the service providers and brokers
are using resilient internet protocols. Unless this changes trading via the internet will always
have doubtful reliability.

 

[A Dashing Blade]

One thru the BT line, one thru the cable connection is surely going to be the easiest solution?

 

[jmreeve]

My experience with NTL is that although the service has good overall up-time it suffers from lots of short disconnects and freezes that last for a few seconds to a minute or so.

I collected stats on this and sent it to NTL and they basically replied that they considered that to be normal and to be not bad enough to be considered a fault. It is basically a problem with the local loop and the way they apply bandwidth contention.

Using a cable\ADSL solution would work very well if the service providers/brokers used protocols that supported multiple ISP connections. However, they all use simple TCP/IP links and this will not provide resiliency. There are a number of options to do this including MLPPP, SCTP and one that I brewed up:

http://www.tradingmachines.net/blog_TAIST.html

However, unless there is a lot of pressure on brokers to improve that they are offering they will continue to offer platforms with poor quality connectivity. Poor quality connectivity is a disadvantage that the majority of retail traders just seem willing to put up with.