See an unfamiliar term? Check the newsletter glossary.
newsletter://mv.com
February 2003
qmail conversion
An update on our mail server software conversion: the big conversion
event, originally scheduled for February 10, was pushed back a week, where
it ran smack into the big snowstorm we had. At that point we figured we
might as well hold off until this newsletter was in the mail, so we could
get out this reminder and update. We'll be doing the conversion overnight
on February 24/25 starting around 1AM (that's the wee hours of Tuesday the
25th). The mail server will be down for several hours during this conver-
sion. Please check http://home.mv.net/ for status and details.
How will this affect you? Our plan is that any initial impact on you
will be minimal. You will still be able to get your mail via POP and IMAP
as usual, and send via mail.mv.net as before. One immediate benefit that
you will see is that you will be able to supply your login information when
sending mail through mail.mv.net, so that you can use our outgoing mail
server even when you are connected to another ISP or another service (use
your mailbox login and password). Some mail programs may notice that this
capability is in effect and ask you to supply the login information (par-
ticularly some versions of Netscape). Another immediate benefit is that
you should find checking your mail a lot faster -- especially if you regu-
larly receive very large mail messages. The new software stores the mes-
sages in a way that makes it much faster to scan through large messages.
Genuity and Level3 -- how are we affected?
We get part of our Internet backbone services from Genuity, a large
global carrier. (You can find out about our backbone connections by going
to our home page, www.mv.com. Access the "MV Information" pulldown item,
and select "About MV." You'll see a link to this information from there.)
Recently there were news reports about some customers of Genuity who
were about to be disconnected on short notice. The story is that during
bankruptcy proceedings, many of Genuity's assets were bought by Level3
(another large carrier), but that Level3 elected to take over some customer
contracts and not others. Some of you undoubtedly wonder how this affects
us -- our contract with Genuity was one of those that was picked up by
Level3. We expect our service to continue uninterrupted.
Regulatory issues
NH ISP services tax: recall that we mentioned a potential issue
whereby Internet services in NH may be subject to a state services tax.
This issue is still largely unresolved for most uses. There are some
related bills soon to be discussed in NH legislative committees -- we plan
to learn as much as we can as they progress.
Dialup numbers in NH: We had also mentioned a regulatory proceeding at
the state Public Utilities Commission (the NH PUC) addressing the way that
a lot of modem calls are made to ISPs in NH. The PUC issued a ruling call-
ing for some significant changes, including establishment of individual
phone numbers (per ISP, or per destination) that could be called from most
areas in the state. As we expected, appeals have been filed by nearly
every party directly involved, and any implementation will likely be
delayed for some time.
On the federal level: On February 20 the FCC issued a number of rul-
ings regarding the obligations of incumbent telephone companies (the ILECs)
to share their facilities with other competitive telephone companies and
data services providers. The rulings, representing a set of compromises
between the FCC commissioners, appear contradictory. However the bottom
line is that some sharing provisions have been greatly restricted, and in
some cases eliminated. There are likely to be appeals and court chal-
lenges, and how it all shakes out will be interesting to see (and very rel-
evant to the deployment of advanced Internet services in the future). We
refer you to http://www.mv.com/issues/ for some links to articles and edi-
torials.
Thawing telephone lines
Perhaps we're being a little premature, but it seems like time to
think about spring and warmer weather again. Every spring the warming and
melting of snow is bound to affect some phone lines. Insulation may crack,
wires may suffer some stress, moisture may get into the cable bundles, all
of which can affect your phone line quality. Even hungry squirrels, which
are a surprisingly high source of phone line troubles, may be out doing
more damage than usual.
If you notice a degradation in your dialup connection, especially dur-
ing the thawing period or during periods of wet weather, it's a good idea
to check the quality of your phone line. (This is true most any time of
the year -- but each springtime does seem to bring a new round of these
occurrences.) The easiest thing to do is to put a telephone on the line
that you use to call our modems with, and listen for noise. You aren't
likely to hear noise over the loud dialtone when you first pick up the
handset, so there are a couple of different things to try. One is to just
dial a single digit (something that won't call anybody -- don't dial the
operator, for example). This will make the dialtone go away. Listen for a
little while for some of the kinds of noises described below. Another is
to make a voice call -- preferably a local call (toll calls and long-dis-
tance calls can have characteristics that are different from what's present
when you call our modems). During your conversation, be alert for inter-
fering noises. Pause your conversation so that you can hear them.
What to listen for? Listen for noises that truly are not part of a
normal telephone call, and that you have an expectation that your telephone
company will repair. A persistent hum or buzz can be a connection killer,
although because it's always there, sometimes it's hard to tell if a low-
level hum is abnormal. Generally if you compare to some other phone lines,
a difference will be obvious if there is this kind of noise on your line.
Also listen for sounds of interference from other phone lines: dialing
noises, talking or music, clicks, or other sounds. Any of these will
impact your modem connection, and should be looked into. However, be aware
that any of these things can be due to a problem in your inside wiring --
your telephone company should repair problems external to your building,
but you may be charged if problems originate in areas that are your respon-
sibility.
MV Communications, Inc. PO Box 4963, Manchester, NH 03108 (603) 629-0000