Upload Speed on FTTN

[tikvah]

I'm currently testing some online backup services, after giving up on Crashplan when it stopped working for me a year or so ago. For the new one, my file total is under 700GB and it will only take 256 days to back up! (256 days of reduced computer CPU, inability to upload much of anything else, and so on)

Is there any way to increase my upload speed, temporarily even?

Now that I have FTTN, I have download speeds I'm thrilled with: 21-22 mbps, about 7 times what I got with Fusion. But my upload speeds are stuck around 1.5 mbps, less than twice what I got with Fusion.

With Fusion you could move some of the down to the up, but that doesn't seem possible with FTTN, or is it?

And why the discrepancy? Why is upload so insanely slow compared to download?

Thanks

[rtrinh]

With FTTN what you're getting really is one of two ATT U-Verse tiers Sonic has contract to resell. No ability for toggling Annex M.

[tikvah]

I see. I still don't understand why upload is so slow though. I've other Sonic FTTN customers post down speeds of 18 and up 2 or 3 times mine.

Interesting that when I put my address into Sonic's service finder it says I can get 50 mbps FTTN at my address for $60/month. I can't get it to show me if the 50 mbps is really two lines and the $60 is really one line. Would my upload speed double too?

[rtrinh]

When I had FTTN I was getting ~23Mbps down ~1.65Mbps up.

50 Mbps FTTN would be two lines, but technically you are closer to the "box". When I had FTTN I was on two lines, but was too far that I could only get the 25 Mbps speed.

And yes your upload speed would double with that 50 Mbps FTTN.

[bischof]

I'm currently testing some online backup services, after giving up on Crashplan when it stopped working for me a year or so ago. For the new one, my file total is under 700GB and it will only take 256 days to back up! (256 days of reduced computer CPU, inability to upload much of anything else, and so on)

Well- doing the math shows that 700GB over 256 days is about 250kb so even at the 1.5Mb rate you quote it should be much faster than 256 days. And then if you choose a backup service that uses compression it will be even faster than that. With compression you're more likely to be down in the several-week range. Deltas would of course be much less.

Like most connections, distance counts heavily. I'm around 2k feet from node and get 50/10 service. The further you get the slower you will be. So while FTTN may be capable of 75Mb or more that doesn't mean you can get such at your home. You might check with ATT and see what is available.

Have you considered setting up your own backup? I have a dedicated backup server (one of my older machines) with removable mirrored disks. Keep 4 generations of weekly backups with one being off-site. Fully scripted (rsync of course) so very little hassle and it is fast and completely under my control. Added bonus is that if my primary server would ever go down the backup server is a mirror and can go online immediately. Multi TB is no problem since everything is on LAN.

[tikvah]

Yes, I've done the math too. My numbers are what the backup software told me and don't match what I'd expect. At this point it's been 4-5 days and it has done 45GB (I figured out how to set it to use more of my bandwidth as needed).

Yes, I realize that being far from the node/etc means my speeds are down. That still doesn't affect my original question of if I can sacrifice some down speed to increase the up. Now I know I can't.

As for type of backup. Of course I already have a full backup at home that gets updated hourly (Apple Time Machine). But anyone whose sole backups are 1) all in one physical location and 2) in the same space as the computer is a fool. We may not get hurricanes here but my house could flood or catch fire, there could be an earthquake, or a thief could grab ALL the electronics in sight. Not to mention that a home system doesn't backup my laptop when I'm away from home.

I was very happy when I had CrashPlan working and, when it went downhill and no longer backed up and I didn't renew, I had a few sleepless nights when I realized that a single disaster could take out decades of files in one blow. Right now I'm trying both Zoolz and Backblaze. Zoolz stinks as a backup system, for so many reasons. But I have 1TB (500MB in each of their two types of backup) of lifetime data that I bought for $30 so it will be great for things like the photos from a recent overseas trip (thousands of cemetery photos for genealogy databases) that overwhelmed my Dropbox capacity but not good for every day backups. I am liking Backblaze a lot so far though, but will withhold judgment until I try to restore. I'm doing a 15 day free trial but I'm pretty sure I'm going to buy it.

[tikvah]

Note that the quote of 50 mbps download speed for FTTN came from Sonic's site when telling me what was available at my address. This was not general FTTN advertising. Of course that doesn't mean it's accurate, but it was based on my specific distance to the node.

I still don't know if the speed reflects one or two lines and if the price reflects one or two lines. It would be pretty crappy if they said you can get X speed for Y money when the first required two lines but the second was payment for just one.

[amayfield]

FTTN is provisioned at a specific bandwidth rate (speed) rather than by line. FTTN x1 is provisioned at 20Mb/s download, 1-1.5Mb/s upload; FTTN x2 is provisioned at 50Mb/s download, 3-5Mb/s upload. FTTN x2 can be provided over a single line or over two lines - it just depends on the infrastructure in your area.

[bischof]

As for type of backup. Of course I already have a full backup at home that gets updated hourly (Apple Time Machine). But anyone whose sole backups are 1) all in one physical location and 2) in the same space as the computer is a fool. We may not get hurricanes here but my house could flood or catch fire, there could be an earthquake, or a thief could grab ALL the electronics in sight. Not to mention that a home system doesn't backup my laptop when I'm away from home..

Good to hear from someone who actually understands backups, especially these days when most users don't have any sort of backup plan at all. I assume that you also have archives so are in very good shape.

As for " home system doesn't backup my laptop when I'm away from home" - well, yes and no. These days I access my server (home/small business) both locally via LAN and remotely via SSH (telephone network or trusted WIFI), so am able to back up all my devices including phones directly to the one server. That way everything I care about is accessible from anywhere and is regularly backed up. In current vernacular, I have my own "cloud" so have no need for other services.

I got around the issue of initial massive backup by doing the initial via Gb LAN- still took many hours but it wasn't days or weeks. And deltas are of course no problem externally since they are small.

But that's just me- there are of course many other ways to address data needs. Sounds like you are on the track to being in good shape.

take care
Stan