Archive for May, 2012

As FORETHOUGHT.net moves to deploy unparalleled fiber-based services throughout the Denver Metro area, we have begun to realize that the limiting factor in Internet performance is no longer the last mile connection. I speak of the Firewall. Most SMB Firewalls are woefully inadequate to the task of managing fiber speed traffic streams. Almost all the current crop of firewalls were built for 10Mbps and under – bonded T1s, or EoC. Putting these firewalls under test at 100 Mbps or even 1000 Mbps speeds showed them to be a serious bottleneck. For residential service you can rely on software firewalls on the PC, such as Norton. But for business applications, that’s a non-starter. We are evaluating a number of different next-generation firewalls, and our criteria are: Handle speeds up to 1000 Mbps IPv6 Support Reliable even under heavy load and 1000’s of simultaneous connections We are also starting to think that… read more →

The world just got a little smaller. Effective May 1, 2012, all calls by FORETHOUGHT.net telephone customers to destinations within the state of Colorado will be treated as local calls. No more long distance charges to call from Denver to Grand Junction, or from Boulder to Colorado Springs. In-state calling is unlimited, flat-rate, and included in the flat monthly phone line charges you already pay. Calling across the state is now the same as calling across town – no muss, no fuss, and no extra charges. This change is part of our broader strategy to erase the artificial LATA boundaries that were written into the telecom industry by the Bell breakup and the Telecom Act of 1996. There really is no reason to maintain these artificial distinctions – and the marketplace and shifting demographics have rendered the 30+ year-old LATA boundaries ludicrous. We are leveraging VoIP least cost routing to… read more →