See an unfamiliar term? Check the newsletter glossary.
newsletter://mv.com
March 2000
DSL
We've been asked about our plans for DSL access for some time, and we've
been working on these plans for even longer. We feel it's very important to
take care in choosing an approach, and so we have.
It seems to happen frequently that the deadline for our every-other-
month newsletter comes up just before we can say something definite about an
upcoming thing, and this time that thing is DSL. But we do expect to be
finalizing our DSL offerings over the next few weeks. Please watch our web
page and our Usenet newsgroups (mv.forum.general) for more information.
In the meantime, though, we can make some general remarks.
DSL is a general term for a set of Digital Subscriber Loop technologies
allowing data to be transmitted at relatively high speed over an ordinary
copper "subscriber loop", that is, the pair of wires that normally connects
you to the telephone system. But with DSL, this data does not pass through
the voice telephone equipment as does the data for your dialup modem call.
The DSL installation provides you with a direct connection to your ISP, and
thus to the Internet, at speeds many times faster than with a dialup modem.
You won't need to dial a phone - the service will just be there when you need
it. (A DSL modem will be required.)
There are several flavors of DSL, divided into two major categories:
ADSL and SDSL. ADSL is asymmetric (in that the data rate towards you is
higher than the data rate from you), while SDSL is symmetric (same data rate
in both directions). One form of ADSL operates over your existing phone
line, meaning that you can use the same phone line for voice calls and data
(at the same time); other forms of ADSL and all forms of SDSL require a
separate line to be installed.
There are many factors that influence what kind of DSL you can get, and
what speeds you can get. Laws of physics dictate that the shorter the wire
that connects you to the telephone company's central office (the CO), the
higher the DSL speed you can get. If you are beyond a certain distance from
the CO, DSL may not be available; also not all COs will be equipped with DSL
facilities right away. Also, in New Hampshire many locations are not con-
nected directly to a CO, but instead are connected to a digital loop carrier
(DLC) which is in turn connected to the CO via high speed voice trunks. You
may have noticed refrigerator-sized green boxes at the side of a road, some-
times with a Bell Atlantic technician working there, these are the DLC
cabinets that serve an area near them. Locations that are served out of a
DLC are likely to be able to get a DSL service that is supplied over an ISDN
loop- this sort of DSL service is known as IDSL and has a speed of 144Kbps.
We expect soon to be offering a mix of these services, probably via more
than one carrier. Again, the information should be coming soon, so please
continue to watch our web page (www.mv.com) or our mv.* Usenet newsgroups.
Single Number Service
Last newsletter's upcoming item that we couldn't be very specific about
was the new Single Number Service from Bell Atlantic. We mentioned that we
would likely be testing this service, which allows any Bell Atlantic customer
in New Hampshire to access us by dialing a single number that works
throughout the state.
We've had this service up in test mode for a few weeks now with good
success. You can use your IP account from any Bell Atlantic phone in the 603
area code by dialing 1-500-699-6387. This is one of several ways to dial us
in New Hampshire: you can choose the one that works best for your location
and your equipment.
TUCOWS Mirror
You may know of the TUCOWS software repository (TUCOWS now stands for
The Ultimate Collection of Worthwhile Software). Here you can find software
for Windows, Mac, Linux, and more.
Thanks to Eric Poole of NETIS, MV is now providing a mirror of many of
the TUCOWS software categories. To access this mirror, just go to
http://tucows.mv.net/, or go to the main TUCOWS site at
http://www.tucows.com/ and find our entry in their list of mirror sites. By
accessing TUCOWS on the local mirror, you will find easier and faster down-
loads.
Account Specials
We are running a special on dialup accounts through the end of April.
For any new account signup, we ordinarily require that the new user try the
account for up to two weeks, and either cancel the account or send us a $50
deposit if they decide to keep it. ($10 is used as a setup fee, and the
remaining $40 is credited to the account as a non-refundable deposit against
future billing.) During this special, when we receive the $50 deposit we
will add another $50 to the amount that we credit the account. In other
words, when we receive the $50 deposit, $10 will be used as a setup fee, and
we will credit $90 to the new account as a non-refundable deposit against
future billing.
This $50 credit also applies to dedicated dialup accounts (an account
where you have a dialup port reserved for you at MV for your use 24 hours a
day). There is a $50 setup fee for a dedicated dialup account (recently
reduced from $100); when we receive the $50 setup fee for a new dedicated
dialup account, the account will be credited with a $50 non-refundable
amount.
Remember that if you recommend a new user to MV, have them tell us your
account number as a referral and you will receive a $10 credit when we
receive their deposit.
We continue to offer specials and to make adjustments to rates and ser-
vices; check our web page now and then for updates.
Staff updates
We welcome Eric Dickner to our Customer Service staff; Eric has exten-
sive knowledge of computer systems and will be a valuable asset to us.
Another of our CS representatives, Lee Baldwin, has left full-time
employment but remains on staff. Lee is off to work on her new farm. Eieio.
Server colocation
Although we haven't really advertised it, we've offered server coloca-
tion in our machine room for a couple of years now. "Server colocation" sim-
ply means that you can place a computer system at our facility where it can
take advantage of the high bandwidth available - you might have a custom web
service or other offering that needs fast network access, even if that speed
is only required for small bursts.
Our server colocation will be evolving to a more official offering using
a separate colocation area. As always, watch our web page or our newsgroups
for more information as it becomes available.
MV Communications PO Box 4963, Manchester, NH 03108 (603) 629-0000