dave@arnold.UUCP (09/01/87)
Following is the latest uunet status report. I am posting it here because I feel that uunet is a cost effective means of connecting to USENET, and some of you on the unix-pc network, or those who read comp.sys.att might be interested. For those who don't know, the demise of seismo is coming soon. Due to other reasons, public data network carriers (Tymnet, etc) will probably be charging quite a bit more for their services, and it looks like things are going to be different for some of us using the uucp network. I feel as though the "Metanetwork" is going to grow, but the costs are going to grow as well. Currently, UUNET costs are $30 a month membership plus $3 an hour connect time (off peak). If you are interested in UUNET, contact Peter Salus (uunet!usenix!peter). --- here it is: Date: Wed, 26 Aug 87 18:56:40 EDT From: uunet!rick (Rick Adams) Message-Id: <8708262256.AA10671@uunet.UU.NET> To: customer-list Subject: UUNET progress report This is a copy of an article posted to comp.org.usenix. --rick Subject: UUNET progress report Newsgroups: comp.org.usenix,news.misc Distribution: na This is a short progress report on the UUNET experiment sponsored by the Usenix Association. As of today, we have 92 sites using the system. Of those 92, 65 are getting some amount of news. (It is always interesting to see what news groups people are willing to pay for). We are averaging about 65-70 connect hours per day and have had as many as 17 simultaneous connections. The system seems to be able to handle the load with no problem. A majority of the connections that were using seismo have moved to the uunet machine. This includes all of the foreign connections via x.25. (When seismo retires next week, the only way to get to most of those sites will be through uunet.) 800 service is due to be installed on Sept 1, which will allow a reasonable rate to be charged ($15 per connect hour) during the day instead of the absurd $20 currently being charged if Tymnet is used. We have been testing some of the newest Telebit Trailblazer modems with the uucp g protocol 'spoofing'. They have worked well and will be available on the 800 numbers as well as via a normal dialup connection. We have been getting an honest 10,000 bps throughput with these modems. Since this is about 5 times better than a 2400 bps modem, if you use a trailblazer on the new 800 service, you would be spending effectively $3 per hour to transfer the same data that you would spend $15 per hour with a 2400 bps modem. This is extremely cost effective for daytime mail. Telebit is offering a great deal for existing usenet sites. A 50% discount on one modem (This brings the price to under $700!). Watch for an official announcement from Telebit soon. The final status of uunet will be decided at the October board of directors meeting. Things look fairly good at this point, but only if new signups continue at the current rate. ---rick -- Name: Dave Arnold USmail: 26561 Fresno, Mission Viejo, Ca, 92691 USA DDD: Home: +1 714 586 5894, Work: +1 714 999 3482 UUCP: ...!seismo!uunet!arnold!dave