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A New Way to Access PennNet

By George McKenna

Do you live in a residence hall or in the area immediately surrounding the campus in West Philadelphia? Are you interested in using network services such as electronic mail, PennInfo, and the library's online catalog and information systems from home? If you now connect to PennNet via modem or are considering such access in the future, but you'd rather not tie up the telephone line and inconvenience roommates or family, a new service may solve your problems.

PennNet Residential, available in early fall, provides access at 19,200 baud (about 1,920 characters per second), allows you to talk on your phone while sending and receiving data, and provides a dedicated port on PennNet. It will support both the virtual terminal and SLIP protocols.

You should be able to take advantage of this offering if you live in the residence halls or if your phone number begins with any of these sets of three numbers:

222 243 349 382 386 387 590 662 895

It is important to note that there may be a few sections of the area covered by these exchanges that are simply too far away from the campus for communications to be reliable. When you request the service, you will be informed whether this applies to you.

PennNet Residential is a cost-effective solution for active users of PennNet who need simultaneous access to the telephone and to the services and facilities accessible via PennNet, and would otherwise require the installation of a second telephone line.

Access to PennNet via PennNet Residential differs from access via modem in one important way: You have a dedicated port on PennNet and are not contending for one of a limited number of ports in the PennNet modem pools. Participation requires that you purchase a data-over-voice (DOV) modem for approximately $210 and pay a $115 activation fee to have another DOV modem installed on your telephone line in the Bell of Pennsylvania Central Office. A monthly $22.50 fee covers the ongoing costs of operating the service. The activation fee can be waived in part if there is already a DOV modem installed on the telephone line serving your living space, and, although the specific details have not been finalized, DCCS intends to find a mechanism by which members of the Penn community can recover some fraction of the original cost of the DOV modem if they return it in working order.

Faculty and staff should contact the PennNet Services Center (psc@dccs.upenn.edu or 898-8171) for more information or to order the service. Students should con-tact the Penntrex Office (573-5050) for more information or to order the service. If you have questions, concerns, or other potential uses for the service, please contact George McKenna, DCCS Director of Network Operations (mckenna@dccs.upenn.edu or 898-8184).

DCCS is continuing to evaluate low-cost ($400), high-speed (up to 14,400 baud or 1,440 characters per second) modems, and hopes to have a recommendation in early fall. We suggest that you defer your purchase decision until that evaluation is complete. For details, consult PennInfo or the PennNet Services Center at (psc@dccs.upenn.edu or 898-8171).

Sidebar: PennNet Residential vs. 9600-baud modem with a second telephone line--a cost comparison:

      PennNet Residential      9600-baud modem
==============================================
Install
fee        $115  (DOV Modem)   $150  (phone
                                      line)

Modem      $210                $350

Monthly
charges    $22.50              $9

Type of    Dedicated port      Contention for
access                         modem pool