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was: Re: WOW Internet Trader 7.0
Tony Hass <sptradr@xxxxxxxxx> writes:
>I'm considering PC Quotes Hyperfeed as a serious i-net feed.
I'm curious what the attraction of an internet feed is.
Obviously, it's convenient for non-real-time data, end-of-day,
or make-up data. And the ability to use a browser interface
gives the promise of some platform independence - presumably
your browser could run under Linux, or a Mac, and no-one would
be the wiser. :)
But for a real-time situation, the question of reliability becomes
paramount, and that means a connection to the net that is always
there, especially during RTH. And from what I read, typical packet
loss on internet routers runs above ten percent, not to mention the
all-too-common configuration screwups that render portions of the net
unreachable for minutes or hours. Believe me, as a list manager, I
see plenty of this every day. This sounds potentially worse than the
cable feed I abandoned because the cable company was so fond of
playing with their equipment during market hours. My satellite feed
has had exactly one outage in five years - when the Galaxy 4 bird
lost it.
Then there's the cost; even if the data is free, what do people pay
for that high-quality ISP? Last I checked (admittedly a while ago)
people thought Eskimo's $100/month was a really good deal for 24/7
connectivity. Yes, this is less than BMI's base fee, but when you add
the cost of the extra telephone line (about $60 out here in the
sticks, or maybe down to $30 if that new wide-area rate the local
telco is considering goes through), it's not much less than BMI.
DTN is even cheaper than BMI, and offers satellite service.
I assume the RT exchange fees are the same for net feeds?
So, other than the points mentioned in the first paragraph,
what's the attraction? Am I overlooking something obvious?
Jim
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