Re: Mikrotik & OC-3 Connection

[Mike <mike-nanog () tiedyenetworks com>]

Alan Bryant wrote:
> I'm just trying to see what options there are and make the decision
> off of that. If Cisco or Juniper is the only way, then so be it. I
> just want to be sure.
>
>   

The real issue is that these legacy telco interfaces are just expensive, 
straight up, and being forced to use these specialized interfaces for 
your IP connectivity just drives your costs up for no real gain. I bet 
what you would really love is just a simple ethernet handoff but of 
course no provider in your area probabbly makes that available. So you 
get collared into these expensive interfaces that force you to just buy 
more when you need more connectivity, as opposed to ethernet which could 
easilly grow to 1000mbps without needing $$$ I/O cards every 155mbps 
along the way (and loop charges and hassle and pain, etc). On the good 
news front, there's lots of capable cisco hardware out there you can 
take multiple interfaces types on, for pretty cheap especially if you 
look at "refurbished" gear.  Before you run off and make a purchase 
decision, most of these cisco resellers can really help you decide on 
the right platform (thats their value add), so if you think you might 
wind up with an OC3 and 8t1s for example they can help you figure out 
what NPE (cpu) you need and ram and ios version and such.