Re: [PLUG] Re: Wireless LAN Coverage in The Suburbs (Jeffrey Mealo) & Free Wireless Access (William H. Magill)

["William H. Magill" <magill@mcgillsociety.org>]

On Wednesday, June 11, 2003, at 01:26  PM, Chris Magnus Hedemark wrote:
> On Wednesday, June 11, 2003, at 11:59 AM, William H. Magill wrote:
>
> > The short answer is ... if you were running ATM network (not 
> > automated teller machine) then what you say would be true. However, 
> > the Internet wasn't designed to work that way. QOS tags, Quality of 
> > Service, which would allow prioritized packets on the Internet have 
> > been proposed, but by and large are not viewed as a good thing... 
> > They come along automatically with IPv6, but their importance is 
> > clearly expressed by the rapid adoption of IPv6 [Insert seriously 
> > sarcastic grin here.]
>
> Did you miss the many mentions that this is an IPv6 network 
> architecture?

Yes and no.

That will only make a difference if it is completely IPv6. IPv6 
piggybacked over v4 looses the QOS functionality because v4 doesn't 
support it.

And then you need the "client" software to utilize the QOS 
functionality in the first place. The administrative tools to set it or 
change it on the fly by application don't generally exist that I am 
aware of. [Put another way, while most OS "stacks" support V6, the 
applications don't. Because the apps don't need to know about it to 
utilize it just as if it were v4. To use v6 features you need v6 aware 
apps.]

You will also need software to integrate the v6 QOS functionality with 
the 802.11 protocols... if that can be done. I don't know if that is 
something even contemplated. QOS is, I believe, a level 3 issue. 
Routers and Switches will (if they have the software/firmware) pay 
attention to it, but once it's on the wire, unless it's a dedicated 
circuit, it becomes a different issue.

T.T.F.N.
William H. Magill
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magill@mcgillsociety.org
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