T1 leased line bridging performance

[yipn]

We have 2 sites connected by a T1 leased line. Each site has around 150 nodes. We'd like to bridge them. Is there any performance issue you have encountered ? Thank you.

[rsissons]

There really is no definitive answer to this question. A bridged network does not scale well so the performance will depend on exactly how much traffic, especially broadcast traffic you have in the network.

[faheyd]

Well, I think bridging was the main driver for the invention of routers. This would lead one to the conclusion that bridging is not always a good idea. I'm pretty sure someone printing a 30 meg PDF file to an IP printer will pretty much slow down the other network you are bridging to. My personal policy is to segment the network traffic wherever possible, so that packets stay where they need to be, not all over the network. I really don't need to see 'Bob's Printer' on the other side of the WAN.

But if budgetting is top on the list, and you're doing a simple network with no requirements for speed, bridging will do in a pinch. Get an E1 if possible, I've noticed a big improvement while bridging over an E1 vs T1.