Ipstream

From Free net encyclopedia

IP stream and Data stream are specific to DSL connectivity in the UK. British Telecom (BT) is the incumbent telephony and connectivity provider in the UK. Because of this, BT is responsible for selling bandwidth to the majority of internet service providers in the UK. This bandwidth can be bought in two variants: IP Stream and Data Stream.

To the end customer, an IP stream connection means BT have sold bandwidth to a provider that in turn resells it to the consumer over the BT network. In this case, the ISP acts as an intermediary only - reselling bandwidth owned by BT to consumers over a BT telephone network. The reason IP Stream exists is because Ofcom (the body responsible for regulating telephony in the UK) wanted to encourage competition and stop BT from growing too big. The vast majority of providers in the UK use IP stream because it's cheaper to set up and costs less in maintenance, simply because the ISP does not need to have its own network. IP stream connections contend (i.e. pile up users onto one connection) at BT, which means BT decides how to handle load balancing.

Data stream means BT have sold bandwidth to a provider, which has then resold it to the consumer over their own network, i.e. not over BT's exchanges. In most cases, data stream is passed on to the consumer in cable format (i.e. not over a telephone cable). Data stream contends at the exchange, which means the more users on your street for example who are connected on data stream, the higher the contention ratio.