Re: Email messages: How large is too large?

["David Mitton" <dmitton at nortelnetworks.com>]

There's at least one popular email client that allows the user to set a 
download size threshold.  If the message size exceeds the value, then 
it  only brings down a header, with an option to explicitly download the 
entire message.

I had a similar problem when travelling once and used this feature to 
advantage.

        Dave.

At 07:05 PM 12/12/99 -0500, Dick St.Peters wrote:
> > > > > But how large is too large?
> > > >
> > > > I imposed a 5 MB limit here after someone sent a single message of more
> > > > than 100 MB to one of our dialup users.  This past week I had a user
> > > > get upset that we wouldn't accept a 28 MB message he wanted someone to
> > > > send him.
> >
> > He's probably now looking for a new ISP ...
>
> I don't think so.  His employer has already asked for my help in
> identifying why their 56k frame-relay line is so saturated.  That one
> 28 MB message would have occupied its full capacity for more than an
> hour.
>
> > >Not every user requires this kind of bandwidth today, but the
> > >applications to generate sch data are here (sound, multiple still
> > >images, video, sharing executables, etc). You can't unring the bell, so
> > >it's probably worthwhile to study what can be done to mitigate the
> > >impact.
>
> Well, I can give my answer without further study: people with
> corporate or university T3 connections need to remember that the most
> common connection is still a 26.4 Kbps dialup.  A 2 MB message that
> takes a fraction of a second to send over a T3 (or a few seconds over
> a T1) takes dialup users about ten minutes to download.
>
> During download of a large message, dialup users get no feedback
> telling them something is happening.  When they get an unusually large
> message, they think something is hung and hang up.  This leaves their
> mailbox locked until TCP times out, so when they dial back in and try
> again they get a cryptic error message.  After two or three tries at
> this they're frustrated and on the phone to support.  This almost
> invariably ends with a request that we delete the message for them.
>
> > ISP's and corporate email administrators should just get used to large and
> > frequent email attachments, upgrade their systems, or watch their 
> customers
> > or job go somewhere else.
>
> The Internet's bandwidth-blessed elite should keep in mind that the
> vast bulk of Internet users does not share their good fortune or the
> values that depend on it.
>
> --
> Dick St.Peters, stpeters at NetHeaven.com
> Gatekeeper, NetHeaven, Saratoga Springs, NY
> Saratoga/Albany/Amsterdam/BoltonLanding/Cobleskill/Greenwich/
> GlensFalls/LakePlacid/NorthCreek/Plattsburgh/...
>     Oldest Internet service based in the Adirondack-Albany region

---------------------------------------------------------------
David Mitton                                  ESN: 248-4570
Consulting Engineer, Nortel Networks           978-288-4570 Direct
Carrier Packet Solutions, Preside              978-288-3030 FAX
Billerica, MA 01821                     dmitton at nortelnetworks.com