See an unfamiliar term? Check the newsletter glossary.
News from:
M V C o m m u n i c a t i o n s , I n c .
P.O. Box 4963
Manchester, NH 03108-4963
(603) 429-2223
October 1993
Note: text copies of all issues of the monthly newsletter can be found
on mv in the public archive; look in /pub/mv/inews. They're also in
the online menu!
MV adopts commercial routing option
As an MV customer who has signed up before October, 1993, you
have been given copies of, or directed to read in the online menu, a
copy of the Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) of the NSFnet (the
government-funded part of the Internet backbone). This policy state-
ment essentially specifies that data traversing the NSFnet backbone be
for the primary purpose of research or education.
We are pleased to announce that we have recently purchased a com-
mercial routing option that eliminates this restriction.
A little background is in order. What you think of as the Inter-
net can be roughly characterized as a vast network of networks, encom-
passing a set of systems that are reachable through the Internet Pro-
tocol (IP). This reachability is achieved by connecting networks to
each other and to backbone networks that can quickly deliver data from
one set of networks to another. In the US there is a government spon-
sored backbone network, the NSFnet, which actually occupies a portion
of the bandwith of a physical backbone supplied by Advanced Networks
and Services, Inc. (ANS). There are other commercial backbones, such
as Alternet, SprintNet, and PSI, many of which are part of an inter-
networking organization called CIX (the Commercial Internet eXchange).
CIX networks exist to carry commercial traffic, and so there are
no sanctions against conducting business on these networks. However,
the NSFnet carries traffic for a great many smaller networks and users
such as government agencies and colleges. Commercial systems which
are connected only through CIX networks cannot, in general, reach
sites that are connected only through the NSFnet backbone - and even
if they can, that traffic is restricted by the Acceptable Usage Poli-
cies of the NSFnet.
This restriction engenders a lot of confusion and questions: how
do you know if your packets are using the NSFnet backbone? How can
you tell if your use is acceptable? How do you direct your data NOT
to use the NSFnet backbone if need be? The answers can be even more
confusing: if you are communicating with a site in New England,
chances are you don't use the backbone; similarly, since our Internet
supplier (NEARnet) is very aggressive in maintaining diverse routing
to multiple backbones, it's likely that traffic to commercial sites
MV Communications, Inc. October 1993
- 2 -
all over the world does not touch the NSFnet backbone.
Our new routing option allows our traffic to be carried by the
ANS network (the network that also makes up the NSFnet backbone)
without restriction. This option means that you no longer have to
worry about the NSFnet AUP: your commercial transactions may be con-
ducted across the Internet even if they happen to use the NSFnet back-
bone. This gives MV, unlike many other Internet service providers,
full commercial connectivity to the entire Internet, not just to those
sites on commercial backbones.
Rate cap for online accounts
Beginning in October, we are establishing a rate ceiling for
heavy users of online accounts on MV. We figure that if you are
already up to your neck in the net, we won't hold you back from diving
in completely.
The new rate ceiling for an individual online account is
$80/month. For group accounts, there is an additional $50/month ceil-
ing for each additional group member. (Of course, if your group is
reaching this ceiling, we would encourage you to subscribe to a full-
time dialup IP (SLIP/PPP) account.)
User survey
As you may have already seen, we are conducting a survey of MV
users. (This is primarily for users of online accounts, but if you
are using a UUCP or dialup IP account, feel free to fetch it and look
at it.)
This survey is completely voluntary and is intended to give us a
feel for how you are using the system, your reactions, and any ideas
you have for improvements or additional services. To take it, simply
send mail to survey@mv.mv.com and you'll receive the survey text in
the mail. Reply to this mail with your comments, or send them
directly to nowicki@mv.mv.com (this is Jacek Nowicki, who is kindly
doing this for us).
Miscellany
* We have some extra copies of a list of reading material about the
Internet - as well as some recent network highlights - that we
printed for the Software Entrepeneur Special Interest Group meet-
ing of October 7. Drop us a line if you'd like to have a copy
through the US Mail. Quantity is limited, but we will also be
making this information available online soon. We welcome
suggestions for additions to this list.
* MV maintains an archive of files related to UUCP and networking,
and of files of recent interest. This archive is in /pub on mv;
a directory (updated nightly) is in the file /pub/ls-lR, with a
compressed version of /pub/ls-lR.Z. Files in the archive include
mail and news software for MSDOS and the Macintosh as well as
UNIX; Ian Taylor's alternative UUCP package for UNIX; information
about Internetworking; uucp maps for all of the USA and Canada;
MV Communications, Inc. October 1993
- 3 -
MV, NEARnet, and NSFnet policy statements; program listings from
Doctor Dobbs Journal; etc. Note that both UUCP and Online
accounts have access to this area.
* Have a special requirement? Let us know. For instance, if your
system is shutting down for a vacation, we can install special
handling of mail for your system (for instance, returning a
recorded message to the sender, forwarding the mail to another
place, or simply keeping your mail from being returned while you
are down).
* Do you know someone else who should be on the Internet? There
several different ways they can get information about connecting
through MV. They can send email to info@mv.mv.com for an
automatic reply or contact us in one of the usual ways or try our
info login (no password) at (603) 424-7428.
For new referrals we will credit a small finder's fee to your
account. This fee is a token of our appreciation and the amount
depends on the type of new access. Please be sure to have your
referral let us know you sent them to MV.
MV Communications, Inc. October 1993