ALTERNATIVES FOR MODEM USERS
As a member of the UCI community, you have unlimited use of NACS'”free” modem pool. However, for many people, sharing 300 modems that serve a community of approximately 20,000 faculty, staff, and students is inconvenient and, at times, frustrating. The free modem pool is designed as a default service to ensure that everyone at UCI has at least some remote access. There are alternatives to this basic service.
Dedicated Modem Service
NACS offers “Dedicated Dial-up Modem Services” to faculty, work-groups, and departments. These services provide dedicated modems and unlimited connection time to UCInet and the Internet. The cost is $45 a month plus a one-time, $90 set-up charge (waived now through June 1997 – see below).
$45 a month is relatively expensive for a single user, but if shared by several individuals, the cost becomes comparable to the least expensive Internet Service Providers. For example, a department or group with 45 people might share a bank of 10 modems — the resulting monthly cost is only $10 per person. A small group of 4 people can share one modem at a cost of $11.25 per individual per month.
More information about Dedicated Modems can be found at: http://www.nacs.uci.edu/communication/dedicated.dial-up.html
To order this service, please call NACS Electronic Communication Services at extension 5123 or send an e-mail message to NACS@UCI.EDU with “Request for Dedicated Modem Service” in the subject line. To help departments ease current modem access issues, NACS will waive the $90 setup fee now through June 1997 for dedicated modem commitments of at least 6 months.
Internet Service Providers
A second remote access alternative is using an Internet Service Provider (ISP), such as Netcom, Pacific Bell or a variety of others. Information concerning ISPs can be found at: http://www.nacs.uci.edu/support/antaccess/isp.html
A disadvantage of using ISPs is that certain services (such as Britannica On-Line) are not available due to access being restricted to users from the uci.edu network domain.
NACS welcomes your comments and suggestions concerning remote access to UCInet; you may direct them to ourNACS@UCI.EDU address or to any NACS manager.