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newsletter://mv.com
September 1998
New access numbers
In late August several new access numbers were added to our dialin
service. These numbers are served by Brooks Fiber/Worldcom, and thus sup-
port normal analog dialin plus K56flex, V.90 (see discussion of V.90
below), and ISDN calls as allowed by your local telephone company. The
numbers added in August are Colebrook (613-NETS), Jefferson (390-NETS),
Lancaster (503-NETS), and Milan (317-NETS). We had expected these to be
available in May or June, along with most of the other Brooks numbers, but
they were delayed by capacity issues at Brooks. For a complete list of
access numbers, go to our web page (www.mv.com) and click on Access
numbers.
Be sure you know what, if any, telephone charges you will incur when
dialing the new numbers or any other MV number. MV makes no representation
about telephone charges - this is something for you to verify.
V.90 deployment
We have been running some late open beta code releases from Livingston
on our equipment that is used for our K56flex numbers. (You already know
this if you check our new-information page, or if you follow our
mv.forum.general newsgroup or other mv newsgroups.) The beta releases have
made incremental improvements in V.34 modem protocols, as well as adding
support for the proposed V.90 protocol standard. With the most recent ver-
sion, the V.90 protocol has been implemented for most client modem types -
including modems with 3Com/USRobotics, Lucent, and Rockwell chipsets.
V.90 is the so-called "56K" proposed modem protocol standard. This
protocol provides a high data rate from the ISP - that is, in the direction
from the ISP to you, with a normal rate from you to the ISP. The actual
connect rates that you get will vary depending on the quality of your phone
line, how your call is carried to us, and how your location is served by
the telephone company. Typical V.90 rates range from 46000 to 53333 bits
per second.
Because V.90 is new (in fact, it is still only a proposed standard,
expected to be ratified as a real standard this month), the implementations
of the protocol are still young and maturing. This applies both to the
code for user side modems (the modem that you use to call us) and to the
code that is used by us, the ISP, to process your call. It's a good idea
for you to buy only a V.90 modem that is flash-upgradable, and to periodi-
cally make sure that you are running a recent release of the firmware for
your modem and of any drivers that are used on your system for your modem.
Some web sites with information about V.90 are www.k56flex.com,
www.v90.com, and www.56k.com.
ISDN notes
Since our K56flex/V.90 dialup numbers all support ISDN access, we are
often asked questions about aspects of our ISDN service. Some of the more
commonly asked questions:
Why would I want ISDN ?
ISDN is a digital service from the telephone company. Whereas an ana-
log modem uses A/D and D/A conversions to pass data over a phone line,
an ISDN modem uses a digital data stream, so with ISDN you will get
the full digital data rate in both directions.
What are the telephone charges for ISDN ?
This answer really must come from the telephone company. However, on
our web page, we have provided a discussion of the basic points to
consider about telephone charges. Go to our web page (www.mv.com),
click on Access numbers, and you'll see a link to this discussion
page.
Does MV charge extra for ISDN calls by normal dialup users?
Not at this time, and we have no plans to do so. ISDN usage is
charged the same as usage by analog modem calls.
What about bonded or multilink ISDN calls to MV?
You may elect to have two ISDN B channels (rather than just one)
activated on your ISDN line (for an extra charge by the telephone com-
pany), each B channel being able to carry a 64000bps data call or a
56000bps data-over-voice call. Most ISDN modems will allow you to
place calls on both B channels at once, and to bond these two calls
together in order to double the effective data rate. At present, MV
does not have a billing policy in place to cover dual-channel calls;
you are welcome to experiment with it until we do, but be aware that
this may be seen as a duplicate login resulting in one of the calls
being disconnected (especially if it is during a peak usage period).
Staff changes
Customer Support Representatives Ken Pittman and Erin McKee have left
full-time employment to become full-time students; they will likely be
helping us out from time to time in the future. Also leaving for college
was Aimee Reichert, who was employed in the accounting department. Paul
Hurley (also known as "rat") decided to migrate to California and left his
position in Technical Support. We wish all of them the best of luck.
Steve Guerra took a leave from his CS position to take a gig up north-
in addition to being a qualified CS representative, Steve is also a profes-
sional musician. We expect him back soon.
Joining us as CS representatives are Travis Roy and Lee Baldwin; many
of you may have have already spoken to one or both of them. Also, Amy
Byron has joined us part time in the accounting department. We welcome
them most heartily.
Robert Henney, who had been dividing his duties between CS and TS, has
moved full-time into TS.
New tools
We have added some new tools, and these are now in test mode. New
tools give you the ability to use the web to:
* change your IP account password;
* change your POP mailbox password(s);
* edit your mailbox, e.g. to remove a message that is preventing
you from downloading your mail;
* create your web space;
* see how much space your web page is using;
* see how much space your mailboxes are using.
To use them, go to our main web page (www.mv.com), and click on the
Tools and Information for MV Users link, and you should see these tools
listed. You will need a browser that supports secure documents in order to
use the IP account maintenance tool.
Some of these functions were only previously available via a telnet
interface, and others are completely new. Please let us know if you have
comments on these new utilities.
High speed access
Now that we are providing dialin access in so many locations
throughout the state, it's a good time to remind any of you who are contem-
plating service upgrades that we provide high speed Frame relay service
anywhere in the state serviced by Bell Atlantic. Because the charges from
Bell Atlantic are distance-independent, this can be an effective next step
in Internet access.
MV Communications, Inc PO Box 4963, Manchester, NH 03108 (603) 629-0000