Wireless Bandwidth (Graphic for illustration purposes only) Castles provides a “shared” broadband Internet connection for its subscribers.  Because the connection is shared, certain shaping rules must be implemented to provide a stable experience for all.  As a result, we have a “Burstable” rate, and a “Sustained” rate.  Graph of typical business user. Note the normal rate of Bytes per Second are around 200 with an occassional burst. The vast majority of both residential and business customers are well within the parameters of the base wireless plan. Burstable and Sustained Rates Defined Burstable Rate Initially, when a customer begins transferring data across the Internet, they are allowed a Burstable rate of 2 Megabits for download and 1 Megabit for upload.  The customer may continue at that rate until a pre-determined amount of data transfer is reached.  Picture an empty bucket of water.  When you first turn on the hose, you can fill the bucket up at a fast rate – but eventually, the bucket will become full and you must decrease the flow to keep it from overflowing.  The speed at which you are filling the empty bucket is called the Burstable rate. The download bucket size is 30 Megabytes of data – the upload bucket is 6 Megabytes. Sustained Rate Now imagine there is a hole in the bottom of the bucket.  This allows water to leak out of the bucket at a consistent rate.  When you reach the top of the bucket, the flow from the hose must be reduced  to match the rate at which the water is leaking out through the hole – thus keeping the bucket at the full line and never overflowing. This rate is the Sustained rate.  For download, the rate is 500 kilobits – upload is 250 kilobits.  When a user is idle and data transfer stops, the bucket continues to empty at a consistent rate.  When the user starts transferring data again, the Burstable rate is applied – until the bucket becomes full, then the Sustained rate is applied. Committed Information Rate (CIR) We also have a Committed Information Rate (CIR) for certain business customers that meet the necessary qualifications. The CIR has the same Burstable properties as the shared connection above, however, the Sustained rate is set higher (there is a bigger hole in the bucket). For a chart of Burstable and Sustained Rate see the chart on the Pricing Page P.O. Box 2368 Vacaville, CA  95696 (707) 455-3401

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