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M V C o n v e r s a t i o n
January 1995
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!
Phone line status -
This month, we have a few things to say about the status of dialup
lines in Dover and in Litchfield. In Dover, several new lines are being
added and may be in place by the time you read this note.
In Litchfield, December was a relatively light month for incoming
telephone usage. Come the day after New Years', however, apparently
everyone decided to get back online with a vengeance, and we began
experiencing busy lines right away. At that point we ordered new modems
and equipment to handle them. Ordinarily our modem orders take 2-4 days
to complete and then we're ready to go. This time we were informed by
the manufacturer (Microcom) that no modems would be shipped until the
end of the month, when the V.34 models were ready to be rolled out.
After about a week of haranguing them, we were given an even later ship
date. But that harangue must have paid off, since two days after being
given that date, our modem order simply arrived out of the blue. At
this writing the expansion phone lines are on order and are expected
within a very short time - again, probably by the time you read this.
- and modems
One good piece of news about all of this is that all of our new
modems are, and will be for the foreseeable future, V.34 capable. Our
highest speed modems (which includes all of the normal dialin modems in
Dover, Peterborough, and Concord, and most of the dialin modems in
Litchfield) are Microcoms with V.fc capability. As you probably know,
V.fc is not a standard, but was a near-standard and was used by modem
manufacturers as a steppingstone in order to get high-speed modems on
the market while the V.34 standard was being solidified. One effect of
this is that there can be connection problems between any two modem
manufacturers' brands of V.fc modems, or between a V.fc and a V.34
modem, depending on the brand. While we've seen some of these problems,
we think it's remarkable that they have been relatively few. In exces-
sive cases, sometimes the only solution is to fall back to V.32bis
(14.4Kb) mode.
Our current suite of V.fc modems will be upgraded to V.34 when
Microcom makes the upgrade available. Although the first rounds of V.34
implementations are not likely to be the final answer to all compatibil-
ity problems, getting everyone to move to V.34 should help.
MV's offerings
Starting February 1, 1995, MV will offer two additional choices for
occasional-access Dialup IP accounts. In addition to the current
occasional-access account, which costs $25/month for 25 hours of connect
time, and $1.50/hour thereafter, we are adding:
o $50/month for 60 hours, $1.00/hour thereafter, and
o $75/month for 100 hours, $1.00/hour thereafter.
Account level must be chosen in advance.
We'd also like to mention the various kinds of Internet accounts avail-
able from MV.
An online account lets you log into an account on a computer system
at MV using a character-based terminal or terminal emulator program.
Once logged into MV you can run programs and execute command to accom-
plish things on the Internet. This gives access to electronic mail,
usenet news, gopher, telnet, IRC, and the World Wide Web (WWW) - all in
text form. In addition you can download files from the Internet to your
computer via your account.
A Dialup IP account (either SLIP or PPP) lets you connect your com-
puter directly to the Internet over a telephone line. The main differ-
ence between this and an online account is where the Internet access
occurs. With an online account, the computer system at MV is on the
Internet, and you make use of programs on that system. With a Dialup IP
account, your computer is on the Internet, and you run net-access appli-
cations directly on your computer. These applications can take advan-
tage of your native environment, allowing you to view images, hear
sounds, display text in various styles and fonts, use multiple windows,
and use a point-and-click interface. We offer two classes of Dialup IP
accounts: one to use as needed (occasional access), and another to
remain connected via a personal line 24 hours a day.
For convenient delivery of electronic mail and Usenet news to your
computer system, for example for a business or a multiple-user environ-
ment, we offer UUCP connections. Running UUCP software, your computer
system exchanges mail and news with our computer on a non-real-time,
periodic basis. UUCP is most valuable where direct access to the Inter-
net is not needed, but electronic mail is the primary goal. UUCP is
usually reserved for those with system administration backgrounds, but
there is at least one commercially available Windows-based software
package that we know of that makes this relatively easy.
We also offer connections to the Internet via high speed digital
leased line connections. Generally this kind of access is for a busi-
ness or organization that needs a high level, constantly connected
access to the Internet.
Things seen on the net
For all you jazz and blues fans, the host of the WGBH radio show
"Blues After Hours" makes available an electronic edition of their Blues
Calendar - a list of who's playing where around Boston, Eastern Mas-
sachusetts, and some of the rest of New England. Just send an email
request to Mai_Cramer@qmgate.wgbh.org.
The Department of Energy now has a World Wide Web page (URL
http://www.doe.gov) that makes accessible, among other things, the docu-
ments about radiation experiments conducted on ill-informed subjects
during the Cold War that were a scandal in various news reports in the
national media.
Everyone must have heard by now that the goings-on of the U.S.
Congress, including versions of bills and resolutions is now on the
Internet. It's on the World Wide Web at http://thomas.loc.gov.
Another Congress-related web source is CapWeb, located at
http://policy.net. Provided by Issue Dynamics, Inc., it is an "unau-
thorized" guide to the US Congress and includes contact information,
committee assignments, links to other related sites (including the one
mentioned above), party leadership, etc.
Reminders
Just a reminder to all you BCS members that you're entitled to 10%
discount; please tell other members you know. And a reminder to stu-
dents and educators: we offer you a 30% discount.
MV Communications, Inc. (603) 429-2223