From: jkreznar@ininx.UUCP (John E. Kreznar)
Newsgroups: comp.mail.misc,comp.protocols.tcp-ip
Subject: SLIP (or PPP) versus ``dumb terminal'' network connections
Keywords: dial-up network connection
Date: 12 Jan 93 04:37:49 GMT
Followup-To: poster
Organization: Independence Industries, Los Angeles

I plan to change my network connection.  Please help me decide how.

I don't know that the groups I've selected for this posting are
appropriate.  If not, please steer me to the right place.

Is there a faq I should read?

Please respond by email.  I don't read these groups.

I am trying to decide what kind of network connection I should seek.
I have been a satisfied user of UUNET for years, but I believe that I
can now get service better matched to my needs and at lower cost.  I
am a single-user site A and seek dial-up connection through a local
Internet node B which might be commercial server or a university.  I
can think of two kinds of connection:

	Terminal.  A appears to B as a ``dumb terminal''.  A has a
	user account on B and must log in after calling.

	SLIP (or PPP).  At least for the duration of the dial-up
	connection, A is a full-fledged node on the Internet.

Are there others I should consider?

Based on a few impressions I've picked up, a terminal connection can
be lots less expensive than a SLIP connection.  One thing I'm trying
to do is clearly identify what I'd get for the extra cost of SLIP.  So
I compare the connection modes in their support of various network
services:

	email
	news
	ftp
	archie, gopher, etc.

In the following, I describe _my understanding_ of how these services
work in the two cases.  My main question is whether my understanding
is accurate and doesn't overlook important issues.

email.

Whether A is a terminal or has a SLIP connection, incoming email is
queued at B until a connection is made.  If A is a terminal, the queue
is A's user mailbox and A empties it by reading it, perhaps with the
help of a mail-reading utility.  On the other hand, if A connects
using SLIP, the queue is just another part of network traffic destined
for A which will be automatically transmitted when the connection is
made.  The mail then moves to a user mailbox at A, but since A has but
one user, this queue contains all email originally present in the SLIP
queue.  The volume of traffic over the dial-up connection doesn't
differ very much between the two cases.

There's the issue of what email addresses are possible in the two
cases.  With SLIP, A can retain its registered domain address and B's
address or identity need not be apparent in A's address.  As a dial-up
terminal, this may not be possible.

news.

Let's say that B is a major site that takes all of the news.  If A
connects as a dial-up terminal, the user at A can browse any of the
news.  The news is left undisturbed at B, although A may of course
capture to its own local files as it browses.  If the connection is by
SLIP on the other hand, site A must subscribe to the news groups it
wishes to see, this news and none other is automatically transmitted
to A's site when the connection is made, and I don't know if A could
readily browse news to which it does not subscribe.

ftp.

With SLIP, A is a full-fledged node on the Internet and can browse
directories and files anywhere else on the Internet in real time,
capturing files at will.  The same is true for the terminal case,
except that the ``capture'' is to a file at B, not A, and A would have
to do another step to get it further transmitted to A.

archie, gopher, etc.

These search tools seem to be equally available, whether as a dial-up
terminal or through SLIP.
-- 
        Relations among people to be by mutual consent, or not at all.
         ---John E. Kreznar, jkreznar@ininx.com, uunet!ininx!jkreznar
Newsgroups: comp.mail.misc